Dec 13 2006

New Clues Emerge In Litvinenko Incident

Two new clues have emerged in the puzzle that is the Litvinenko incident. There are now some vague reports of another Russian of interest associated with Kovtun and his trip to Hamburg from Moscow in October (before Litvinenko fell ill):

An unnamed Russian businessman who flew from Moscow to Hamburg on October 28 with Mr Kovtun is also being sought. Police believe this flight was used to transport polonium-210 into Europe.

There is also another hotel that has tested positive for Polonium-210, which again bolsters the idea this was some sort of large smuggling ring verses some targeted assassination:

In addition, a Swedish couple that had stayed at the Shaftesbury Hotel near Picadilly were Tuesday tested at the oncology unit at Lund University Hospital in southern Sweden, the Stockholm daily Expressen reported.

The hotel room the couple had stayed in apparently had traces of polonium.

Seems like an awefully large group of people for an assassination someone wanted to look like an accident.

Also today, Dmitry Kovtun speaks out and claims Litvinenko was the one who contaminated him, and that it happened on Oct 16-18. This is possible and plausible since Polonium 210 was found at hotels associated with Lugovoi’s visit to London and meetings with Litvinenko. We also have, someplace back in my posts on this subject, I believe Lugovoi’s statement that Litvinenko told him he had poisoned himself before Nov 1st. While it is hard to put much stock in Lugovoi’s word by itself, I find it worth considering since he seems to be a cooperating witness, possibly under a plea agreement.

Update: Both Lugovoi and Kovtun are pointing to Oct 16-18th as the logical (as we all know) first time for Polonium 210 contamination for Litvinenko:

Andrei Lugovoi, a security agent-turned-businessman who met with Litvinenko at a London hotel on Nov. 1, the day Litvinenko suspected he was poisoned, said in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid that he and Litvinenko were poisoned on Oct. 16.

“Who told you that the contamination took place on Nov. 1? It took place much earlier, on Oct. 16,” Lugovoi was quoted as saying by the paper. Lugovoi is himself undergoing radiation checks in a Moscow clinic.

Litvinenko, 43, a former Russian agent and a Kremlin critic, died Nov. 23 of poisoning from polonium-210.

Lugovoi supported his claim by saying that he and Litvinenko visited a London-based security firm where traces of polonium were later found only in mid-October, but did not go there on Nov. 1, meaning that the contamination couldn’t have taken place on that day.

While Lugovoi is being a bit disingenuous with this logic due to the massive radiation signatures at the Millenium Hotel Room and bar, he is being more accurate than the reporting coming out of the UK media – which has been obsessed with the assassination theory. It should be noted though, that Litvinenko’s final dosage could have been the result of a number of contacts with Polonium-210 which was not being handled properly. He could have been building up his poison levels over many weeks, and received a final larger dose on Nov 1. But I am only pointing this out to show there are lots of reasonable scenarios based on what is known to date. The media has jumped the gun – like usual.

165 responses so far

165 Responses to “New Clues Emerge In Litvinenko Incident”

  1. mariposa says:

    Clarice, maybe so.

  2. Enlightened says:

    No evidence to support my theory? What story are you following?

    Anna was followed by two men and a woman before she was murdered. They have not been caught. They were however caught on CCTV. Anna just happened to be a Putin critic and Chechnyan supporter.

    Meanwhile authorities believe Litvinenko was being followed. Suprisingly enough, he is a Putin critic and Chechnyan supporter, allegedly on a Hit List. Anna was also on the List.

    I’m sure you can prove where the 3 persons following Anna are? Or were, on or about the time Sasha was poisoned? So my theory that it might be those same 3 people fits the evidence. Can I prove it was the woman? No – but you can’t disprove it.

    There is a hit list. People on the list are being murdered. Prove otherwise.

    Was the transport vessel a poison ring? In my opinion it is highly possible. It fits with every event that has taken place. It’s an age-old tradition in poisoning technique.

    1) The PO 210 was minute in that it was possibly crystals. Easily fits in a poison ring compartment.

    2) Poison rings are not airtight – it’s very possible that granules slipped out and left contamination at the affected locations. Opening and closing the compartment would effect the slippage. Funny thing is – you can’t prove otherwise.

    3) I happen to believe a woman could carry off wearing a poison ring less obviously than a man could.

    Believe whatever you want – just keep your insults to yourself unless you can disprove what I have theorized – with facts.

  3. Gotta Know says:

    Enlightened I’m not insulting you, I’m making an observation. Do you have any witnesses that think a mysterious woman did it? Was she wearing a ring? Do you have any reason whatsoever that the people involved were the same?

  4. Gotta Know says:

    By the way, Enlightened, your invitation to disprove your wild theories is ludicrous. Can you prove that there is not a one-carat diamond lying in the street of a major American city right now? Your idea is about as ridiculous. How can anyone disprove your theory? How can anyone prove that martians from the planet Krypton didn’t do it?

  5. jerry says:

    FWIW, I think that “ring” link was shaky – whoever they claimed named polonium… the truth is that it was named by Curie for her homeland – Poland.