Dec 10 2006
Trail Shows Kovtun Was Contaminated, Smuggler
Major Update: Well, one prediction of mine has been proven wrong. It seems Kovtun flew from Moscow to Hamburg first, and then onto London. One has to wonder why he would do this round-about route to get to London. Did he need to pick something up in Hamburg was he trying to provide an indepedent route for the material he was carrying?
Major Update: Some Polonium 210 must have come in from Germany with Kovtun since it is now pretty clear his trail begins prior to his trip to London:
German authorities said Sunday they have found traces of the rare radioactive substance polonium-210 at an apartment visited by a contact of poisoned ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko before they met in London.
Prosecutors said they were investigating Dmitry Kovtun on initial suspicion of improper handling of radioactive material, but said any connection with Litvinenko’s death was for British police to clarify.
Investigators said the Russian businessman visited his ex-wife’s Hamburg apartment the night before heading to London, where he met Litvinenko on November 1 — the day the former spy is believed to have fallen ill.
Litvinenko was killed by polonium-210. Gerald Kirchner of the German Federal Radiation Protection agency said at a news conference that tests on traces of radiation at the apartment “clearly show that it is polonium-210.”
Kovtun arrived in Hamburg from Moscow on October 28 on an Aeroflot flight, officials said.
This is some big news because the material is not coming in from Russia as suspected. As I noted below, there is a history of smuggling nuclear material out of Russia and Europe to the ME from Germany in the 1990’s (I will get a link here soon). So it would make sense this same network could reverse the flow now. And Oct 28th was not Kovtun’s first trip to London. He was with Lugovoi and Litvinenko on Oct 16th, which is associated with another hotel contamination in Knightsbridge.
Radiation was found on a couch where Kovtun is believed to have slept in his ex-wife’s apartment, on a document he brought to Hamburg immigration authorities and in the passenger seat of the BMW car that picked him up from Hamburg airport, police said.
This last item is also important. It seems Kovtun had simply stayed over between flights from someplace else on his way to London (thus the car contamination). And it seems the German police are being much more realistic in their reporting of events:
Prosecutor Martin Koehnke said Kovtun was not initially treated as a suspect because of the possibility that the polonium was inside his body.
Subsequently, Koehnke said, an investigation against him on suspicion of improper handling of radioactive material was begun “because at least at the moment, at this stage of the investigation, we have sufficient initial cause to believe that he brought the polonium traces to Hamburg outside his body, or that these traces are the result of contact with polonium 210.”
This confirms something else I have assumed – authorities can distinguish one form of contamination from the other. Therefore there is no doubt when something is being contaminated from a human vector (infected person) verses material itself being transported by someone (knowingly or unknowingly).
Addendum: OK, switched computers, had a crash and now recovering my research links. I am not going to try and synopsise these, instead I leave it for the readers to ingest. But these links give a picture of the nuclear smuggling history and paths.
First is this report on nuclear smuggling between 1995-2000 which speculates on the reasons for an apparent lull in activity during this period. Take special note on the Iridium smuggling into the UK that took place. And there was a case when material was smuggled from Russia into Germany which caused a big stir.
Second is this chronology of nuclear smuggling cases from 1993-1995. The third item of interest is this report on nuclear smuggling involving Turkey, which seems to be a gateway between Europe and the Middle East. The next link focuses in on a 2004 investigation in Switzerland regarding alleged nuclear smuggling activities. Next is this recent report regarding these same smuggling activities in Switzerland and how they relate to AQ Kahn’s nuclear black market activities which were linked to nuclear programs in Iran and Lybia. Next is a recent news report that one Boris Berezovsky is now under investigation in Switzerland for many laundering. Let me save here and see if I need to add some more links tying all this to Germany. But you will see Germany mentioned in many of these reports as one path of the smuggling paths used in the 1990s. The same time Kovtun moved to Germany to start his business. OK, one more on smuggling in general.
More: Here is a link between a German and AQ Kahn’s network, and here is a report from 1994 showing how Germany was the frontline for nuclear smuggling at that time. OK, that should establish the fact there is a case to be made this was a smuggling effort and a natural path was through existing resources and players. I would not be surprised to learn Kovtun had returned from some country near the mid-east on his way to London.
