MURDER MYSTERY! who poisoned Russian Ex-Spy Alexander Litvinenko?

The top news headline in the past couple of weeks has been the RUSSIAN EX-SPY POISONING. British Intelligence, The media, Governments and curious individuals all have the same question. Who and Why poisoned Alexander Litvinenko on November 1st, 2006 with the deadly radioactive polonium 210? Fingers are being pointed around, but they are leading mostly to Kremlin. Alexander Litvinenko (Russian: Александр Вальтерович Литвиненко ) himself, on his deathbed, blamed Putin for his murder:



Who Is Alexander Litvinenko?

After working for the KGB and its successor, the FSB, Litvinenko publicly accused his superiors of ordering the assassination of Russian billionaire Borris Berezovsky (who is known as Russia’s first billionaire) . He was arrested by Russian authorities, released and later fled to the UK, where he was granted political asylum and citizenship.

Litvinenko published books in the UK, where he described Vladimir Putin’s rise to power as a Coup D’etat organized by the FSB. He stated a key element of FSB’s strategy was to frighten Russians by bombing apartment biuldings that killed nearly 300 people and led the country into the Second Chechen War. The bombings happened over a span of two months in 1999 in Moscow and other Russian cities. He alleged the bombings were organized by FSB and blamed on Chechen terrorists to legitimise reprisals using military force in Chechnya.

Timeline of Various events related to the Poisoning:

7 OCTOBER
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of the Russian government and in particular the war in Chechnya, is shot dead in Moscow. Mr Litvinenko begins to investigate amid claims she was killed because of her work.

1 NOVEMBER
Mr Litvinenko meets two Russian men at a London hotel - one a former KGB officer. He also meets academic Mario Scaramella at a sushi bar where he is said to have received documents about the journalist’s death. Several hours after his meetings, Mr Litvinenko complains of feeling sick and is admitted to Barnet General Hospital, north London.

11 NOVEMBER
On the BBC Russian Service, Mr Litvinenko describes being in “very bad shape” after a “serious poisoning”.

17 NOVEMBER
Mr Litvinenko is transferred to the University College Hospital, in central London, as his condition worsens. He is placed under armed, police guard.

19 NOVEMBER
It is reported Mr Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium, a highly toxic chemical once used to poison rats.

20 NOVEMBER
University College Hospital says Mr Litvinenko has been moved to intensive care. Pictures are released of the ex-agent in hospital, showing how he has suffered dramatic weight and hair loss. Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism unit takes over the investigation into what made him ill. Police say they are treating the case as a suspected “deliberate poisoning” but await toxicology test results. The Kremlin dismisses allegations Russia’s government poisoned Mr Litvinenko because of his criticisms of its policies as “sheer nonsense”.

21 NOVEMBER
There is confusion over what happened to make Mr Litvinenko ill. Professor John Henry, a toxicologist, says Mr Litvinenko may have been poisoned with “radioactive thallium”. Doctors directly responsible for his treatment say Mr Litvinenko’s illness is unlikely to have been caused by ordinary thallium poisoning. Mario Scaramella tells a news conference in Italy that he had met the Russian in a Sushi bar earlier in the month to discuss e-mail threats they had received.

22 NOVEMBER
Mr Litvinenko is described as “critically ill” by doctors who say his condition has deteriorated. Dr Geoff Bellingan, director of critical care at University College Hospital, rules out thallium as the cause of his sickness. He also says radiation poisoning is unlikely. Doctors cannot say what caused his sickness. Russia’s foreign intelligence service denies involvement in the apparent poisoning of Mr Litvinenko. The ex-agent has a heart attack overnight on Wednesday.

23 NOVEMBER
Doctors at University College Hospital say Mr Litvinenko is critically ill, after suffering a heart attack overnight on Wednesday. The hospital announce later on Thursday night that Mr Litvinenko had died in intensive care. A hospital spokesman says: “Every avenue was explored to establish the cause of [Mr Litvinenko's] condition.” Scotland Yard say in a statement that they are now investigating “an unexplained death”.

