Feb 27 2007

Is UK Hedging Its Bets In Litvinenko Investigation?

An interesting comment from Andre Lugovoi in recent days has me thinking the UK investigation may be hedging its bets into how Litvinenko ended up poisoned by Po-210:

Law-enforcement bodies of Russia and Great Britain are investigating 3 criminal cases at once, all of which concern Alexander Litvinenko’s poisoning, said former KGB officer Andrei Lugovoi, who is a witness in one of the cases. Lugovoi underlined that his status of witness has not changed.

Lugovoi denied pointblank all suspicions of his having relation to the poisoning of Litvinenko with polonium, reported Ekho Moskvy radio station.

So between the two countries there are three criminal cases being investigated? Well we know one of the cases is an assassination of Litvinenko using Po-210 as the ‘weapon of choice’. Regular readers of this blog know I am highly dubious of this theory because there are a myriad of proven, cheaper, less traceable and nearly invisible poisions an assassin could use which do not require the smuggling of a nuclear material used in nuclear weapon triggers, which is impossible to handle in its solid form, and which requires a very sophisticated lab to create a salt form that would disolve in a liquid. Even the most amatuerish assassin would leave Po-210 as a last resort option.

But that investigation is mandated by circumstances. So what are the other two? Well one is probably a smuggling operation trafficking in a nuclear material that is used in nuclear weapons triggers and would be an optimal material for a deadly dirty bomb which could kill thousands from an amount of material less than a packet of sweetener used in tea or coffee. That is still the scenario that, in my humble opinion, best fits the facts, evidence and key players.

So what is the third option? The Oligarch war, where someone took out Litvinenko because he was a threat to one or another of the powerful Russians in exile. I have serious doubts about this as I do with the state assassination theory. And would this be another investigation or the same as the first one? I guess there is a case to be made where Litvinenko knew what he was dealing in (Po-210) and a case where he was ignorant of the material he was handling and was killed through a mishap. So we could have two variants on the smuggling angle. Or it could be simply we have a UK investigation and two independent Russian investigations (or vice versa). Whatever it is, I doubt all eyes our focused on Putin right now.

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Is UK Hedging Its Bets In Litvinenko Investigation?”

  1. Carol_Herman says:

    An interesting tidbit showed up yesterday; Chechnya LOST. The russians have won. And, the “area” is “pacified.”

    Doesn’t mean you end hostilities. Or that crap, all over russia, isn’t for “sale, for a price.”

    And, the Oligarths? Sure. Not in business together at all. But competitors of the worst kind. One, is even trying to buy Israel. And, has started his own party.

    But back to the body. Litvenenko wasn’t killed by the Italian, Scaramela. And, he wasn’t killed by the raw fish at the sushi restuarant, either.

    He was, however, a leaking bucket of Alpha particles. As, he and a few other goons, put 36,000 airline passengers at risk. Took at least one plane still out of service. (So, it stalls the rumor that Po-210 is only active for 90 days. It seems, we’re seeing bills coming due after that period of time has passed.

    As to the British, just because they “caught” Kim Philby, doesn’t mean the kremlin doesn’t own England, lock, stock and barrel. But they’re a “silent partner.” It’s not advertised.

    Still missing from this story is how the hell did this idiot get this crap into his system? And, how did others infect ex-wives and kidlings? Be funny, if the real transmission was in the money. Blended into the ink that fed the greed that put these maniacs into free countries.

    It wasn’t good enough when the soviets made travel for all their buzzards hard. No, we needed to recommend to them to “tear down this wall.”

    And, the rats are loose now.

  2. For Enforcement says:

    law and order, criminal intent was about a polonium poison case.