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.
Back to the topic, I just came across this, from a Times Online article dated November 24:
“Mr Lugovoi attacked Mr Litvinenko’s friend Alex Goldfarb for implicating him in the affair. He said that he had met Mr Goldfarb only a couple of times briefly. “I think he is just trying to attract attention to himself and maybe this is his way of doing it,†he said.”
Casts doubt on the Lugovoi-Berezovsky alliance, at least publicly.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2469663,00.html
As I recall, Litvinenko suspected Scaramella and called Gordievsky about it. Gordievsky laughed and told Litvinenko that Scaramella was a ‘soap bubble’.
I don’t recall Litvinenko suspecting Lugovoi. The original – first I thin – story – from Chechen Press to Echo Moskvy – fingered Scaramella.
But it’s my recollection – no links at hand right this minute.
“Can anyone give support to this statement?” [ … ]
Ha! Funny, copydude, I’ve been trying to research that line since I first read it a few days ago. I didn’t bring it up before because I have been chastised twice for wasting everybody’s time.
For what it’s worth, it’s been edited; it was origianally published in the Moscow Times as this:
“Ever since the days of the rebel Shamil in the 19th century it has been customary for blood enemies in the Caucasus to poison each other with polonium-210.”
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/12/06/007.html
But I can’t find anything to support the author’s claim. I’m still looking.
I don’t recall any accusations, Copydude, but it seems to weaken the pretext of the post, that Lugovoi and Berezovsky were allies. If they were indeed allies, it would suggest that Litvinenko’s own ties to Berezovsky were not what they had been–which I have seen suggested elsewhere.
So it is very strange that Litvinenko did not (and we are just assuming he did not tell MI5/6 something else of course) say for instance ” I was having tea at the Millenium with my associates L & K and I remember ordering tea, and it was delivered by a man/woman I do not recollect ever being at the Millenium previously” or words to that effect. Isn’t that strange that he really did not go into any details of the tea party at the Millenium, or any other place where he thought he might have been exposed? I mean, for all intents and purposes it does not appear that he described ANY possible suspects?
Mariposa,
Maybe it was tongue in cheek. She should have put a 🙂 at the end of the sentence.
“Ever since the days of the rebel Shamil in the 19th century it has been customary for blood enemies in the Caucasus to poison each other with polonium-210.â€
This is crap, it was discovered in 1898 by Mme Curie, that’s two years from the 20th century.
“Funny, both Scaramella and Kovtun flew to meet him on budget airlines. (Easy Jet and German Wings.) ”
True — but then Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, drove a truck that was 15 years old, too. I see no real significance there.
Yes – and Shamil wasn’t 19th century either – it’s a confusing joke that got lost in editing
Lougvoi is a survivor. He had to be extremely smart to rise to the position he had before the fall of the government and knew how to play both ends against the middle. It takes a lot of moxy to accomplish this in Russia in these circles. But I think he kept close ties to Bereszovsky all this time and was on his payroll. Witness Bereszovsky gave him the money to start his security business.
When I say there was a smuggling ring involved I don’t mean on a large scale. I mean a short term transaction to get polonium to the Chechens probably involving only a few months. Bereszovsky and Zakayev have to be involved. Their biggest ambition is the fall of the present Russian government and dirty bombs would go a long way in accomplishing this. Bereszovsky has the money if indeed money was required and Zakayev has the contacts. And I cannot for the life of me understand how the assassination theorists can discount the possibility of terrorists having dirty bombs. They act as if this is an impossibility and denegate the danger this involves. I don’t care how Litvinenko was killed. I only care if the terrorists now have the ability to set off dirty bombs who knows where. In the world we live in today we cannot brush off any information involving the terrorists and their weapons. And anybody who does is sticking their heads in the sand hoping it will all go away.
“Funny, both Scaramella and Kovtun flew to meet him on budget airlines. (Easy Jet and German Wings.)”
Russians have always impressed me as being somewhat like Scots in that way. Some may wear flashy clothes but in areas where it doesn’t matter, they will be frugal.
“Can anyone give support to this statement?
Quote: †Since the 19th century it has been customary for blood enemies in the Caucasus to poison each other with polonium-210.â€
I would say that is pretty much bunk. From a recent article at counterterrorism blog:
Global Security website on polonium notes, “Prior to 1944, polonium had not been isolated in pure form or in any appreciable quantity”
“This is crap, it was discovered in 1898 by Mme Curie, that’s two years from the 20th century.”
GK, she “discovered” it, but she didn’t invent it; polonium existed all along before Curie made record of it.
“Yes – and Shamil wasn’t 19th century either – it’s a confusing joke that got lost in editing”
Which Shamil? Basayev, or the Caucasus hero Imam Shamil, for whom Basayev was named? The latter did indeed live in the 19th century.
Barbara I agree with your last post, that seems like a real possibility. But why bring the stuff through the UK?
And why did Litvinenko meet with Scaramella, a nuclear materials expert?
Well Mari, whenever he lived, he didn’t kill people with Polonium-210!
I appreciate the distinction, but how in the world could you isolate this stuff if you didn’t even know it existed. As another poster pointed out, it wasn’t isolated until the 1940s.
It was discovered but not isolated in its pure form. It wasn’t until we needed detonators for atomic bombs that there was even a need for production of it at all.
GK, the journalist was sloppy. If she was correct at all about it being traditionally used as a poison to kill enemies in the Caucasus, then she probably meant to say polonium — not polonium 210.
You’ve hit on why I’ve been quietly looking into w/o comment here, though, because I believe at least part of the statement — if not the whole thing — is wrong. It is intriguing though, and I wish I knew more about why she wrote that.
Crosspatch what is your “Col Mustard did it with the candlestick in the Lounge” theory as of right now?
I’ve shifted from 90-10 smuggling to about 70-30 smuggling.
To all, if you haven’t read the very long, detailed Sunday Times review of the case from Dec. 3 I highly recommend it:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2484295_1,00.html