Dec 15 2006
Lugovoi Definitely Berezovsky Ally
I was going to add this in a long line of comments to answer someone’s question, and decided to make a post for everyone to find. Lugovoi was definitely an ally of Berezovsky’s – so the assassination theory seems a little more stretched than it was before. And it explains why Goldfarb first tried to divert suspicion from Lugovoi. Now that Lugovoi is a participating witness (prossibly under a plea agreement) Berezvosky’s mouth piece is having to change tactics. Looks like everyman is now out for themselves in a battle that could put someone away for life. I am wondering more and more whether the Litvinenko incident and the spat of killings is really the preparation for some kind of coup d’etat in Russia.
Yeah, he is a Boris man from way back. He is also the only one of the three (Litvinenko, Kovtun, Lugovoi) who had anything on the ball. Kovtun was a wannabe wheeler/dealer, there’s an article about him on Axis too, who used to wait tables in Hamburg after he defected to Germany when the Russians pulled out of the old DDR. Seems almost like he (Lugovoi) was engaged in some side business trying to help out some old chums.
I tend to agree with what copydude says:
“That short-of-money Sasha was being used – alive and dead – there is no doubt.
Almost everything put out by Berezovsky and Bell PR has been exposed as a lie. Litvinenko wasn’t on a hit-list. He wasn’t investigating the death of Politkovskaya. He was working as an intermediary for ’security’ firms – private armies and mercenaries. It even looks like he was under contract to Erinys.”
He was apparently scrambling and might have gone to trading in nuclear materials. What surprises me is that if Litvinenko and Boris were on the outs, why did he go to Boris’ office that day he got sick?
Litvinenko could be a serious pain in the hips for Boris if he were going around blackmailing people. Someone might see his doing so as Boris doing so through an underling. In other words, Litvinenko could get Boris into a war he didn’t want if he kept running around like a loose cannon. Or Boris could have been involved in the smuggling in some way such as taking care of complicated money movements to cover payments.
In any case, Litvinenko and Lugovoi were Berezovsky men. Kovtun was a Lugovoi man. The relationship between Litvinenko and Berezovsky has been reported to have been strained in the recent period before his death. Some have reported that US and British intelligence warned Litvinenko to stay clear of Berezovsky or his life could be at risk.
I am going to let Scotland Yard, Interpol, the German, the Italian, and the Russian police sort it out. Only things I am convinced of at this point are that Litvinenko is dead, there was polonium smuggling going on, and Kovtun will be more contaminated than Lugovoi. My instincts are that Lugovoi would have avoided as much contact with the stuff as possible. He strikes me as the smarter one of the bunch.
In teh beginning when Goldfarb was talking to press on camera he said that Litvinenko was suspicious that Scaramella did not eat, but he also said that e was suspicious of Lugovoi.
He then seemed to change his mind and claimed Lugovoi was in danger
People may say that he fell out wit berezovsky, but why was Litvinenko still living in a $1 million dollar home privided by him?
Also from the 2003 plots we can see that there have been elaborate plots to implicate berezovsky/Litvinenko as terrorists.
Hi All,
This comment might put the discovery of the polonium trail (and the question of whether it was purposefully ‘laid’) into some perspective:
“Boris Zhuykov, chief of the radioisotope laboratory at the Nuclear Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, says the discovery that polonium was the cause was “an act of scientific heroism. The murderers obviously did not expect that the polonium would be found. They failed because of the excellence of the English gamma spectrometer and the persistence of the research.” (Zhuykov says that when he was making these points to Moscow’s pro-government NTV network last week, the interview was terminated.)”
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568482,00.html
Yeah, so make it look like BorisBs people are mucking around with Po210 in some nefarious plot… walk them into it even. Damned expat troublmakers, they always head to London.
I think the effort to tie Berezovsky to PO smuggling or Litvinenko’s murder is particularly lame.
And Zhuykov’s comments about PO poisoning being difficult to diagnose is right on…indeed, some of us have been making that point for a while.
