Dec 06 2006
Lugovoi Was Trailing Polonium-210
It seems Andrei Lugovoi was trailing Polonium-210 now that contamination has been found in the British Embassy in Moscow where he gave a televised statement a few days back. It would also seem to be confirmed that the airlines with the Polonium-210 were one where Lugovoi left Moscow to come to London and one where he returned from London (supposedly his return flight on November 3). There was also the Arsenal stadium where he watched a soccer game. The only question now is who contaminated who, when. Did Litvinenko contaminate Lugovoi in the afternoon of Nov 1 when he met him at the Millenium Hotel (explaining the Millenium, Arsenal Stadium, one plane and British Embassy sites). Or did Lugovoi bring something into the UK which contaminated him and Litvinenko the morning of Nov 1 at a yet unknown meeting before Litvinenko met Scaramella? Some updates to this in a little bit.
Update: OK, those promised updates. This article and this article both claim the planes Lugovoi flew on leaving and returning to Moscow were the contaminated planes. Which flight of the three he made entering the UK is of importance. I have seen reports it was the Oct 25th flight associated with the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel – but I am not sure.
In another tweak to the timeline it this report claims that Litvinenko left the meeting with Scaramella, when to see Berezovsky and then went from there to meet Lugovoi before they left for the game. If I am correct and there was another meeting with Lugovoi prior to Scaramella’s meeting, at which point in time the large contamination at the Millenium Hotel occured, then the timeline makes sense.
Sticking with my smuggling ring theme, the deadly spill happened in the morning as Lugovoi and others made a second transfer of Polonium (the first being on Oct 25th which contaminated the Sheraton Park Lane). Litvinenko has no idea he has poisoned himself (or fears it and is not sure what he can do about it) and goes to meet Scaramella. The Scaramella news further spooks Litvinenko (or he starts getting really worried about the accident earlier) and he rushes to Berezovsky’s office and then to tell Lugovoi. He also decides to drop by his friend who works for a security firm nearby. The next morning he knows he is in trouble and calls Lugovoi. By November 3rd he is being taken to the hospital where they hide the Putin angle (and the Lugovoi angle) until it is clear he has no hope of recovery, and they set the stage for the media diversion.
And now this is considered a murder investigation. Am I buying someone shelled out $50 million in Polonium contraband and risked smuggling it into the UK to knock of a 3rd rate pain in the neck? Nope. But I do understand the PR value behind such a statement, as well as the legal benefits.
I agree, Jerry. Free for the folks who produce it.
CP I said Litvinenko not Lugovoi – where was Litvinenko between Oct 25 and Nov 1 and did he leave any trail separate from Lugovoi’s at those places – that’s what I meant
Jerry,
In a previous post there was a study referenced that showed Litvinenko’s dose alone was30 million euro. I believe it was associated with the investigation. It makes sense though.
Jerry,
If Litvinenko was the only one dead, if he received a much smaller dose (say only 10x a fatal dose), if there was no trace of the poison anywhere else (indicating it was specifically targeted at Livinenko), then I might be inclined to lean toward the assassination by professionals theory.
That there is so much contamination surrounding Luguvoi for so long leads me to seriously suspect smuggling. That so many people are contaminated in so many places leads me to believe it was smuggling by people who didn’t fully appreciate nor have any training in the material they were smuggling.
“did he leave any trail separate from Lugovoi’s at those places – that’s what I meant”
Oh, sorry. Well, the touble is that Litvinenko was in so many places that have showed up to be contaminated (and other places that haven’t) that it would be difficult to tell when they were contaminated or in what order they were contaminated.
as for the entourage of Lukovoi – the bio info from axis I posted shows that he was very careful about his security and only surrounded himself with family and very long term close friends – this is how his security company was so successful and avoided leaks and infiltrations – atleast per the bio anyway – not to say he couldn’t have been infiltated in London by somebody as early as the 16th or that the Dmitri K guy hadn’t been turned or Sokolenko. There has been no mention of these two guys being contaminated anywhere so far as I know
“If Litvinenko was the only one dead”
What I am implying here is that Litvinenko, Lugovoi, and Scaramella probably have fatal doses in them … and Litvinenko’s wife had a non-fatal dose but had ingested it as evidenced by a urine sample … means Boris better get a urine test asap.
