Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: January 29, 2007 8:38:41 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Litvinenko: Tempest in a Teapot -- but Berezovsky May Face
Prison In Russia
One man (Lugovoy), two men (Kovtun), three men ("Vladislav") ...
Just charge EVERYONE, and the most obvious ones first of all ...
and never mind the headline news earlier about the "identified"
assassin, unrelated to all three, who was captured by security
cameras at the London airport ...
What's REALLY important is that Litvinenko's badly written,
unsubstantiated anti-Putin "expose" is a "bestseller" in England,
coinciding with the buzz that Johnny Depp will portray the alleged
"martyred superspy" in the movie version, and Berezovsky's pals in
the UK/American propaganda --er, ENTERTAINMENT-- industry acquire
"creative control" over another item of "official" history.
ABC News Exclusive: Murder in a Teapot
January 26, 2007 12:11 PM
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/01/it_was_in_the_t.html
Brian Ross and Maddy Sauer Report:
British officials say police have cracked the murder-by-poison case
of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, including the discovery of a
"hot" teapot at London's Millennium Hotel with an off-the-charts
reading for Polonium-210, the radioactive material used in the
killing.
A senior official tells ABC News the "hot" teapot remained in use
at the hotel for several weeks after Litvinenko's death before
being tested in the second week of December. The official said
investigators were embarrassed at the oversight.
The official says investigators have concluded, based on forensic
evidence and intelligence reports, that the murder was a "state-
sponsored" assassination orchestrated by Russian security services.
Officials say Russian FSB intelligence considered the murder to
have been badly bungled because it took more than one attempt to
administer the poison. The Russian officials did not expect the
source of the poisoning to be discovered, according to intelligence
reports.
Russian officials continue to deny any involvement in the murder
and have said they would deny any extradition requests for suspects
in the case.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
Sources say police intend to seek charges against a former Russian
spy, Andrei Lugovoi, who met with Litvinenko on Nov. 1, the day
officials believe the lethal dose was administered in the
Millennium Hotel teapot.
Lugovoi steadfastly denied any involvement in the murder at a
Moscow news conference and at a session with Scotland Yard
detectives. Russian security police were present when the British
questioned Lugovoi, and British officials do not think they
received honest answers from him.
British health officials say some 128 people were discovered to
have had "probable contact" with Polonium-210, including at least
eight hotel staff members and one guest.
None of these individuals has yet displayed symptoms of radiation
poisoning, and only 13 individuals of the 128 tested at a level for
which there is any known long-term health concern, officials said.
The Millennium Hotel has closed the Pine Bar and other areas where
Litvinenko and Lugovoi met on Nov. 1, although the hotel says the
remaining public areas "have been officially declared safe" and are
open to the public.
Watch World News With Charles Gibson tonight for more
on this report.
-------------------------
Russian spy killer 'identified'
January 20, 2007 11:45pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21093415-1702,00.html
BRITISH police have made a breakthrough and identified the man they
believe poisoned Alexander Litvinenko, a friend of the murdered
former Russian spy told Saturday's edition of The Times newspaper.
Police tracked down the mystery man, who was introduced to
Litvinenko and his associates as “Vladislav”, using details that
the ex-agent recounted on his deathbed.
The suspected killer travelled to London on a forged European Union
passport and slipped the radioactive isotope polonium-210 into
Litvinenko's tea, according to Oleg Gordievsky, a friend of the
defector to Britain, who has worked closely with detectives on the
murder investigation.
Litvinenko's death in London on November 23, in agonising pain
after being administered a huge dose of polonium, caused a storm of
media speculation and strained ties between Britain and Russia.
“This man is believed to have used a Lithuanian or Slovak
passport,” Mr Gordievsky, a former KGB Soviet agent, told The Times.
“He did not check into any hotel in London using the name or that
passport, and he left the country using another EU passport.”
Police sources told The Times it had not previously been revealed
that Litvinenko visited a fourth-floor room at the Millennium Hotel
in London to discuss a business deal.
He went to the room with Russian businessman Dimitri Kovtun and
Andrei Lugovoy, another former Russian agent.
The trio were joined in the room by a mystery man who was
introduced as “Vladislav”.
“Vladislav was described as someone who could help Mr Litvinenko
win a lucrative contract with a Moscow-based private security
company,” Mr Gordievsky said.
“Sasha (Litvinenko) remembered the man making him a cup of tea.
