Dec 07 2006
Chechen Leader Zakayev Speaks Out: Threatens West
Another surprising outburst today from someone I would have thought would keep a lower profile as the news that the death of newly converted Muslim Litvinenko, who died while coming into contact with massive amounts of a nuclear material which can be used for creating a dirty bomb or in a crude nuclear bomb’s trigger, and who sympathized with the Chechen Islamicists, had turned towards a murder investigation. But apparently Chechen leader in exile, friend and neighbor of Litvinenko, and associate of oligarch Berezovsky feels the need to speak up – and illustrate is potential complicity:
An exiled Kremlin opponent accused the West on Wednesday of standing by passively as Russia passed laws allowing its agents to hunt down opponents overseas, saying these had led directly to the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.
Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev, a close friend of Litvinenko, accused Western countries of helping to strengthen a “criminal regime” in Moscow by their failure to stand up to President Vladimir Putin.
In case he hasn’t noticed or people forget, we have the same authority here for Bin Laden and Zawahiri and other Al Qaeda leaders. Just consider it our version of a Fatwah.
The macabre episode has strained relations between London and Moscow, and British police said for the first time on Wednesday they were treating it as a murder investigation.
Zakayev, a Chechen rebel leader whom Russia has tried in vain to extradite from Britain, confirmed he drove Litvinenko in his car on November 1, the same day the former agent fell ill. He said traces of polonium 210, the radioactive poison that killed Litvinenko, had been found several weeks later on the back seat where he sat. But Zakayev himself has tested negative for the substance.
Sadly we do not know when the traces were left and if they represent one trip in the car or more than one. With that said, a reminder of the potential Chechen involvement and their anger at the west, this sounds more like a rationalization about why something may happen to the West, becuase of their complicity with Putin:
“I think responsibility for everything that’s happening today in Russia lies not just with the G8 but all leaders of Western countries, European countries, who one way or another have helped to strengthen and establish this criminal regime in Moscow,” Zakayev said.
“The fact that Russian democracy and freedom of speech has been betrayed — the responsibility for that lies with those who today welcome Putin with outstretched hands and call him a crystal pure democrat.”
He said Western reliance on Russian oil and gas supplies was no excuse for passivity.
“Today Europe doesn’t just get energy from there (Russia). They get polonium 210, they get the dirty bomb, they get dirty money, they get corruption, crime,” Zakayev said.
Dirty Bomb? Why would he say something about a dirty bomb? Zakayev is building a case why Europe should expect to be seen as allies to Putin and Russia from a Chechen perspective. Zakayev is saying that Europe’s purchase of Russian oil brings these things with it. It is like saying these are the prices one must pay for not being pure to Chechen eyes. He is building the case for a a violent take over of Russia, and is calling on sympathetic people to see that action must be talen:
“If today, this country that occupies a sixth of the earth, on whose territory is concentrated tons of bacteriological, chemical and biological weapons, isn’t taken under control and questions aren’t asked about the responsibility of the man in charge and the government, that will be a danger for the whole world.”
What worries me most about this incident right now is the Polonium-210. It’s utility as weapon is severely time constrained. For either a nulcear bomb or a dirty bomb it only has so much shelf live. In a little over four months after it is produced it loses half its potency and is half lead. I would guess (and I am guessing) at that point it is not very useful in a weapon. At 2 months it loses a qarter of its potency. The Litvinenko poisoning was a month ago. This doesn’t leave this batch much more time to be of use to terrorists. If this was an assassin attempt then there is a problem that there could be a large source of Polonium out there somewhere. But that same problem exists if this is all about a smuggling effort for a very dangerous nuclear material. How much was brought into London? We know how much killed Litvinenko – enough to kill 100 people (at a cost of 30 million euro). Obviously that was not all the material given all the contaminated sites. When will the UK discuss this aspect of the situation – the left overs. How can we be sure Litvinenko ingest all the Polonium apparently smuggled in?
Based on the reports so far, is there anything else/one we can eliminate?
I think the russian “investigation” means that Lugovoi cannot voluntarily come to the UK and will probably find himself framed and in Jail.
Can you tell me where you saw the coma story? I am not seeing it.
we can probably eliminate Sokolenko the third guy who was along on the trip for the soccer game as Scotland Yard hasn’t asked to talk to him per news accounts at Axis… He wasn’t there on the earlier trip October 25 so far as we know. Though how we know he isn’t contaminated is unclear. Of course as you said we can also eliminate the Italian nutcase Scaramella as well.
Vyacheslav Sokolenko, reported to be the “third man” at the 1 November meeting, said he was staying at the hotel but never met Litvinenko. His friend, former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy, did meet the ex-spy and is to be questioned by Russian prosecutors. According to reports, there were two others present at the meeting.