I think all this Berezovsky/Chechen/smuggling for profit talk is Russian disinfo and the people who’ve bought it gullible.
Tempester ,
“why was Litvinenko still living in a $1 million dollar home provided by him?”
That’s a very good question. But living in the house does not mean owning it. If Berezovski cut his allowance from 5000 to 1500 as rumored Litvinenko desperately need money to pay rent.
Rosenkreutz ,
“Boris Zhuykov, chief of the radioisotope laboratory at the Nuclear Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, says the discovery that polonium was the cause was “an act of scientific heroism.”
Something is wrong here. Spectroscopic analysis should instantly detect this Polonium 210 and it might be negligence of hospital staff not that they fail to do it until it was too late. So much for “an act of scientific heroism.”
Clarice,
“I think the effort to tie Berezovsky to PO smuggling or Litvinenko’s murder is particularly lame.”
As lame as they are (the last thing Berezovsky probably wanted is to be kicked out of UK for radioactive poisoning plot) they have right for the existence.
The level of disinformation in the mainstream media is just too high to distinguish useful signal from noise.
Everyone involved says that it was fortuitous that the staff had access to the radiation specialists who found it was PO and even then the diagnosis cames hours before Litvinenko’s death.
I am as normally critical of press coverage as anyone, but I think the disinfo is coming from the Russian press and its flunkies–pr firms, Anna S etc..all of whom are covering for Putin. The Times, in particular, seems to have good sources in Scotland Yard, and frankly, I think SY is far more on target than anyone else.
I just had my brain warped by Madsen’s latest convoluted conspiracies… I think he’s pro-smuggling, pro-Putin… also quite a bit about Scaramella and byzantine Italian crypto-mafia intel thugs.
Was London The Site Of A Dirty Bomb Trial Run?
Polonium is widely used for medical purposes in special equipment, and can be bought in nearly any country, including over the Internet. One can do this openly in the Untied States because only minuscule parts are sold. But we cannot be sure that criminals will not pay more to acquire a bigger amount of the deadly substance.
by Tatyana Sinitsyna
UPI Outside View Commentator
Moscow (UPI) Dec. 14, 2006
The ado around the polonium incident in London has a certain quirk to it which I find annoying. Why is everyone talking about the victims (real and potential) and piquant details of secondary importance, when there is something far more important to worry about?
Nuclear physicist Alexander Borovoi, a professor at the Kurchatov Institute research center, pinpointed my cause of concern: “The worst part of the story is that it was like a rehearsal for a dirty bomb. The incident shows that something dangerous is cooking in the terrorist kitchen, with menacing ideas and plans that can generally be described as a crime.”
“Litvinenko or one of his close friends have somehow got hold of polonium,” Borovoi said. “From them we can trace a connection to those whose dream is to get hold of a dirty bomb — terrorists.”
It is a fact that terrorist number one, Osama bin Laden, once bought from shady arms dealers three containers with weapons-grade fissionable materials. The world was saved then only because the dealers cheated bin Laden by selling him medical wastes, which also set off the Geiger meter. We were probably lucky this autumn too, because something apparently went amiss in London. Polonium doesn’t forgive lax attitudes.
Borovoi said people incapable of working with Polonium-210 professionally probably handled the vial, letting the jinni out.
“I don’t think polonium was a random choice,” Borovoi said. “I believe a first-rate specialist is advising the terrorists.”
Silvery polonium looks like common lead and is an interim phase in the long chain of uranium decay; it is produced in nuclear reactors for technical purposes. It emits alpha particles that spread out at a huge speed, pulling along other, undecayed, atoms that pollute the air. Those who breathe them in are doomed.
“My colleague, Irina Simanovskaya, who has worked with polonium, told me that she handled the stuff at minimum distances with all possible precautions in the lab hood. However, it turned out several days later that polonium had penetrated the hood polluting the equipment installed there,” Borovoi said.
According to him, polonium can be detected only by special gauges, spreads out from the polluted place almost without restraint, and much time will pass before it becomes clear why people are dying.