“His belief is that the water from the kettle was only lukewarm and
that the polonium-210 was added, which heated the drink through
radiation so he had a hot cup of tea. The poison would have showed
up in a cold drink.”
London's Metropolitan Police refused to comment on the report.
Lugovoy and Kovtun deny any part in Litvinenko's death.
-------------------
UK wants to try Russian
for Litvinenko murder
· Diplomatic clash with Moscow expected
· Kremlin could ask for billionaire Berezovsky in return
Ian Cobain, Julian Borger and Luke Harding in Moscow
Friday January 26, 2007, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1999204,00.html
The British government is preparing to demand the extradition of a
Russian businessman to stand trial for the poisoning with
polonium-210 of the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko. Senior
Whitehall officials have told the Guardian that a Scotland Yard
file on the murder which is about to be passed to the Crown
Prosecution Service alleges that there is sufficient evidence
against Andrei Lugovoi for the CPS to decide whether he should face
prosecution.
The government is already bracing itself for the cooling of
relations with Moscow, which it believes will be an inevitable
consequence of an extradition request. The request could be made as
early as next month and government officials are convinced the
Kremlin will demand, in return, the extradition of Boris
Berezovsky, the Russian millionaire oligarch who was granted asylum
in the UK.
Mr Lugovoi, 41, a former bodyguard with the KGB, was one of several
people interviewed by detectives from Scotland Yard's counter-
terrorism command in Moscow last month. The Yard is declining to
comment on the case and details of the alleged evidence against Mr
Lugovoi remain unclear.
The businessman has repeatedly denied any involvement in the
murder, and last night told the Guardian: "I am not guilty. I have
nothing to do with the killing of Litvinenko." He added that he was
unaware that Scotland Yard was planning to seek his extradition.
Mr Lugovoi met Mr Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor
Square, London, on November 1. Mr Litvinenko fell ill shortly
afterwards and died in University College Hospital, London, on
November 23. In the intervening period, Mr Lugovoi appeared to
leave a trail of radioactive polonium-210 at a number of offices
and hotels around London, and traces of the substance were also
found on board an aircraft in which he travelled.
Several other people have also tested positive for polonium-210,
however, including eight members of staff and one other guest at
the Millennium Hotel. Dimitri Kovtun, a Russian business associate
of Mr Lugovoi who was present at the hotel meeting, was also
contaminated.
On his return to Moscow, Mr Lugovoi called a televised press
conference to protest his innocence, and pointed out that traces of
polonium-210 had been found on his wife and children. "To think
that I would handle the stuff and put them at risk is ludicrous,"
he said. "Someone is trying to set me up. But I can't understand
who. Or why."
Associates of the dead man have repeatedly accused President
Vladimir Putin's government of being behind his murder, a claim the
Kremlin rejects. While it is known that detectives believe they
have uncovered evidence pointing to Mr Lugovoi's involvement, it is
not clear whether they have established a motive for the murder.
Any attempt to extradite Mr Lugovoi could founder on the Russian
constitution, which offers citizens protection against enforced
removal from the country. However, senior British government
officials have told the Guardian that officials in Moscow have
already indicated their willingness to strike a deal which would
see the suspect being handed over in return for Mr Berezovsky's
extradition. Mr Berezovsky amassed his estimated £800m fortune
during Russia's rush to privatisation in the 1990s, and fled to the
UK after falling out with President Putin six years ago. Mr
Litvinenko followed him, claiming that he had been instructed to
murder Mr Berezovsky.
The oligarch has already fought off one extradition attempt, after
Moscow accused him of large-scale fraud. After that charge was
dropped, the Kremlin accused him of plotting to overthrow the
government by force.
He cannot be forced to return to Russia, however, as the UK courts
have ruled that the charges against him are politically-motivated
and that he could not expect to receive a fair trial.
Government officials say that they have difficulty trying to
explain to the Russian authorities that the UK courts are entirely
independent, and that Mr Berezovsky cannot be extradited once the
courts have ruled against such a move. As a result, there is
growing nervousness in Whitehall over the possibility of a
diplomatic rift, and about the economic consequences.
British business is heavily involved in Russia, with direct
investment of nearly £2bn and exports of close to £3bn in 2005.
The Kremlin has frequently used punitive economic measures as a
blunt diplomatic tool. It cut off the gas supply to Ukraine and
Belarus in the midst of political disputes, raising anxiety within
the EU over Europe's dependence on Moscow for energy supplies. Last
month Shell was forced to sell its controlling share in the world's
biggest oil and gas venture, Sakhalin 2, to the Russian energy
giant Gazprom. BP has also come under pressure to give up some of
its share in a UK-Russian oil company, TNK-BP. It has been targeted
by the state licensing agency, Rosnedra, which is threatening to
strip it of its permit for a string of alleged infringements.
