In previous posts on the mysterious death of Litvenenko (a.k.a. Litvinenko) by raidiation poisoning I have discussed the possibility that the poisoning was due to Litvenenko getting too close to a nuclear device, or someone in possession of one. I felt his Russian sponsor, a man he was charged to investigate for Russia’s FSB (previously known as the KGB) for corruption before he moved into a house owned by this possible corrupt man, was a nexus of Chechen interests and WMDs. It seems that reporting from last year prove this nexus is not so far fetched. Boris Berezovsky, the Russian Oligarch Litvenenko was ‘defected’ to, has had charges of WMD connections leveled at him and his known Chechen connections:

Boris Berezovsky was staying in Russia during a wild outburst of terrorist attacks in the country, when extremists exploded several apartment buildings in Moscow and Volgodonsk, killing hundreds. The oligarch left Russia several months later and never returned to the country afterwards.

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There is no direct evidence to prove Berezovsky’s implication in the organization of the above-mentioned explosions, although one has to acknowledge that it was Boris Berezovsky, who needed the war in Chechnya most. There are certain witnesses who say that Berezovsky was doing his best to maintain highly unfriendly relations between Chechnya and Russia in spite of the fact that he utterly hated the two sides of the conflict.

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Boris Berezovsky released a public statement on 24 October 2004 and said that he had prevented a terrorist act. The oligarch told The Associated Press that he had had a meeting with a man who introduced himself as Zakhar and offered to purchase a compact nuclear device for $3 million. Very unexpectedly, Boris Berezovsky exercised his qualities of a “professional intelligence officer, Russia’s true patriot and peacemaker.” The now-fugitive oligarch organized a meeting with a potential seller, taped the conversation and shared his information with USA’s CIA and the head of Russia’s FSB, Nikolay Patrushev.

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As it turned out later, Berezovsky’s story was absolutely true, or almost true, to be more precise. People of his team met someone named as Zakhar indeed, although they talked about an opportunity to sell a powerful weapon. Furthermore, the seller was Mr. Berezovsky himself, not the mysterious Zakhar.

Zakhar wrote the above-mentioned letter in an attempt to clear his name. “The London-based billionaire Boris Berezovsky has launched a massive campaign in mass media to slander and discredit my name, trying to portray me as a dangerous terrorist who has access to nuclear weapons,” the man wrote in the letter.

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However, it transpired later that Boris Berezovsky provided Chechen terrorists with bacteriological weapons.

So is Berezovsky trading in WMDs? Who knows. But he seems to think Chechens have a nuclear weapon and has made that claim publically. Some believe that Berezovsky is just setting up the Chechens to take a fall for any nuclear attack on the West. But I could also see it as an effort to establish a cover story, an alibi that would inoculate Berezovsky. One thing is clear – this story is not obvious and simple. And while the most benign version is some Russian power struggle, the scenario that concerns me most is people allying themselves, like Berezovsky apparently did, with Islamo Fascists in order to garner some personal gain.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused self-exiled tycoon and one-time Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky of funding Chechen rebel groups and said an international arrest warrant for the man whose holdings have included Logovaz, LUKoil, Aeroflot and several media holdings – including TV6 – is in the works.But Berezovsky reacted with anger to the accusations, calling them “inane” and saying that his posting as deputy secretary on the Kremlin’s Security Council from 1997-98 meant he had to interact with Chechen rebel organizations.The FSB refused to clarify whether its allegations were linked to Berezovsky’s work as a government official in the mid-1990s, when he helped negotiate hostage-release deals, or to more recent events. “My agency has all the data and other documented evidence linking Berezovsky to Chechen warlords, especially on issues concerning financing their operations,” FSB Director Nikolai Patrushev said in a televised interview.

Money is one of the easier entities to trace and as far back as 2002 there were concerns Berezovsky was funding an Al Qaeda ally. What else could he have been involved with?

Update: More on Polonium-210 and its role as a nuclear trigger can be found here. I still don’t understand how people can take an ex-Russian spy who defected to work with a corrupt Russian businessman who has connections to Chechen Rebels and add in an element associated with a nuclear weapon and come to the conclusion Putin is the bad guy here. Are people just not watching enough Jack Bauer?