No word on any contamination of the Chechen, eh? I would figure he would be a much higher priority target than Litvinenko. So would Boris. Just slip something in their tea to make them pass out and take them for a little boat ride is all that would be needed. No expensive radiactive material required.
I think it is entirely plausible that there is a black market smuggling Russian made PO.
I think Putin is well informed about the smuggling, and is probably a benefactor of the $$$ produced from the smuggling.
I think the countries buying the smuggled PO can be counted on 2 fingers.
I think anyone that has insider knowledge (names, videos, audio, docs) of the smuggling ring and indicates they will reveal – will most certainly be murdered. To the players – $50 Mil might be a p-ss in the bucket compared to being outed for free.
CP,
looks like you and I are going to be the holdouts on this one!
AJStrata
The Chechens would have every reason to poison Sasha and Lugovoi after they transferred the stuff to them for the missing part of their bomb = to wipe out the trail….maybe they thought they wouldn’t get caught and the source of the poison would not be known. Far fetched but possible!
Sorry Lizarde (and others), I see there are others who still doubt the assassination theory.
“looks like you and I are going to be the holdouts on this one!”
Maybe, time will tell. I would imagine it is going to be quite a while before any real information comes out. It could be an FSB op, but as I said before, if it is, it is probably going to result in some “reorganization” with the possible transfer of some people to a more Easterly location in Russia.
AJ I don’t for one minute believe Putin did it – though this would be in a way the most reassuring outcome. I still think it was a work accident of some sort but it could turn out that some of the other players were working against Litvinenko
Lizarde1
I doubt the Chechens would kill their source. They probably would want more supplies and finding a new source would be a drag especially if they had the reputation of eliminating their suppliers.
This case is getting weirder and weirder. How did Litvinenko ingest so much polonium? And how did Scaramella get so much also? Evidently the only time they met was at the sushi bar and it is clean except for the tablecloth which Litvinenko could have contaminated with his hands alone. Nothing has been said in the news about the timeline from 12 noon to 3 o’clock. What happened during that time? The news said that Litvinenko went to Bereszovsky’s office at 3:45 to zerox the email Scaramella gave him and then to the two offices in Grosvenor Square and he met Lugovoi at 4:30. Zaparev took him home at 5:15 and he got sick at 6:00. This pretty much accounts for the time after 3:00. He had to have been poisoned during the timeframe of 12:00 to 3:00. But then, who did he have a meeting with during the morning? You would think he would have told the authorities all his actions during that day but I suppose he was trying to hide something.
Where was the stuff between Oct 25 (Park Sheraton) and Nov. 1 (Millenium) – this is the question the police should be focusing on.
I have never ruled out that there was some sort of polonium smuggling and trade going on. In fact, it makes the most sense, with the large number of contamination sites and the number of players involved. But the existence of that illegal smuggling operation would in no way preclude that Litvinenko was murdered, in my opinion. In fact, illegal trade usually facilitates murder.
I know this is off the wall, but has anyone looked into the Brit. scientist David Kelly’s associations in regards to this?
Good summary Barbara – we haven’t quite cracked it just yet!
“How did Litvinenko ingest so much polonium?”
100 micrograms isn’t “so much” if that was the dose he got. Probably smaller than a single grain of salt. If in a solution, maybe a single drop or less.
“You would think he would have told the authorities all his actions during that day but I suppose he was trying to hide something.”
Maybe he had a girlfriend and doesn’t want that widely known.
Ha! Did you all happen to notice how blatantly honest the Kommersant’s headline is in its Lugovoi story? Look: Key Witness Hides in Hospital from Scotland Yard — that’s so funny and refreshing to me.