Even More: Link between Switzerland, Germany and AQ Kahn network. Details starting coming out at the trial as well.
– end update
Details released by German authorities indicate Kovtun was trailing Polonium-210.
Hamburg- German prosecutors have opened an inquiry against Russian businessman Dmitry Kovtun for spreading radioactive polonium as he travelled through the city of Hamburg on October 30-31, senior prosecutor Martin Koehnke said Sunday. At a news conference in Hamburg, Koehnke said Kovtun was not yet being accused of the murder the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London three weeks later.
The suspicion of spreading a dangerous substance in Hamburg came after polonium-210 was found on a couch where Kovtun slept, on the passenger seat of a car in which he travelled and on an immigration document he personally signed at a German government office.
© 2006 dpa German Press Agency
The question now is how is it he did not get any in his own house. And of course we need to know when this was relative to Litvinenko’s poisoning. I have been researching smuggling paths for nuclear material and it turns out the Germany was in the 1990’s one such regular path out fo Russia. And of course there are paths to the ME as well. I would not be surprised if this Polonium-210 originated in Iran and found its way over old smuggling routes from the 1990’s into Europe. Experience ounts on these things. Kovtun and others could have been asociated with the export of material heading towards Iran and Pakistand and Libya.
“The real tragedy behind the assassination theory is it could lead people to believe the Polonium threat is contained to the assassin’s victim. I doubt authorities are being that pollyanish.”
I don’t believe that at all. There is more po-210 than was used to poison Litvinenko. That much is obvious. It’s left trails all over the place. The existance of a smuggling ring does not preclude the overlay of another operation, or even multiple layers of operations.
But I would hope that all authorities are aggressively pursuing every angle that makes sense, foremost the ones that most threaten public safety. And sorry to harp, but to that end, I don’t see that the Russians are doing much of anything.
If our authorities aren’t doing their best to protect us, their citizens, from these situations, then we need to replace our authorities. Unfortunately for the citizens of Russia, I don’t believe they have much choice, in spite of recent rumors of democratization there.
Yes, widely reported, Rosenkreutz, that is polonium’s most common use. And because of polonium’s half life, the triggers decay, and have to be replaced to maintain the efficacy of the bomb.
Do you think there is anything to Berezovsky’s claim, Mariposa, or if the polonium might have been headed to Chechnya?
An Important Game of Clue…
It isn’t Col. Mustard in the library with a rope this time. The stakes are much higher (did the Polonium-10 originate from Russia or Iran?). AJ Strata’s posts analyzing the Litvinenko/Polonium-10 murder are must reading. Here’s his latest post, Trai…
The alpha radiation wouldn’t “etch” the glass and any acid used to dissolve it would be weak such as citric acid, hydrochloric acid (stomach acid), vinegar (acetic acid).
Polonium damages containers which is why it is generally stored in special vacuum containers (the polonium itself being in a vacuum). Polonium will damage glass that will easily withstand pure nitric or sulfuric acid. It is the alpha rays that do the damage. It will cause “crazing” of the glaze in ceramics and discoloration of ordinary glass. This means the glaze will become deformed in a way as to look something like “alligator skin”. It can then develop cracks in this crazing and allow the solution to reach the porus ceramic under the glaze. Once inside the ceramic, the polonium might not be all washed out. A subsequent use of the cup, particularly with a hot liquid sitting in it for a period of time could leech out a significant quantity of polonium.
If that cup were placed back into service and if I were the UK authorities, I would want to examine everyone who would have used such a cup from November 1 until the cup was discovered. That is provided glaze damage was the indicator they have discovered.
Another reason for storing polonium in a vacuum container is that any breech of the seal can be immediatly indicated with a physical indicator.
Remember that this happened this week, too, though little was made of it here:
Blair: Trident replacement is ‘crucial’ to Britain’s security
http://www.24dash.com/centralgovernment/13895.htm
Tony Blair warned the House of Commons today that giving up Britain’s nuclear arsenal would be ‘unwise and dangerous’.
