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.
Crosspatch,
In your opinion. Not in mine.
of course if you buy the story you also have to buy the rest of it:
Gordievsky said he was “just laughing†when asked to comment the versions of [ex-KGB staff officers] Shvets and Limarev. He claimed Limarev was still an agent of KGB [FSB] who had been making false documents under the orders of his bosses; a piece of such paper was sent to Scaramella. Gordievsky said Shvets did not know anything, as he had not been in Russia for a long time. Gordievsky also expressed strong doubts that Litvinenko might have collected a kind of a file on an influential person, close to the Kremlin. “There is no such files, such materials do not exist, so there is nothing to speak about.â€
From the interview: http://halldor2.blogspot.com/2006/12/litvinenko-gordievsky-interview-ii.html
“The people who were doing the rehearsing didn’t know, they weren’t told, they weren’t supposed to know, only the bosses knew. But they rehearsed, rehearsed, and on one occasion they even dropped the container. It was the British who discovered that, for the British equipment has proved to be the best in the world. This polonium, this pill that was made, it didn’t cost 10 million, someone is exaggerating there.”
Why, in your view, was polonium-210, a substance that leaves so many traces, chosen for the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko?
They want demonstrate something new. They developed this. Did you know that polonium-210 leaves traces? I didn’t. And no one did. This was the main failure of this operation. Everything else was done correctly, everything was calculated, and so on. But what they didn’t know was that this equipment, this technology exists in the West – they didn’t know that, and that was where they miscalculated.”
I think they could have easily found out that there are methods to detect Po – just minor chemistry education and a few days spent in research should settle that question for them.
We will see. But honestly, the last thing in the world Putin would do is assassinate Litvinenko. There are too many bigger fish to fry. People that are actually a threat.
Litvinenko was ultimately harmless. It does however play to the benefit of many people to make it look like Putin did it, particularly some anti-Putin gangsters that have a long history of killing people, as Berezovsky reportedly does.
Enlightened,
“I wonder what the real link with Berezovsky is?”
Berezovsky initially bankrolled Putin.
According to Litvinenko, who investigated organized crime for the FSB, when Putin was installed as head of FSB, he closed all of Litvinenko’s internal investigations of FSB officers with organized crime. Litvinenko claimed that it was because there was evidence of Putin’s links with crime syndicates during his tenure as a deputy in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office.
Who knows?
Lizarde,
No, just because one part of someone’s story is true, it doesn’t follow that all of it is. That’s what makes this case, in particular, so difficult.
Well, make of this what you will:
Gordievsky said the 4th man was called “Volodya”
I give you:
“Softspoken, gentle and an unruffled operator with an iron will, Putin also known as Vovka and VOLODYA to his friends, is determined to take Russia on the road to democracy and instil market reforms.”
http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7283-10.cfm
In Russian – Volodya is a diminutive of – Vladimir
Mind you – I am not suggesting that Putin was the 4th man-
I suggest the 4th man used that name as a message to Litvinenko.
Hmmm. Interesting. The most common hit I get when entering “Volodya” links to – Putin.
Here’s one (I think it is tongue-in-cheek, but you know – many a truth is told in jest)
http://www.exile.ru/shite/99/oligarch.html
Enlightened,
According to Gordievsky’s version, I think “Volodya” was more than likely Vyacheslav Sokolenko.
Woah – Interesting.
‘What was the name of this colonel?’, asked the judge Mr Mirimanov. ‘I met several FSB employees’, answered witness Elderenbosch ‘They never gave me their last names and all were called Volodya’.
http://www.msf.ch/index.php?id=379&L=0
If you ask me – that name Volodya – is significant in this case –
I bet you Sasha knew as soon as he heard that name that he was a dead man.
Mariposa –
These statements by Gordievsky makes me think another, 4th person was there.
“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”
“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. ]
Well darnitall, I have to work. See ya for a while….
Enlightened,
Lizarde linked David McDuff’s blog, which provides a better translation:
Q
What, in your view, is the role of Lugovoy, Kovtun and Sokolenko in the Litvinenko case?
A
Calculations of this kind are still premature, but they lead one to the thought that they are not the killers because they were just the killer’s assistants. The killer was this man who arrived from the side. While the other two sat, distracting attention.
http://halldor2.blogspot.com/2006/12/litvinenko-gordievsky-interview-ii.html
“The other two,” not three. Three men, not four…
Got to go, too. Good night.
This guy knows what Putin was up to.
http://www.russianlaw.org/palmer.htm
NO murderer!
Yes. To the smuggling ring. But NO to the product they thought they were smuggling. Could have been human? A lot of hotels? They need a lot of broads to keep the customers happy. Especially those born to wear turbans. And, hoods.
While I could care less.
I think there’s been a clean get-away.
I think an ENTIRE smuggling ring, at least 200 strong. Have gone up in smoke. Or are looking forward to their future cancers. None of these people were nice.
While at the same time? The Imam didn’t want Sascha’s casket in his “temple.” What a good thing!
The muzzies are now terrified of INVISIBLE radiation. Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of stinkers, if you asked me.
While I’m still wondering why women had to swallow breast milk, when our Homeland Security wents nuts. Remember? You couldn’t even bring a container of Starbuck’s onto a jet plane.
So now we know. Besides liquids. Besides muslims asking for extra seat belt extensions, so they can build traps across the aisles. What else did we find out?
Alfred Hitchkock would have planted just as many McFuffins. But he had to tell his story in 90 minutes.
Could this all have been caused by an accident? Like Chernobyl? You think you need a team of 20 horses, and 200 men to make something like this come off?
How about ONE MAN? Not Litvenenko.
Mariposa – I still don’t think Sokolenko was the 3rd man.
“Vyacheslav Sokolenko, reported to be the “third man” at the 1 November meeting, said he was staying at the hotel but never met Mr Litvinenko”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6210820.stm
There was someone else there – and he is Volodya –
If Sokolenko was Volodya – I think Gordievsky would be stating that he is the assassin before Scotland Yard does.
Enlightened,
“There was someone else there – and he is Volodya -”
I disagree, but we’ll see, if and when, as Gordievsky states, the official account is released next year.
“I think Gordievsky would be stating that he is the assassin before Scotland Yard does”
He is. Perhaps Gordievsky can say what they would like to and can’t yet, because he doesn’t represent any agency in this.
Snapple, that is a terrific find. Thanks.
It really outlines the link between oligarchs, the underworld, state security services and politicians in Russia — particularly during the restructuring years. Wish Palmer had figured out Putin’s name isn’t “Boris,” though.
Mariposa – was it Sokolenko that we figured was the masked FSB colonel?
John F. Kennedy’s death was an assassination.
Probably NOT done by Oswald!
But we will never know!
Perhaps, that’s the key?
Something needed to be done. Insiders weren’t asking politicians for permission. And, an opportunity came along. Gold was struck.
All the theories in the world can’t explain WHY this is the best way to disperse a group of billionaires. Now if we could only find a way to “git” Soros.
Make my day. Somebody figured out a story that goes on for weeks and weeks. AND, IS TRACE-ABLE. No kidding.