Sokolenko said in an interview with BBC Moscow that he was not one of them, and that he had travelled to London with Lugovoy and his family purely to see a football match between CSKA Moscow and Arsenal. “Andrei [Lugovoy] and I had been planning it for a long time,” he said. “I’m a huge fan of the CSKA football team, I’ve travelled a lot with them – to Lisbon, Paris.â€It’s not very pleasant, you go off to watch football and then you find yourself in a situation like this.”
He said that he had undergone medical tests but “they didn’t find anything and there couldn’t be anything”. He added that no-one from Scotland Yard or the Russian prosecutor’s office had asked to see him,
it is on http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Coma story was a foxnews alert about 10 minutes ago
Russia has never allowed extradition as far as I know. Their constitution prohibits it. That Russia would open an internal investigation is how this is handled there. If the British find evidence of a crime, then the Russians will prosecute there. That two Russian citizens have now apparently been contaminated, are ill, and may die means the Russians will certainly open a murder inquiry. And, if they find a smuggling ring, will probably prosecute that as well. Seriously.
My point in saying all the above is that if the Russian government WASNT directly involved (which I believe it wasn’t. People connected to the govt could have been but acting as individuals) then it is in its interest to clear this aggressively.
That report is from Interfax … might want to take it with a grain of polonium.
“Vladimir Bukovsky, a friend and fellow Putin critic, said Litvinenko had asked that his body eventually be moved to Chechnya.”
That’s right CP he wants to be buried in Chechen soil…
December 7th. 10:00 AM Pacific.
DRUDGE IS HEADLINING THIS IN RED:
Litvinenko contact Kovtun critically ill: Ifax
I think if Kovtun is critically ill then we can also assume that the contamination of Litvinenko took place at the Millenium bar either in the a.m. or early p.m. (and bars open when?) and that Litvinenko tracked the stuff to the tablecloth of the Sushi bar and from there to the mouth of Scaramella if in fact he has any contamination at all. They let Scaramella out of the hospital and he is free to travel so we can be pretty sure that he can’t contaminate any other place or people. I think we can also assume that Lugovoi does not have as much contamination in him as the other two since he is still talking to reporters on the phone as late as today when he said his interview was delayed for “technical reasons”. What about all the kids on that trip including Lugovoy’s wife and kid – as he himself said, why would he expose his kids. Conclusion again: work accident.
“Amazing that they don’t consider Luguvoi “poisoned†but they do consider Kovtun “poisoned†– wonder why?”
Left by Lizarde1 on December 7th, 2006
Lizarde, I am not positive about this, but I think that Scaramella and Lugovoi are considered to be “contaminated.” If that contamination enters their bloodstream, then they are considered “poisoned,” and (again, I think and am not sure) anyone who is poisoned with polonium 210 will probably die.
I guess that Scaramella’s level of contamination is considered safe enough to himself and others that he was released from hospital care.
Apparently though, Dimitri Kovtun, one of the three Russians who met with Litvinenko in the Millennium Hotel’s Pine Bar, is now considered to be poisoned.
Hey AJ, re. your original post — I don’t understand why you perceive what Zakayev said is making a threat against the West. Sure, it is an angry statement, but remember that anger is part of grief, and this man lost a friend. I think he’s just telling it like he sees it, and the rumored reports that all kinds of terrorists and boogeymen already moved dirty bombs through Europe and Central Asia have circulated for years now.
Mariposa you are right if Lugovoi has it in his system he is poisoned but I think these charges of the British imply that he wasn’t poisoned with an attempt to murder as Kovtum and Litvinenko are alleged to have been….and Scaramella was just a secondary contamination…that’s what the British charges mean to me anyway
I agree, Mariposa.
Assuming Kovtun was the assassin–why would he have been so careless with handling the PO 210?
Perhaps he wasn’t told that it was a radioactive substance he was dealing with–just that it was a poison? Had he known what it was and known how to handle it, I expect he’d not be in a coma today.
BTW, I forget who argued that Lugovoy was so careful with his associates that it could not have been one of them involved. I take it, we can eliminate this as we proceed.
Maybe we can’t eliminate that after all I forgot about Vladimir:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/25/npoison725.xml&site=5&page=0
I’m not Vladimir, says the third man
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Last Updated: 11:53pm GMT 25/11/2006
A Russian originally identified as the mysterious “Vladimir” who met Alexander Litvinenko for afternoon tea the day he fell ill denied involvement in the defector’s death yesterday.
Previously described as a figure who was “tall” and “taciturn” and who offered Mr Litvinenko tea, Dmitry Kovtun told The Daily Telegraph that he was both baffled and angry by attempts to link him to the poisoning.
Off topic but WOW, just WOW.
http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/12/special_to_pjm_iran_supreme_le.php
Looks like Iran’s supreme Ayatollah might be ready for the reaper.
It was Vyacheslav Sokolenko not a Vladimir that was the third guy and Luguvoi told the Brits that a long time ago.
Clarice – Kovtov was Lugovoi’s friend since he was a teenager .