The PM insists the stockpiling of up-to-date missiles will ensure the country retains its nuclear deterrent strategy into the middle of the 21st century at an estimated cost of £15 to £20 billion.
[…]
However, on the principle of retaining the nuclear deterrent, Mr Blair was adamant that it remained “crucial” to Britain’s national security.
Despite the end of Cold War, he said that the country faced a range of potential future threats – from the arsenals of existing nuclear powers to the prospect of rogue states sponsoring nuclear terrorism from within their territory.
***
More, directly from Blair’s speech:
“The Government’s judgment, on balance, is that though the Cold War is over, we cannot be certain in the decades ahead that a major nuclear threat to our strategic interests will not emerge…”
“It is not utterly fanciful either to imagine states sponsoring nuclear terrorism from their soil. We know this global terrorism seeks chemical, biological and nuclear devices. It is not impossible to contemplate a rogue government helping such an acquisition. It is true that our deterrent would not deter or prevent terrorists. But it is bound to have an impact on governments that might sponsor them.”
http://www.politics.co.uk/issueoftheday/foreign-policy/international-institutions/nuclear-deterrence/tony-blairs-trident-statement-in-full-$460068$459890.htm
***
Honestly Rosenkreutz, I think Berezovsky is a frustrated rich thug who fell out with his fellow thugs when he “got his” in Russia, but then didn’t want to share. He then escaped ahead of them murdering him, taking his merry band of thugs along with him. They are all as bad as the others claim.
Berezovsky says he wants to overthrow the current regime in Russia. I believe that, too, and he’s a very wealthy man, so he’s probably doing more to pursue his goals than the average guy could. A dirty bomb, who knows? I do not doubt it based on his reputation, though.
But the only ways that makes real sense to me is if it was coming from Berezovsky, it would be literally aimed at Moscow, UNLESS he intends to set off a “small” one in the UK or some other country and make it appear that all of this came from Russia.
This is a very complicated and intertwined group. As we say in the Southern US — looks like a big old mess of snakes to me. (Sorry to go “Dan Rather” on you.)
CP, thanks, that was the best and most concise explanation for the acid vs. alpha etching I’ve seen anywhere, and it makes sense from my very limited background in the subject.
Thanks for the ceramics lesson, CP. If that was how it was done, it must have been a newly improvised scheme, one which might well lead to a massive overdose, I think.
WHAT WAS IN THE E-MAIL?
Rememer Scaramella? Didn’t he have an e-mail, that sent Litvenenko “flying” to Bezel-bum-bosky’s office? Did the ITALIANS supply this? Like they “supplied their tip-top #1 spy, the job of carting in millions to “free Sgrena?”
What would be in “that” e-mail? Could it be it “pointed” to Hamburg? As a warning? To tell the billionaire black marketeer that there were those that were “on to him?”
Even inside the “time line” reported by Litvinenko, there seems to be clues. And, a lot of ass covering.
Plus, I’ll bet a lot of people showing up in Switzerland to see doctors, privately, to get tested. Or to have their “immune systems” boosted? Or do whatever is necessary, including painful bone marrow transplants. And, this stuff isn’t showing up. Because the “perps” read the newspapers. And, all the other ways this is being covered.
If Hamburg was a collection point, however, wouldn’t it discount russia as the “source of the Polonium?” And, then? The only transmittal of the Polonium residue HAPPENS AFTER THE FACT. On the “exposure.”
With little details available on the “type of the spill.” And, why these jerks (other than the fact that the material was worth $30 million dollars); why would they “pick it up?” Unless they were told there was little, to no, risk.
Other than that? The material CAME OUT OF RUSSIA “CLEAN.”
Maybe, in swallowed condoms?
And, then? It was excreted. And, a “safe lab” prepared the “stuff” for the rest of the journey.
I’d ask. IF you swallowed the condoms in Russia. How long before you have to take a shit? And, why would you want to do this at an “off station?” Unless there were people in Hamburg who knew how to “get” the shipment ready for its next stages?
