There is no other way to interpret the realizations that Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev refused to help investigators understand how Po-210 came to be spread all over London, Hamburg and Moscow exposing hundreds to a very dangerous and insiduous nuclear material. I posted earlier that these two exiles (in other words, visitors to the UK) were not cooperating with the investigation, but the extent of that refusal to help resolve the puzzle of the smuggled Po-210 is nothing less than criminal:

Tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev answered fewer than half the questions they were asked in lengthy sessions, the head of a team of Russian investigators who interviewed them last month in London, Andrei Mayorov, told the official newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

“In a word, they did not answer the most key questions,” said Mr Mayorov.

While these two like to claim – through a highly coordinated and pricey PR blitz funded by Berezovsy – that Putin is to blame the fact is the Polonium 210 trail leads to the offices of Berezovsky and to the car of Zakayev – not to any person or place directly likned to Putin. So they more than anyone owe the people of London, Hamburg and Moscow unfettered support for any lines of questioning which can help direct the investigations on the right path (or off the wrong one).

The key to anything dealing with Po-210 is the money required to covertly divert the material and the money required to smuggle it. So money questions are a huge underpinning of any investigation on where the material came from and where it was heading (if not destined for Litvinenko himself):

Mr Mayorov made no accusations and referred to Mr Berezovsky and Mr Zakayev as witnesses. But he told Rossiyskaya Gazeta that Mr Berezovsky declined to answer questions about his financial and business ties to Mr Litvinenko, adding that “Litvinenko, especially recently, in many ways depended on (Berezovsky)”.

Russian media have speculated that a falling-out between Mr Berezovsky and Mr Litvinenko could have led to his death. Some have alleged that Mr Berezovsky had reduced an allowance they claimed he was paying Mr Litvinenko, forcing him to find other sources of revenue that could have got him into trouble.

Mr Mayorov said Mr Berezovsky also refused to talk about how Mr Litvinenko had been making a living recently, or about “certain people” he said Russian investigators believe met Mr Litvinenko shortly before his poisoning.

Money transfers and contacts are VERY important in unraveling this dangerous mystery. When ten millionths of a gram can kill Litvinenko, then we need to know who may be carrying more of this material. So why would these people refuse to discuss who Litvinenko met with? Does this have to do with the fact contaminated offices nearby Berezosvky’s contaminated offices are owned by people now (and apparently still) out of the country? But it would be humane simply to identify people who may accidentally have been contaminated. So this refusal to cooperate is looking more and more sinister.

If you compare the way Lugovoi and Kovtun are reacting to media reports (they claim to be witnesses and supporting the investigations but not discussing details per requests of authorities – standard for cooperating witnesses) and Berezvosky and Zakayev (who constantly float details of the investigation to the media, point fingers through numerous, shifting scenarios and basically use a PR machine to set the tone of stories) there is no better indication of who is playing what role in this investigation. And it seems the first cracks have been exposed in the Berezovsky/Zakayev stories – which are conflicting with the stories being told by Lugovoi/Kovtun (and probably others) in Russia:

Thus Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky refused to talk about his financial and business relations with Litvinenko and to specify what was Litvinenko latest business.

“Nor did we hear anything about some people who, according to our information collected in Russia, associated with Litvinenko shortly before the poisoning.

Here’s the problem in either the kidnap or nuclear smuggling scenarios: where was the Po-210 from and were was it going? It appears some of the Po-210 (who knows how many batches/sources were collected for this activity) were produced in Russia. But that does not mean they were acquired in Russia. Russia exports nearly all its Po-210 so the material could have been diverted after it left Russia. But then were was it going? Litvinenko was to marginal to be the target of such an expensive activity, so it must have been heading somewhere.

Besides working for Berezovsky, Lugovoi had something else in common with many of the sites contaminated. He had a security company which could provide secure travel into Russia for people – and material. So what if there are many other sister elements to Lugovoi’s moving material unknown to them for a rich benefactor like Berezovsky? Each accomplice is a potential witness to the true nature of the endeavour. So the Russians may have been able to identify people involved with the acquisition and transport of the P0-210 coming in and out of London. And it is these sources they used to corner Berezovsky and Zakayev.

This has led to an interesting point in the investigation. It seems Russian and UK investigators will continue their work and continue to coordinate their findings. Which is probably why Berezovsky has ramped up his PR machine and is now trying to fund his own (controlled) investigation:

He added that the “need can well arise for the exchange of some materials, and for this reason I do not rule out that our cooperation will be continued, and it means that mutual visits are possible”.

Russian investigators are considering several leads.

“One of them is a working version, but we are elaborating all however exotic they might seem. Some of them intersect. Just for this reason Berezovsky was asked questions about his financial affairs with Litvinenko,” the investigator said.

I repeat where I started: Berezovsky and Zakayev – if the truly wanted to know what happened to their friend and to protect the people of London who have given them sanctuary all these years – should have cooperated without question. But they did not. And in doing so they put the lives of the people in their host country at grave risk.