Dec 19 2006

Lugovoi And Litvinenko Working Together For A Year

The idea Lugovoi was an assassin is an interesting one, except the fact he was not a Putin supporter, was an ally of Boris Berezovsky and was working business opportunities with Litvinenko for over a year. Other than that he is the perfect candidate for the Putin directed assassin:

He said their relationship became business-like after Litvinenko solicited his help as a mediator in talks with British military and security companies interested in expanding their businesses in Russia.

Lugovoi, who runs a security company in Russia, said: “He [Litvinenko] was only a mediator. He said he was not interested in anything, asking only for his cut if a contract was signed.”

Lugovoi said that Litvinenko had good contacts with two security companies in Britain, which, according to Western media reports, are Erinys International and RISC Management, and had been helping to facilitate talks since December 2005.

All joking aside, the two companies mentioned are the ones that showed up contaminated with Polonium-210. And it is possible Litvinenko was working the contraband side with these companies and independently trying to connect the companies upwith Lugovoi and Sokolenko (which would tie him back into the entire network). But that seems unlikely since Lugovoi shows up everytime Polonium 210 is smuggled into London.

What is interesting is the statement this business arrangement between Litvinenko and Lugovoi had been going on for a year. That is about the time I would expect to plan for either an assassination attempt that included smuggling Polonium-210 into London or just the smuggling itself. This is much more reasonable than the 3.5 weeks that Litvinenko comrade Yuri Shvets proposed in his rogue Kremlin/Businessman bent on revenge for losing out on a business deal.

What is also really important is the fact Litvinenko was being starved out by Berezovsky, the man supposedly in Litvinenko’s debt for saving him from an earlier assassination attempt:

He added that Litvinenko had serious financial problems and badly needed money, as his allowances had been reduced three-fold over the summer.

“He even named the figure, which was 1,500 pounds sterling [about $3,000],” Lugovoi said. “This is London, where even a handyman gets 2,000. I can say definitely the money issue interested him greatly and determined his actions.”

Why would Berezovsky, who claimed Litvinenko saved his life, push his old friend into financial difficulties? Well one reason would be to force Litvinenko into doing something he may not have wanted to do. Berezovsky is clearly a force to be reckoned with (you don’t get that much power and wealth otherwise). And maybe that was why Litvinenko was involved in the Polonium mess – he had no choice. He clearly was working as go between for Lugovoi and someone, probably Berezovsky. He met Lugovoi 13 times over the year. And we know the last three times included shipments of Polonium -210. And we can deduce from Lugovoi this business arrangement was nearing its completion

“I was going to pay Litvinenko and say ‘good-bye’,” Lugovoi said.

Was the Arsenal-CSKA game a celebration event tied to the last activity for Litvinenko and Lugovoi? Was Berezovsky the one who was finally blackmailed by Litvinenko to make sure his family was taken care of in return for the deathbed claims against Putin? It could be totally innocent business arrangements – except the Polonium 210 trails that criss-cross London tying the UK security firms to two Russians contaminated by Polonium, and a trail that still leads back to Berezovsky’s offices.

Update: More hints on the mechanism seen in the contamination trail in this report on someone who met with Litvinenko two days prior to the massive trail that showed up from meetings on Nov 1, 2006 and the testing that was done to determine he was clean of Polonium:

The leader of the Pora youth movement, Andrei Sidelnikov, said last week that he met with Litvinenko October 30, just two days before the former FSB agent’s hospitalization, at a cafe near the Oxford Circus underground station in London, adding that they spoke for nearly two hours.

Sidelnikov said he was screened for polonium by experts from the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, who asked him to come to the examination in the same clothes he wore the day of his meeting with Litvinenko.

“They [doctors] asked me to do this because they said that particles of polonium remain [on clothes] and cannot be washed away, and that if there were any particles, then sensors would definitely have given out a signal,” Sidelnikov said.

This may indicate the pattern the authorities are seeing in the Polonium-210 trail itself. The authorities are learning as they go and they are finding out how the forensics of Polonium works. What we are not seeing is the evidence collected at people’s homes and the stories around that evidence. For example Kovtun’s clothes, which appear to be the source for the Polonium trail in Germany. Much of the trail seems to be from particle trails off of clothes (as opposed to bodily fluids). The real question is what is the particulate size being discovered. Each particle tells a story about what was smuggled into London.