Polonium is widely used for medical purposes in special equipment, and can be bought in nearly any country, including over the Internet. One can do this openly in the Untied States because only minuscule parts are sold. But we cannot be sure that criminals will not pay more to acquire a bigger amount of the deadly substance.
On the subject of the rumored involvement of security services in the Litvinenko incident, Borovoi said: “No security services will become involved with a dirty bomb, and I see no reason why they would do this. Such methods are inadmissible in state politics because they amount to the use of nuclear weapons.”
If somebody wanted to do away with Litvinenko, they would not have used such a dangerous and expensive weapon as polonium, the physicist said.
“In my view, this is a warning to us,” he said. “Terrorists could have acquired a horrible weapon. We must wake up to reality, see the threat, exert maximum caution, and take emergency measures to stop radioactive terrorism.”
(Tatyana Sinitsyna is a commentator for the RIA Novosti news agency. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti.)
(United Press International’s “Outside View” commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interest of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)
Source: United Press International
Here’s one for the “assassin” folks to explain: Would Litvinenko’s meeting with Scaramella be a total coincidence? According to the referenced article, Scaramella was an expert on all matters nuclear, including nuclear waste, and “nuclear materials and their whereabouts around the globe.” This article was posted on November 26, before the nuclear smuggling hypothesis had even been floated.
Was Litvinenko, said to be in a panic by several witnesses, trying to get information about his sudden illness, or was he somehow working with Scaramella, or gleaning information about buyers and sellers?
No matter how you slice it, this seems to support smuggling.
Was London The Site Of A Dirty Bomb Trial Run?
Polonium is widely used for medical purposes in special equipment, and can be bought in nearly any country, including over the Internet. One can do this openly in the Untied States because only minuscule parts are sold. But we cannot be sure that criminals will not pay more to acquire a bigger amount of the deadly substance.
by Tatyana Sinitsyna
UPI Outside View Commentator
Moscow (UPI) Dec. 14, 2006
The ado around the polonium incident in London has a certain quirk to it which I find annoying. Why is everyone talking about the victims (real and potential) and piquant details of secondary importance, when there is something far more important to worry about?
Nuclear physicist Alexander Borovoi, a professor at the Kurchatov Institute research center, pinpointed my cause of concern: “The worst part of the story is that it was like a rehearsal for a dirty bomb. The incident shows that something dangerous is cooking in the terrorist kitchen, with menacing ideas and plans that can generally be described as a crime.”
“Litvinenko or one of his close friends have somehow got hold of polonium,” Borovoi said. “From them we can trace a connection to those whose dream is to get hold of a dirty bomb — terrorists.”
It is a fact that terrorist number one, Osama bin Laden, once bought from shady arms dealers three containers with weapons-grade fissionable materials. The world was saved then only because the dealers cheated bin Laden by selling him medical wastes, which also set off the Geiger meter. We were probably lucky this autumn too, because something apparently went amiss in London. Polonium doesn’t forgive lax attitudes.
Borovoi said people incapable of working with Polonium-210 professionally probably handled the vial, letting the jinni out.
“I don’t think polonium was a random choice,” Borovoi said. “I believe a first-rate specialist is advising the terrorists.”
Silvery polonium looks like common lead and is an interim phase in the long chain of uranium decay; it is produced in nuclear reactors for technical purposes. It emits alpha particles that spread out at a huge speed, pulling along other, undecayed, atoms that pollute the air. Those who breathe them in are doomed.
“My colleague, Irina Simanovskaya, who has worked with polonium, told me that she handled the stuff at minimum distances with all possible precautions in the lab hood. However, it turned out several days later that polonium had penetrated the hood polluting the equipment installed there,” Borovoi said.
According to him, polonium can be detected only by special gauges, spreads out from the polluted place almost without restraint, and much time will pass before it becomes clear why people are dying.
Polonium is widely used for medical purposes in special equipment, and can be bought in nearly any country, including over the Internet. One can do this openly in the Untied States because only minuscule parts are sold. But we cannot be sure that criminals will not pay more to acquire a bigger amount of the deadly substance.
