Did Vladimir Putin have Alexander Litvinenko silenced?
Published Fri, Nov 24 2006 11:43 PM
Technorati Tags: News and Politics
That's what Litvinenko had to say in a written deathbed statement, as reported in the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
LONDON -- A rare radioactive substance killed an ex-KGB spy turned Kremlin critic, the British government said Friday. In a dramatic statement written before he died, the man called Russian President Vladimir Putin "barbaric and ruthless" and blamed him personally for the poisoning.
Putin, in Finland, offered his condolences for the death of Alexander Litvinenko and denied any involvement. He called the release of the deathbed statement a "political provocation" by his opponents.
Litvinenko died late Thursday at a London hospital after spending days in intensive care as doctors puzzled over what was causing his organs to fail and attacking his bone marrow and destroying his immune system.
Britain's Health Protection Agency said Friday that the radioactive element polonium-210 had been found in his urine, and the police said traces of radiation were found at Litvinenko's home and a ritzy hotel bar and sushi restaurant he visited on the day he became ill.
Poisonings seem to be a popular way to deal with political inconveniences in Russia. Back in 2004, Victor Yushchenko was poisoned with TCDD, or tetrachlorodibenzoparadioxin, the most powerful of the dioxins.
Polonium is a pretty rare element, and it takes a lot more than can be found laying about in nature to kill someone. The amount needed to kill Litvinenko could only be made in a particle accelerator or a nuclear reactor.
That's not something just anyone would have at hand. Governments on the other hand could easily obtain it in sufficient amounts. Even so, it would be a pretty expensive way to silence your critics.
I have no idea how Litvinenko could have been exposed to that much polonium unless it was deliberate. The fact that it was detected at his home seems interesting though. Could he have been poisoned with enough polonium to leave traces behind wherever he went? Or did he have access to large amounts of it and mishandle it?
Police said they were treating the case as an "unexplained death" - but not yet as a murder.
The 43-year-old Litvinenko, who fiercely criticized Putin's government from his refuge in London since 2000, told police he believed he was poisoned Nov. 1 while investigating the October slaying of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another critic of Putin.
Linked at 123 Beta.
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Blue Star Chronicles trackbacked with "Alexander Litvinenko Dies of Tiny Nuclear Bomb"
What difference does it make to us if the Russians murdered a former KGB spy and defector? Should it really matter to us at all? Most of us never heard of Alexander Litvinenko prior to a couple of weeks ago.
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Butch responded with:
 | You know what they say...once a KGB...always a KGB
|
Perri Nelson responded with:
 | Yes, but are we talking about Litvinenko the former KGB operative or are we talking about Putin the former KGB operative? |
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