Dec 13 2006
New Clues Emerge In Litvinenko Incident
Two new clues have emerged in the puzzle that is the Litvinenko incident. There are now some vague reports of another Russian of interest associated with Kovtun and his trip to Hamburg from Moscow in October (before Litvinenko fell ill):
An unnamed Russian businessman who flew from Moscow to Hamburg on October 28 with Mr Kovtun is also being sought. Police believe this flight was used to transport polonium-210 into Europe.
There is also another hotel that has tested positive for Polonium-210, which again bolsters the idea this was some sort of large smuggling ring verses some targeted assassination:
In addition, a Swedish couple that had stayed at the Shaftesbury Hotel near Picadilly were Tuesday tested at the oncology unit at Lund University Hospital in southern Sweden, the Stockholm daily Expressen reported.
The hotel room the couple had stayed in apparently had traces of polonium.
Seems like an awefully large group of people for an assassination someone wanted to look like an accident.
Also today, Dmitry Kovtun speaks out and claims Litvinenko was the one who contaminated him, and that it happened on Oct 16-18. This is possible and plausible since Polonium 210 was found at hotels associated with Lugovoi’s visit to London and meetings with Litvinenko. We also have, someplace back in my posts on this subject, I believe Lugovoi’s statement that Litvinenko told him he had poisoned himself before Nov 1st. While it is hard to put much stock in Lugovoi’s word by itself, I find it worth considering since he seems to be a cooperating witness, possibly under a plea agreement.
Update: Both Lugovoi and Kovtun are pointing to Oct 16-18th as the logical (as we all know) first time for Polonium 210 contamination for Litvinenko:
Andrei Lugovoi, a security agent-turned-businessman who met with Litvinenko at a London hotel on Nov. 1, the day Litvinenko suspected he was poisoned, said in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid that he and Litvinenko were poisoned on Oct. 16.
“Who told you that the contamination took place on Nov. 1? It took place much earlier, on Oct. 16,” Lugovoi was quoted as saying by the paper. Lugovoi is himself undergoing radiation checks in a Moscow clinic.
Litvinenko, 43, a former Russian agent and a Kremlin critic, died Nov. 23 of poisoning from polonium-210.
Lugovoi supported his claim by saying that he and Litvinenko visited a London-based security firm where traces of polonium were later found only in mid-October, but did not go there on Nov. 1, meaning that the contamination couldn’t have taken place on that day.
While Lugovoi is being a bit disingenuous with this logic due to the massive radiation signatures at the Millenium Hotel Room and bar, he is being more accurate than the reporting coming out of the UK media – which has been obsessed with the assassination theory. It should be noted though, that Litvinenko’s final dosage could have been the result of a number of contacts with Polonium-210 which was not being handled properly. He could have been building up his poison levels over many weeks, and received a final larger dose on Nov 1. But I am only pointing this out to show there are lots of reasonable scenarios based on what is known to date. The media has jumped the gun – like usual.
la guerre continue
(the war goes on….)
“then why the hell were there Russian middlemen?”
Because there are Russians who are playing the old “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” game. There are Russians who would assist the Chechens to see Putin taken fail. Just as there are Democrats who would love nothing more than to see the US fail in Iraq even at the expense of more American soldiers and who actively work in that role in their jobs with the media at places such as the NYT and AP.
It has been widely reported that Boris (Litvinenko’s and Lugovoi’s boss) has been financing the Chechens and providing them with weapons.
Boris is even widely reported to have said the Chechens have nukes but lack only one single component to use them. Polonium could easily be the component they are missing because it would have to be refreshed regularly.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that Sasha had a previous pattern of criminal activity, and no links to smuggling. But he has one thing in common with vocal Putin critics and Chechnyan supporters – he’s dead. The murder took place on UK soil…” –Enlightened
We don’t know what evidence there is or is not to support Litvinenko as a smuggler or ne’erdowell. This is not the end of a trial, this is the very beginning of a series of press reports. Smugglers can operate for an entire lifetime without getting caught, and everyone has to be a debutante smuggler once.
What we definitely CANNOT say at this point is that Litvinenko was murdered, this is a huge leap.
There’s another possibilty – Iran via Russians via the entrepreneur screw loose Litvinenko for profit to the Pakistanis in Britain who seem to operate their own fringe group – I admit this one is really far fetched
Mariposa: _Of course none of this will ever track all the way back to its source until well after the fact, and so we can argue points for another forty years…_
true – who knows what new evidence might emerge in 40 years?
http://www.rfkmustdie.com/
A Russian expat claims to have info that would severly impact the sitting president. The expat allegedly is blackmailing senior Kremlin members re: dossiers compiled about their nefarious deeds. The expat allegedly has info on a murdered reporter. And possibly radioactive smuggling. And is a Chechnyan supporter. Possibly knows about murders related to Yukos and Lukoil. Numerous Russians that fit epat’s profile of vocal critic, investigative reporting – have already been murdered.