On the subject of the rumored involvement of security services in the Litvinenko incident, Borovoi said: “No security services will become involved with a dirty bomb, and I see no reason why they would do this. Such methods are inadmissible in state politics because they amount to the use of nuclear weapons.”
If somebody wanted to do away with Litvinenko, they would not have used such a dangerous and expensive weapon as polonium, the physicist said.
“In my view, this is a warning to us,” he said. “Terrorists could have acquired a horrible weapon. We must wake up to reality, see the threat, exert maximum caution, and take emergency measures to stop radioactive terrorism.”
(Tatyana Sinitsyna is a commentator for the RIA Novosti news agency. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti.)
(United Press International’s “Outside View” commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interest of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)
Source: United Press International
Was London The Site Of A Dirty Bomb Trial Run?
Polonium is widely used for medical purposes in special equipment, and can be bought in nearly any country, including over the Internet. One can do this openly in the Untied States because only minuscule parts are sold. But we cannot be sure that criminals will not pay more to acquire a bigger amount of the deadly substance.
by Tatyana Sinitsyna
UPI Outside View Commentator
Moscow (UPI) Dec. 14, 2006
The ado around the polonium incident in London has a certain quirk to it which I find annoying. Why is everyone talking about the victims (real and potential) and piquant details of secondary importance, when there is something far more important to worry about?
Nuclear physicist Alexander Borovoi, a professor at the Kurchatov Institute research center, pinpointed my cause of concern: “The worst part of the story is that it was like a rehearsal for a dirty bomb. The incident shows that something dangerous is cooking in the terrorist kitchen, with menacing ideas and plans that can generally be described as a crime.”
“Litvinenko or one of his close friends have somehow got hold of polonium,” Borovoi said. “From them we can trace a connection to those whose dream is to get hold of a dirty bomb — terrorists.”
It is a fact that terrorist number one, Osama bin Laden, once bought from shady arms dealers three containers with weapons-grade fissionable materials. The world was saved then only because the dealers cheated bin Laden by selling him medical wastes, which also set off the Geiger meter. We were probably lucky this autumn too, because something apparently went amiss in London. Polonium doesn’t forgive lax attitudes.
Borovoi said people incapable of working with Polonium-210 professionally probably handled the vial, letting the jinni out.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Was_London_The_Site_Of_A_Dirty_Bomb_Trial_Run_999.html
Whoops, here’s the Scaramella link, which was referred to by AJ earlier:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2006/261106Sushi.htm
My hunch is that Scaramella is a CIA source for what that’s worth. And I think for the Scarey Scaramella crowd, the Brits have not charged him but are apparently treating him very well.
Here’s more on the The Cold War is Dead,Long Live the old War:
“MOSCOW (AP) – Russia will replace single nuclear warheads on some of its strategic missiles with multiple warheads, Russian news agencies reported Friday, allowing Moscow to modernize its nuclear arsenal while building fewer new missiles – and spending less. In theory, the shift would also make it easier for Russian nuclear weapons to evade a U.S. missile defense system. “In the near future we will begin to substitute the single warheads on Topol-M intercontinental missiles with multiple warheads,” the Interfax-Military News Agency quoted Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, as saying Friday.”
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2006/dec/15/121500030.html
I think perhaps the reason there is PO in room 411 is that someone tried to poison Litvinenko there and when he refused to go up, they brought the stuff to the bar and did it there.
Doing it in the room would have left a smaller trail in the bar and made it more difficult. Thus, assume the Brits did not have that last minute epiphany about what was killing him, they’d have no reason to check Room 411 or the other spots that L/K visited..only those places Litvinenko was at and they’d not have found anything in the bar, only minute traces at Erinys and the Sushi Bar.
The problem is that he had his children staying in room 411 would he really have the PO in teh same room?
assuming the reports that Lugovoi and his family ocupied that room are correct!
Why suppose it was Lugovoi who did that?