How did this stuff become so able to “kill” if I saw, originally, that a mere piece of paper would protect you from alpha particles?
CP,
My point is the tea cup damage would mean a large amount of Polonium-210 in solution, larger than what we are seeing in Litvinenko. Clearly the cup is holding a lot of polonium still in it (and I agree with you that anyone who came in contact with it is in serious danger). The larger the amount of crazing and penetration, the higher the amount of Polonium in the cup – right?
AJStrata
Well, we know that Lugovoi was contaminated as far back as October 16 and had contamination on his person when travelling. Places visited by Lugovoi have turned up to be contaminated.
Now we have contamination in Germany at Kovtun’s ex-wife’s apartment and her mother’s apartment. As the article states, the contamination could be from sweat, drool, any body fluid. Sweat would be consistant with his sleeping on the couch as he apparently did. So in other words, he already had contamination in him.
What are Kovtun’s movements in October? How many trips had he made to London? We know Lugovoi was making the trip about once a week and admits to meeting Litvinenko “12 or 13 times” in 2006. That seems like quite a number of times for someone who makes only short trips to London. Seems Lugovoi meeting with Litvinenko was pretty much a regularly scheduled event on these trips.
“The larger the amount of crazing and penetration, the higher the amount of Polonium in the cup – right?”
Correct. I suppose I wasn’t aiming that so much at you as to others who seemed to be thinking the acid caused damage to the cup. Porcelain stands up to acids quite well. It doesn’t stand up well to alpha radiation, though as the glaze fails.
” The larger the amount of crazing and penetration, the higher the amount of Polonium in the cup – right?”
AJ, that sounds logical, but couldn’t just a tiny amount do it if this stuff is as hot as everyone else claims? Also, Litvinenko was supposedly dosed more than 100 x the amount needed to kill him. Don’t remember who originally said here to imagine this stuff as popcorn on a molecular level — but that really helped me.
Thanks again all of you who are hashing out and explaining the science involved.
Heat would be an issue if you were dealing with pure polonium metal. It would be much less of an issue in a salt or solution. As in probably not an issue at all. If someone were transporting the pure metal, yes, heat would be an issue and any leakage could be potentially catastrophic. I will speculate that material to be used in a bomb trigger or dirty bomb would be in the metallic form. Material to be used as a poison would be in a salt form or pre-dissolved in an acid.
How did Litvinenko take his tea? With leamon?
Lemon, I mean. Lemon juice concentrate would work as a good vehicle for polonium poisoning.
CP – at least some German articles are saying that Kovtun was leaving traces not from his body but from the source of the radiation – that is why they are opening an investigation into him because they have some kind of evidence that the traces he left were “external” to his body and he wasn’t just some walking contamination trailer. In particular, they refer to the document he signed when he entered from Moscow. The German articles imply that if the stuff was just from contamination they wouldn’t have charged him.
Which tells me that they must have found pure polonium and not polonium in a salt form. If taken into the gut, polonium will react with stomach acid and form a salt. I am not sure about how it reacts when inhaled.
Note: If you are going to poison with polonium, there is no need to use the material in metallic form. A soluble salt form is much safer to deal with, just as effective, and easier to administer. Smuggling, however, would be in the metallic form which would be the form most desired for bomb triggers, a dirty bomb or some industrial use where the purchaser is looking for material possibly “on the cheap”.
Russians demanding to interview Berezovsky and Kateyev–good article –full of info, including this:
“* Mikhail Trepashkin, who is detained in Russia and who had warned Litvinenko his life was in danger, has been moved to a high-security jail. He is unlikely to be allowed to speak with British investigators.
* New tests indicate that Mario Scaramella, one of Litvinenko’s associates, is free of polonium contamination, despite being initially told he had been given 10 times the lethal dose.
Litvinenko’s friends believe he was assassinated by the FSB, his former employer. They are compiling files on previous cases they now believe may be linked to polonium, including the deaths of two Chechen rebel leaders in prison and that of one of Mr Putin’s former bodyguards who died of “an unexplained illness”. ”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20905532-2703,00.html