The Kremlin contracts the expat’s assassination. An assassin is hired and told to take out the expat, but don’t make it obvious. Assassin decides poison – A slow death, painful, untraceable poison. Assassin calls his friend at Kurchatov, and friend says PO 210 will do the trick. Friend advises assassin where to obtain, how to transport, how to administer. Assassin obtains poison, unaware poison has leaked outside the transport capsule, travels to the UK. Assassin tails victim, shadowing victim’s moves. Assassin makes choice of date and time. Assassin, disguised as hotel employee, administers the remaining poison in victims tea. Victim is massively contaminated. Job done. Assassin departs the UK.
A very simple story really. It’s all the hyped up allegations that this is a sinister, dirty bomb, terrorist plot, Iranian backed, Chechnyan rebellion to take over Russia, black market, multi million dollar smuggling attempt gone awry that defies my imagination.
Here’s another possibility:Iran via the moon to Chechnya and Uranus. Foolish–
Almost anything is possible, but the speculation involving Iran, Berezovsky and/or the Chechens has ZERO backing and the smuggled to kill Litvinenko the strongest evidence to date.
CP- the only problem with a theory of Boris helping the Chechens out is that he broadcast the ‘missing component of a Chechen atomic bomb’ story to the world in 2005. Odd way to start a clandestine smuggling plot…
Clarice – agreed. Of course we know Interpol and Scotland Yard are way ahead of us, and many details are not available to the public.
But I have found in life that it is always the simple things that bear the most fruit.
I tend to lean towards the simple and obvious. If it is more of an intrigue than that – cool – just show me the money (ie: evidence)
“A Russian expat claims to have info that would severly impact the sitting president. ”
But he has always claimed to have such evidence. It is what he does. He has been saying that since the late 1990’s.
“The expat allegedly is blackmailing senior Kremlin members re: dossiers compiled about their nefarious deeds.”
Again, he and others have been saying that for a very long time, nothing new there.
How does this poison manage to leak yet not leak. How does the contamination disappear from people only to reappear a week later? How are people uncontaminated one day and contaminated the next? If it was a leaking of poison the contamination trail would be obvious, consistant, and lead back to the source. This trail disappears and reappears. Someone takes a shower, removes the contamination, then contacts the material again and is contaminated.
The Germans have a lot more data on the quantity and nature of the contamination than any of us do. They have come to the conclusion that the contamination was from contact with the material itself and suspect smuggling the stuff is involved.
I don’t want it to be smuggling … the information so far released says it is smuggling. If the pattern looked like assassination, I would say so. I have no investment in one outcome or the other. But so far it looks to me like assassination is a “faith based” outcome in that it is based on allegations, suppositions, and assumptions.
Looking at the pattern, timing, and distrubution of the contamination, I see nothing consistant with an assassin. How does a leaking assassin in London contaminate Kovtun’s home and office? Youi can’t “catch” polonium poisoning from sitting next to someone who is poisoned or shaking their hand or giving them a hug. You can’t be free from contamination on a flight to Mosocow and suddenly contaminate your house unless you are handling the material there. We have too many hotels, too many hotel rooms, too many homes, too many airplanes, too many cars … for it to be contamination by a leaky assassin.
OT – Ughhh. For those of you following the Duke Lacrosse fiasco – Drudge reporting – the gal’s undies tested postivie for MULTIPLE MALE’s – except none that match ANY Duke players.
This case is over. What a sham. What an absolute disgusting display by Nifong. He should be disbarred immediately. The 3 young men charged have been ruined by this. I am simply outraged.
Heck, too many countries. This leaky assassin in London has contaminated three countries now?
I guess I do to. Mostly. In the Libby case, I lean toward the simple and obvious. He lied. Sometimes I am almost persuaded to believe he didn’t, when common sense says otherwise, but I reel myself back in before I get too far out there.
In this case, I am waiting to see where it actually leads. So far, it is speculation from both sides. Lots of the early reporting was erroneous.
I just sent in a blog on that Enlightened..amazing..Durham in Wonderland has a good analysis of the legal basis for federal intervention, but if the court doesn’t act on this bit of important, withheld exculpatory evidence, the entire State judicial system ought to be under the gun.
CP–The last statement I read the Germans said they could not tell whether the trace PO was from excretion or external contamination.
And the last news of the amount involved was sketchy–I recall only that Kovtun’s ex-wife has a small trace oin the sole of her shoes.
I am just struck by the irony of Boris Berezovsky wanting to bring down Putin and install himself presumably in Russia – he sucked up to the CIA and the British by his little tales of nuclear smuggling etc probably in the hopes of American support should he succeed in taking down Putin and then we have this tremendous outpouring of Bad Putinism – and at the same time as England threatened to deport him if he didn’t shut up about bringing down Putin. Well he can keiep his mouth shut now because the British papers are doing his propaganda for him.
The statement I read said some were consistant with body fluids and some clearly were not. I will see if I can locate a link.
From the Irish Examiner:
“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 210â€
From the International Herald Tribune:
So before November 1 he appears already contaminated inside and out.
Consistent with the initial Times report that Scotland Yard believed there had been an earlier unsuccessful attempt to kill Litvinenko.