Dec 19 2006
Am I Eating Polonium-210 Crow?
According to an ex-KGB officer in London I might have to eat some Polonium crow on the smuggling angle of this story:
Gordievsky claimed he knew who the murderer was on the fourth day after it happened. He said that British experts also knew it, “but they have been doing everything step by step, as it is correctly and it is necessary in this case according to procedureâ€. “Some time next year will publish the resultsâ€, said Gordievsky.
Asked to name the murderer, the ex-spy said he could make a hint only. “It was the person, who joined Lugovoy and the company for ten minutesâ€. According to Gordievsky, they [Lugovoy and the company] introduced him to Litvinenko as Volodya and told that “he also works in such business that could provide [you] some workâ€. Gordievsky said the man went away for a while and brought a cup of tea, and “so the end of Sasha had comeâ€. The ex-spy said the participants [of the murder] was a large group and they had rehearsed [their action] several times, in Moscow and then in London. However “they did not know what force this material possessed, even the main murderer did not know, only the bosses did knowâ€. According to Gordievsky, the British experts had found out that the murderers once had even dropped the container when they rehearsed; this was registered by the British equipment that “simply appeared to be the best in the worldâ€. Gordievsky added that the tablet of polonium that was made for the crime “does not cost $10 million, someone had exaggerated its priceâ€.
The ex-spy marked that polonium-200 is available only in Russia and in the United States. Both Americans and Englishmen know, which power plant had produced that polonium, what had been the size and the weight, and how and in what container it was packed, they know everything, Gordievsky said.
Asked about the role of Lugovoy, Kovtun and Sokolenko in the Litvinenko affair, Gordievsky repeated that judging by initial calculations, they were not murderers, because they simply were the mates of the murderers. “The person, who came on the side, was the killer. And they were sitting, distracting [his] attention all the timeâ€. Gordievsky pointed out that the main failure of the operation was the fact that nobody knew that polonium-200 was leaving traces. “They did not know that such equipment [to discover such traces] exists in the West, here again they have miscalculatedâ€.
Now I have my doubts about the Alpha-emitter technology as one of our readers pointed out our water supply is regularly tested to very low levels of alpha emitters. Levels that would easily detect Polonium-210. But in addition, there is no way anyone would confuse Litvinenko’s radiation illness with anything but radiation poisoning. And Polonium-210 is just not that subtle. This could be another person trying for their 15 minutes of fame. But we shall see. I would be very happy to be proven wrong on this – because an assassination is the least troubling scenario.
This is the first credible assassination story I have heard so far. The only major problem, except the one already mentioned, is the fact that Lugovoi and Kovtun were trailing the Po. In this scenario they should not have to bring it themselves. And if they did, why bring Po into London so many times (3)?
“they had rehearsed [their action] several times, in Moscow and then in London. ”
And when they rehearsed it, they spilled some–just as the Times theorized at the very outset.
Anyway, I’m glad to see a return to sanity.
Clarice,
I still have a lot of doubts with this as with the other theories. I could shred it, but what is the point? Why was there 3-4 shipments of somthing that can’t fill an packet of equal? Why use Polonium-210? And someone is kidding themselves if they thought radiation poisoning would not turn up in an autopsy. There is mistaking radiation sickness.
But we shall see!
Cheers, AJStrata
Doesn’t explain weeks of contamination prior. Doesn’t explain Kovtun’s contamination in Hamburg.
I doubt the veracity of this story because it makes no sense. In order to obtain the reactor where it was made, one would need the pure polonium metal. The pure metal would never be used as a poison just as pure thallium or pure arsenic metals are not used.
If you dropped a “tablet” into tea, it would not dissolve. It would sit there like a piece of lead in the bottom. You would use a salt of polonium (as is done with other metals … thallium sulfide in the case of that metal) probably a chloride, that would dissolve in water. It would first be dissolved in an acid to create the salt then the salt dissolved in a drink or placed onto food. In a salt form, the salt would not contain the same ratio of impurities as the original pure isotope (in fact, may be completely free of many of them).
This story is a bit of fabrication that draws on bits and pieces of previously published stuff. This person has been reading the papers and blogs and made this up.
Lostinthedrift,
Good point. This theory doesn’t explain the Kovtun trail at all, or the 3-4 hotels tied to Litvinenko’s trips. Or for that matter Berezovsky’s office (which was visited prior to the Pine Bar trip that evening).
Maybe I was wrong in predicting Goldfarb would be the one coming out with a new theory that absolved Lugovoi and Kovtun (necessary for Berezovsky to try and stay on their good side).
OK, now I have 90% of my doubts back. We have another Shvets here.
Wow. Yikes. Seriously, I know how this phrase gets tossed about but – I question the timing.
I can understand why authorities would want to keep everything under the radar, maybe in an effort to catch the assassin. Now I wonder if they have caught him? It still does not point to any Putin involvement, and I seriously doubt Scotland Yard or Interpol would ever imply that unless they want to end up dead too, or have irrefutable proof.
Boy howdy this might really open a Pandora’s box.
Gordievsky has been saying this all along — read the reports in the BBC before Litvinenko died.
I think Gordievsky is correct.