Meanwhile, the Health Protection Agency reported yesterday that a
total of 129 people appear to have been exposed to polonium-210,
and that 13 of them were at a small risk of long-term illness.
Traces of radiation have been found at 20 locations in London, and
several remain sealed off.
--------------------------
London 'too risky' for
Litvinenko [book] launch party
By Henry Deedes
The Independent, 29 January 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/pandora/article2193710.ece
If British spooks thought the fallout surrounding the poisoning of
Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko was about to blow over any
time soon, they'd be very much mistaken.
A new panic has surfaced over the proposed launch party for
Litvinenko's recently released book "Blowing Up Russia: The Secret
Plot to Bring KGB Terror."
The co-author of the tome, Yuri Felshtinsky, is currently refusing
to travel to London to fulfil any publicity commitments for the
book. Felshtinsky, who is based in the United States, has
apparently been advised by the FBI not to travel since they believe
he still wouldn't be safe in the capital.
"He won't come at the moment, we will try and convince him to come
to launch the book soon," says a spokesman for the book's
publisher, Gibson Square.
"It's very important he does come because a lot of people really
want to hear him speak. There's still so much mystery surrounding
who Litvinenko was and what it was that drove people to murder him."
American authorities have apparently advised Felshtinsky to sit
tight because of the planned visit of Russian authorities who are
hoping to pursue their own investigations into the murder.
"We expect that once they have left we'll be able to get Yuri to
London," adds the spokesman. "Hopefully, that will be sooner rather
than later."
-------------------
The Sunday Times January 28, 2007
Spy’s killers ‘will not be prosecuted’
David Leppard
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2569826,00.html
SCOTLAND YARD detectives investigating the murder of Alexander
Litvinenko have told his widow that the men suspected of her
husband’s murder will escape prosecution — even though there is
enough evidence to charge them.
Marina Litvinenko was told 12 days ago at a formal meeting with
officers from the Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command that the police
could recommend charging the two Russian businessmen they suspect
of involvement in Litvinenko’s poisoning. However, they said that
they planned to close the case because they have “no jurisdiction”
over the men, who are in Russia and cannot be extradited.
Litvinenko, a former officer with the Russian intelligence service
the FSB, died last November after ingesting a lethal dose of
polonium-210. Police believe the radioactive poison was dropped
into a cup of tea at a meeting with his killers.
The former spy said on his deathbed that he had been poisoned by
agents acting for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, which
Putin denies.
Sources close to the inquiry say the police told Litvinenko’s widow
they are confident that the charges could be brought against Andrei
Lugovoi and Dimitri Kovtun, two former FSB officers.
The two men have admitted meeting Litvinenko in London at the
Millennium hotel in Mayfair on the day of his suspected poisoning.
However, during interviews in Moscow with British detectives they
protested their innocence.
Legal experts have told the Yard that the men cannot be extradited
to face trial in this country. A source close to the inquiry said:
“Marina was told that officers were very confident they knew who
had done it and had cracked the case, but had no alternative but to
close the file because they had no chance of extraditing their
suspects.”
The Home Office confirmed that under Russian law, nobody can be
extradited from there to face trial in this country: “We don’t
comment on individual extradition cases. However, the Russian legal
system will not permit the extradition of its own citizens.”
---------------------------
Police to present Litvinenko evidence to prosecutors
Belfast Telegraph, January 25, 2007
By Jason Bennetto
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/
article2184674.ece
Evidence against at least two men suspected of being involved in a
plot to murder the Russian agent, Alexander Litvinenko, is due to
be sent to crown prosecutors in the next week.
Detectives believe that the former spy was poisoned on two
different occasions after his assassins decided they had not used
enough of the radioactive material polonium-210 to kill him the
first time.
The police file provides evidence against two Russian businessmen,
Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, both former KGB officers. The two
men are in Russia and have denied being involved in the murder plot.
Mr Litvinenko became ill on the night of 1 November and died on 23
November.
Scotland Yard officers who travelled to Moscow were allowed only
limited access to Mr Kovtun and Mr Lugovoi. Because of this, and
the Russian authorities' refusal to extradite the suspects to
Britain, it looks almost certain that the Crown Prosecution Service
will not bring any charges.