24 NOVEMBER
In an interview with the Times, film-maker Andrei Nekrasov says he spoke to Mr Litvinenko hours before he fell unconscious. Mr Nekrasov says that his friend told him: “I want to survive, just to show them. The bastards got me but they won’t get everybody.”

POISONING PROBE; FINDINGS:

British Airways has said that three short haul aircraft have been taken out of service for forensic examination, after initial test results showed “very low traces of a radioactive substance on board two of the three” planes.

British Airways is contacting around 33,000 passengers who traveled on the three aircraft since the end of October, spokeswoman Nicola Neuman said. The planes were used on 221 services between London’s Heathrow Airport and Moscow, Barcelona, Athens, Dusseldorf, Larnaca, Stockholm, Vienna, Frankfurt, Madrid and Istanbul, the airline said. Thirty-three of the flights were to or from Moscow.

BRITISH AIRWAYS has set up a special helpline for customers in the U.K. on 0845 6040171, or +44 191 211 3690 for callers from abroad, for worried passengers who flew on these planes to call with any concerns.

British investigators are finding more evidence that Alexander Litvinenko left traces of radioactive polonium 210 virtually wherever he went after his alleged poisoning.

Numerous Sites as well as people who had contact with Litvinenko that day had been tested positive for polonium 210, among them: Litvinenko’s Widow Professor Mario Scaramella; at the Emirates Stadium, the Millenium Hotel, and the now prime British Intelligence suspect, who stayed at the hotel, flew on these planes and visited the stadium, Andrei Lugovoi. Andrei Lugovoi is hospitalized in Russia for Polonium 210 poison. Negotiations are underway between Russia and the British Intelligence to let UK Inteligence speak with Lugovoi. On October 25, a week before Litvinenko was poisoned Lugovoi went to London. The plane he took and the hotel he stayed at showed signs of radiation. A day before Litvinenko was poisoned Lugovoi returned to London where his hotel the Millenium and the stadium he visited also showed positive radiation results.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

In a letter released Friday by human rights activists, a former Russian security officer — now jailed — said he had also warned Litvinenko about a government-sponsored death squad that intended to kill him and other Kremlin opponents.

“Back in 2002, I warned Alexander Litvinenko that they set up a special team to kill him,” the former security services officer, Mikhail Trepashkin, wrote in the letter dated Nov. 23 — the day of Litvinenko’s death.

The letter was released by rights activists in Yekaterinburg, the center of the Ural Mountains province where he is serving his four-year sentence. Its authenticity could not immediately be confirmed.

A spokesman for Russia’s Federal Security Service, the KGB successor agency known by its Russian acronym FSB, refused to comment on Trepashkin’s claim.

British Intelligence Agents flew to Russia for further investigation into the matter, however, Russian authorities are refusing to co-operate with British Intelligence and are’nt allowing them to speak with Trepashkin, or the prime suspect, Andrei Lugovoi.

Is Russia Responsible? the FSB? Putin? It is highly speculated and remains to be investigated by the Intelligence Experts…

WHAT I SAY:

ALL EVIDENCE LEADS TO RUSSIA. The question is, was Kremlin involved? By the importance this case has taken on with UK Government, as well as USA - although they won’t comment - it looks like they will not rest until the guilty party is uncovered and brought to justice. The fact that Russia is trying to hinder investigations can be viewed two ways. 1. Either they are pissed that they are not the ones handeling the investigation, and that Britain is trespassing what should be their territory or, 2. they are in fact the killers and are desperately trying to cover up thier tracks. This case is now national headlines for weeks. If, in fact, the Putin administration is responsible for the murder, there is no way they will be able to successfuly cover it up, since the Polonium 210 tracks are everywhere…

But no matter who the guilty party is, I HOPE THEY FIND THEM AND MAKE THEM PAY FOR IT!!….