Today’s twists in the Litvinenko drama are troubling to be sure. It turns out that Scaramella probably was contaminated during his meeting with Litvinenko, and unfortunately he travelled back to Rome and Naples for a period where he apparently contaminated a UK reporter who followed Scaramella back to Rome for an interview as Litvinenko lay dying in the hospital.

I joined the UK’s most exclusive and undesirable club yesterday – those who may have been contaminated by the radioactive poison that killed ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

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My link to Litvinenko and the deadly metal polonium 210 came in a lengthy meeting with Italian Professor Mario Scaramella – the man who shared the Russian’s now infamous meal in Piccadilly sushi restaurant Itsu. The Mirror tracked down Scaramella to his Naples hideaway last week and I spent three hours with him, talking and drinking tea and coffee.

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The meeting with the Italian academic had taken two days of negotiations followed by 300 miles of driving to and fro between Rome and Naples.

The reporter and authorities are concerned about a simple handshake as the transfer mechanism. Now it is not clear whether this person is contaminated or not, but clearly there is concern. And if a reporter was contaminated this easily (days after the contamination event – not minutes) then everyone Scaramella came into contact with in Italy should be concerned. And there is where this story gets bizarre again. Scaramella travelled himself back to London for medical testing – instead of the Brits heading to Italy to monitor tests there.

An Italian academic who met former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko the day he became ill from radiation poisoning is under protective custody in London and undergoing medical tests, a legal source said on Tuesday.

I am fascinated on this move to bring Scaramella to the UK. It only makes sense if the authorities want Scaramella close and under watch. One would expect to hear of alerts in Naples soon for those who came into contact with Scaramella.

The assassin angle still rings hollow. There are thousands of tried and true methods to silence a critic which actually, you know, silence the critic. This doesn’t have any of the signs of professional hit, which is why I am still not convinced. And it is no surprise the Islamo Fascists in Al Qaeda and in Chechnya want the US and UK to have a falling out with Russia.

It is also telling that the time of the meeting between Litvinenko and Berezovsky has not been confirmed yet. If that meeting occurred before the Scaramella meeting this entire story goes a different direction and turns to Berezovsky and away from his arch enemy Putin. We shall see, but there are many more plausible scenarios involiving accidental exposure to nuclear contraband involving Berezovsky than there are for a Putin ordered hit.

strong>Update: The Washington Post sheds some light on why Scaramella may not be a contamination threat:

Britain’s Sky television said Scaramella was being held in a safe house on the outskirts of London and quoted a statement from Scaramella which said: “I have always said that I am willing to help them (the British police) and that is why I will retrace my steps and tell them everything that happened.

“The police also want me to have further medical tests to make sure that I am clear. I have already had some of those tests in Rome, which were negative.”

Obviously if he is not contaminated then the reporter from the Mirror is likely not to be contaminated. Unless something really strange is going on. It is important to remember Scaramella was instrumental in uncovering the smuggling of uranium into Europe within the last year or two, so there are those who would like to take him out of commission. If this was an assassination attempt, it is possible the target was Scaramella and not Litvinenko.

Previous posts on this subject:

How To Kill A Spy
Litvenenko’s Death Staged As A Political Murder?
How To Play The Media
Litvenenko, Berezovsky & WMDs
Chechen’s Salute Fallen Comrade, Litvenenko
Italian Contact Of Litvinenko Has Nuclear Ties
Chechen’s Used Nuclear Dirty Bomb In 1995
UK’s COBRA An Ominous Sign
The Polonium Trail – With Updates