The particles seems to adhere at some point (possibly melting into the fabric due to the radiation) sufficiently to resist washing, but fall off at other times to leave a trail. It will be interesting to see who this trail was created.

7 responses so far

7 Responses to “Lugovoi And Litvinenko Working Together For A Year”

  1. lostinthedrift says:

    Just wanted to add a small update:

    Out of 7/8 Swedes tested – one shows slightly elevated levels of Po-210. It’s been found in the urine and it’s not at a dangerous level. It can be due to smoking/eating habits, but could also be related to London-stay. Then they stay that the person with the increased level of Po has been in the bar in “the hotel where Litvinenko was staying”, an overall strange statement. So I guess we don’t know where this person may have acquired Po.

  2. lostinthedrift says:

    Actually, I guess it’s the Milennium bar…

  3. tempester says:

    The BBC is breaking news that 3 more hotel workers have tested positive for PO210

  4. lostinthedrift says:

    The Brits are seeking out Limarov – the guy who sent Scaramella the email, which apparently he’s denying he ever sent. About time they sort that out.

    http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/19/europe/EU_GEN_France_Poisoned_Spy.php

  5. mariposa says:

    Tempester,

    Terrible news for those people just doing their best to make an honest living.

    AJStrata,

    “And it is possible Litvinenko was working the contraband side with these companies and independently trying to connect the companies up…”

    I will accept the probability that RISC may have done something like that, because as you will eventually discover, their background is shady, and it may tie in Leonid Nevzlin, the former Yukos exec, as well.

    But I am extremely doubtful that Triton/ Erinys — founded and run by Gen. John Holmes of the Unicorn Project, which helped the Metropolitan Police in London coordinate anti-terrorism strategy for London businesses

    “The authorities are learning as they go and they are finding out how the forensics of Polonium works.”

    I agree, AJ, and have promoted that idea all along.

    I’m glad to read — although Aeroflot again contradicts this story again — that Russian authorities have finally tested 4 of about 40 of the Russian planes that fly the Hamburg-Moscow route.

    If this is a terrorist plot, as you think, their obfuscation and foot-dragging may cost lives, and I hope people understand that.

    Enlightened and clarice,

    Axis news named another person as Trepashkin’s “dirty colonel” in their reports yesterday. I found a lot more online and have reason to believe Axis got it wrong, and we got it right, but will have to leave just this for now.

    The Ghost of Christmas-Will-Be-Here-In-6-Days is breathing down my neck, so I have to pick up speed and will check in as I can.

    Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and my wishes for a very happy 2007 for us all.

  6. mariposa says:

    Sorry, didn’t finish my sentence:

    But I am extremely doubtful that Triton/ Erinys — founded and run by Gen. John Holmes of the Unicorn Project, which helped the Metropolitan Police in London coordinate anti-terrorism strategy for London businesses…

    would be involved in illegal smuggling of radioactive material.

  7. DJ Adapt says:

    I believe that Erinys or RISC must have some involvement, not from a management level but from lower level employee’s helping them smuggle into UK which im sure is the HUB for there whole operation. They are not terrorist, but black market smugglers who fumbled the operation. Those security agencies have a lot of connections at the airports in regards to federal security and the proper logisitcs back doors. I also believe that the primary transaction was taking place at the PINE BAR with maybe other clients involved. This is and always will be just another business transaction for them. I think Scotland yard is returning to the UK to question Berezovsky, which is the only person that has enough money to fund something like this. I believe Lugovoi and Kuvton painted a portrait surrounding Berezovsky convincing Scotland Yard that Berezovsky is the main person involved. Now its just a matter of obtaining warrants to Berezovsky’s offices and completely monitoring his business finances which im sure will have millions of unidentified withdrawals. Berezovsky must of paid everyone a couple of million pounds to keep quiet. Lets not forget he is a billionaire. Billionaire’s do not become rich by selling Candy bars to local civillians, they become rich by selling Candy bars to other countries.