And AJStrata, I pray that you are wrong — but no crow whatsoever because I’m glad people like you keep your eye on a ball that goes right over my head. Conversely, I see things you don’t. We are all in this together. Either primary motive — assassination or smuggling for terrorism — is gravely sinister and deserves our attention.
This sounds possible, I’d lost track of this Volodya, January will be a great month between this and the Libby trial.
Check out this picture of the guys from Scotland Yard in Moscow… looks right out of a classic British style murder mystery, guess who’s the aristocrat on the team:
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-12-18T155225Z_01_L1871709_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BRITAIN-POISONING-DETECTIVES.xml
AJ – If this proves true, and you know I personally suspect it is, I do not consider you having to “eat crow”. You followed a path of clues to one conclusion and others followed them to another – it’s not right or wrong – it’s just good investigating.
Well, this gentlemen is quite credible. I believe him and I will throw out that that he probably has contacts in Scotland Yard and Interpol.
http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/news/newsarchive2005/gordievsky.html
Crosspatch,
“This story is a bit of fabrication that draws on bits and pieces of previously published stuff. This person has been reading the papers and blogs and made this up.”
I don’t think you would say this if you realized who Oleg Gordievsky is and read about his personal history. Given that history, it is not at all unreasonable to believe Gordievsky is still working closely with MI5, as he did with MI6 for years.
I’m struggling to believe that former FSB officers may have forgotten some things about alpha emitters and radiation poisoning, or that the people ordering them would care so little about their loyalty that they jeopardize their own men’s lives, but I will not believe that they try to poison Litvinenko in one hotel after another and travel back and fourth to Moscow because they’re too stupid to realize that they might need more Po than they thought. It’s just inconceivable.
Why would this gentleman with impeccable credentials put a story out there advising the timeline when it will be revealed he is correct – if he was lying?
He gave a brief description of what ocurred – and stated the facts will be revealed after the first of the year. He obviously knows more than he is saying.
I just want to know WHO put the contract on Litvinenko – since it appears there was no “Hit List” if Limarev is a liar as Gordievsky has implied.
Well it wraps up a couple of things:
Scaramella is not a part of this, he was duped by Limarev who is probably part of the hit team.
Shvets was out for his 15 minutes.
Mariposa,
Too much of what he says doesn’t fit. And, if he really does know what the investigators have known since very early on, he wouldn’t be talking about it until they themselves released that information. In other words, the fact they he is even saying it would tend to rule out that he knows what he is talking about in this specific instance. If he does, I am sure whatever access he had to the investigation has just been terminated.
AJ,
A question for you, in addition to the three trips that all trailed PO, what are the Top 5 (or whatever) Reasons You Think it was Smuggling? I would be very interested to know why you are so resolute.
I’m still more or less perfectly split between the two. I see problems with both, that cannot easily be reconciled…unless you assume a combination.
Could Litvinenko’s death have the joint purpose of proving to the smugglers that the product was indeed authentic Polonium as advertized, thanks to the diligent efforts of M-15? Two birds with one stone?
Well, he is not a Litvinenko compatriot – he appears to be very bipartisan about the KGB.
I don’t think he is looking for any fame or fortune – he has it in spades.
I think he knows what he knows.
Here’s and article he wrote about Litvinenko back in 2000 –
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a04c1f115e8.htm
Enlightened,
“Shvets was out for his 15 minutes.”
Not necessarily. This is a dance of seven veils. Shvets may be the right hand revealing more than the investigators want to show with the left hand (Gordievsky).
Sometimes, in investigations, it is all about bluff, who says it, and when. Gordievsky is speaking now to put some heat on by letting the cards drop about what investigators know.
Now, saying that, not everything a spymaster says is true. For instance, Shvets may be correct (though I don’t claim he is), but Gordievsky and MI6 may not want Shvets’s revelations out for some reason. I have my suspicions as to why, and they entail why it is not widely spread in the press who actually employed Litvinenko. And this statement may be telling:
The programme said that material Mr Litvinenko gathered on one individual fell into the hands of Kremlin officials, who were outraged at its contents. Not only did it wreck the deal, it also indicated that Mr Litvinenko had access to secret files and, possibly, contacts with agencies such as MI5 and MI6.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/17/wrussia17.xml
I wonder what the real link with Berezovsky is?
“To further the deception, current Russian president Vladimir Putin continually rails against Russian Mafia leaders like Berezovsky and Gusinsky, issuing a steady stream of indictments, as if the Russian government is actively pursuing these international criminals. Of course, it’s all a ruse. As I have reported in my World Affairs Briefs, Spanish intelligence documented five visits last year that Putin made to Berezovsky’s villa in Spain just prior to Yeltsin’s downfall and Putin’s rise to power. The transcripts of their overheard discussions were apparently centered around the need to dump Yeltsin, install Putin, and begin the process of slowly shedding Russia’s feigned image of weakness in order to get the West accustomed to a new, assertive Russia. As if following a script, Putin has suddenly become the new champion of Russian nationalism. He’s “tough on crime” and supposedly opposed by liberals and old-line Communists alike. Again, it’s all a ruse. Even Gusinsky, head of the MOST media group–Putin’s supposed arch enemy and media opposition–is playing the role of a persecuted capitalist Jew. In fact, he is a good friend of Berezovsky and has a villa in the same compound in Spain.”
http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com/keytopics/threats.html
There is something just silly about this story….