OK, the story of Polonium-210 (Po-210) smuggling through London just became a lot more bizarre. The last thing I would think Moscow would do right now – with a political row going on with the UK over Litvinenko’s death by Po-210 poisoning – is attempt an assassination on Berezovsky or his people who are the ones behind the strained claim minor character Litvinenko was assassinated using Po-210. But that is EXACTLY whay Berezovsky is claiming:

Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon who blamed the Kremlin for the killing of a former KGB officer in London, said Wednesday that he had briefly fled Britain last month after British intelligence services foiled a plot to kill him.

“I was informed by Scotland Yard that there was a plot to kill me and they recommended to me to leave the country,” Berezovsky told The Associated Press. He said he left Britain immediately for about a week and returned when Scotland Yard told him it was safe to do so.

…

Scotland Yard declined to comment on Berezovsky’s claim and on newspaper reports that said a suspect had been seized at a London hotel to which he reportedly had intended to try to lure Berezovsky and then shoot him.

Russian ambassador Yury Fedotov told British Broadcast Corp. radio that Berezovsky’s claim was “quite strange information, and I have nothing that could confirm it.”

…

Berezovsky said he initially learned of the plot through contacts within Russia’s Federal Security Service.

“They told me that someone I knew would come and kill me openly and present it as a business matter. He would say there was a disagreement over the business,” he said.

More detail . You would think this incident would have been held up by the UK as the smoking gun that there were assassination attempts against Berezovsky’s cadre of players and himself, cementing the assassination angle with Litvinenko. But this news comes out as some PR stunt from Berezovsky instead of authorities? Doesn’t add up. My guess is someone leaked the rumor through Russian sources friendly to Berezovsky’s coup plans (he has claimed openly he has allies in Russia ready to overthrow the democratically elected Putin), which then correctly initiated a warning from MI5/MI6 to Berezovsky, who then used it as an excuse to make a grand run for his life.

I have from day one been ready to admit I have been wrong on all this. I have yet to see why Litvinenko was worth a .22 caliber bullet, let alone millions of dollars in Po-210. I have yet to see any explanation for the trail of Po-210 through London on three separate dates in October where Lugovoi and Litvinenko met each time. I have failed to see any explanation for why Po-210 was smuggled through London those three dates when Litvinenko’s dose was so small it would only take on trip to move ten millionths of a gram. I have yet to hear a good explanation for the Po-210 all through Berezovsky’s offices. I have yet to hear when the hotel room in the Millenium Hotel was contaminated. And I am sure there is much more evidence we don’t know that still flies in the face of an assassination theory. The recent waiter’s story doesn’ hold water – so forget that. But I can still be wrong on all of these things.

I keep seeing this whole media story as more bad movie script (with all its scientific flaws) than a serious criminal investigation. A second attempt on Berezovsky’s life would add some credence to the assassination angle. But unless we see an assassin with admitted and proven ties to the Kremlin, I am going to find myself now believing the UK authorities are completely inept and are simply letting Berezovsky lead them around. And then you have to ask the question, why would authorities let THAT happen?

Berezovsky has made wild claims all through this, including the biologically impossible claim Litivinenko ‘sweated’ the Polonium all over his office after he was poisoned (though Litvinenko did NOT go to Berezovsky’s office after the Pine Bar meeting). If this is another PR stunt Londoners would be right to demand an explanation from authorities as to why they are playing games like this.

Update: It is clear Berezovsky’s story is changing already. In the earlier reporting Berezovsky was tipped off by FSB, and then he alerted MI5/MI6. In later stories he now claims he was told by MI5/MI6 that he was being threatened. This is a PR stunt, which should embarrass the UK authorities since they are the ones being played in the press by Berezovsky.