Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko
"[9] Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who escaped prosecution in Russia and received in the United Kingdom political asylum in spring 2001.[10] In his books, Blowing up Russia: Terror from Within and Lubyanka Criminal Group, Litvinenko alleged that the FSB organized the bombing of apartment buildings in Moscow and other Russian cities in 1999 to pave the way for the Second Chechen War, which brought Vladimir Putin to power.[3][11] He accused Russian secret services of having arranged the Moscow theater hostage crisis, through their Chechen agent provocateur, and having organised the 1999 Armenian parliament shooting.[14] Just two weeks before his death, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human rights activist.Earlier that day he had met two Russian ex-KGB officers, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, at the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel in London.Litvinenko had also had lunch at Itsu, a sushi restaurant on Piccadilly in London, with an Italian officer and "nuclear expert", Mario Scaramella, to whom he made allegations regarding Romano Prodi's connections with the KGB.[20] Scaramella, attached to the Mitrokhin Commission investigating KGB penetration of Italian politics, claimed to have information on the death of Anna Politkovskaya, 48, a journalist who was killed at her Moscow apartment in October 2006.[28][22][26] As his condition worsened, he told doctors his true identity and claimed to have been poisoned, before being transferred on 17 November to University College Hospital in central London for intensive care.[22][23][28] Subsequently, his blood and urine samples were sent to the UK's Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), where they were tested for radioactive poison using gamma spectroscopy.[39][44] Late on 22 November, Litvinenko's heart failed, and he died the following day; the official time of death was 9:21 pm at University College Hospital in London.The head of the Counter-Terrorism Unit, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, stated the police "will trace possible witnesses, examine Mr. Litvinenko's movements at relevant times, including when he first became ill and identify people he may have met.[54] When it became clear that Litvinenko had been poisoned by a radioactive substance, a team of scientists were assembled to investigate how far the contamination had spread; traces of polonium-210 were subsequently found at more than 40 locations in and out of London.The first attempt took place on 16 October 2006, when Lugovoy and Kovtun met Litvinenko in London;[23][22] they tried to poison him at an office of Erinys International, a security company, at 25 Grosvenor Street, in Mayfair, and later had lunch with him at the Itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly Circus.Journalist Luke Harding described their behaviour as "idiotic, verging on suicidal"; while handling a leaky container, they stored it in their hotel rooms, used ordinary towels to clean up leaks, and eventually disposed of the poison in the bathroom sink.[63] Besides Litvinenko, only two people left polonium trails: Lugovoy and Kovtun, who were school friends and worked previously for Russian intelligence in the KGB and the GRU, respectively.[68] British Airways later published a list of 221 flights of the contaminated aircraft, involving around 33,000 passengers, and advised those potentially affected to contact the UK Department of Health for help.On 5 December, they issued an email to all of their customers, informing them that the aircraft had all been declared safe by the UK's Health Protection Agency and would be re-entering service.[citation needed] British authorities investigated the death and it was reported on 1 December that scientists at the Atomic Weapons Establishment had traced the source of the polonium to a nuclear power plant in Russia.[71] On 28 May 2007, the British Foreign Office submitted a formal request to the Russian Government for the extradition of Andrey Lugovoy to the UK to face criminal charges relating to Litvinenko's murder.[85][86] In January 2016, a UK public inquiry, headed by Sir Robert Owen, found that Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun were responsible for the poisoning of Litvinenko.[1][91] In January 2007, the Polish newspaper Dziennik revealed that a target with a photo of Litvinenko on it was used for shooting practice by the Vityaz Training Centre in Balashikha in October 2002.[92][93] On 2 March 2007, Paul Joyal, a former director of security for the U.S. Senate intelligence committee, who the previous weekend alleged on national television that the Kremlin was involved in the poisoning of Litvinenko, was shot near his Maryland home.Detective sergeant Nick Bailey, who was contaminated by the agent used in the assassination attempt against Skripal, suffered under severe health and financial repercussions as a consequence.[29][105][106][107] This does not exclude the possibility that the polonium that killed Litvinenko was imported by a licensed commercial distributor, but no one—including the Russian government—has proposed that this is likely, particularly in regard to the radiation detected on the British Airways passenger jets travelling between Moscow and London.In my opinion, the Russian state or its agents were responsible for the poisoning.In addition, Dombey pointed out that Avangard delivers a metallic polonium, which must have been further processed into a solution as used in the Litvinenko assassination; involvement of an FSB poison laboratory was also likely.[5] Philip Walker, professor of physics at the University of Surrey said: "This seems to have been a substance carefully chosen for its ability to be hard to detect in a person who has ingested it.Other allegations included involvement of rogue FSB members[123] or suggestions that Litvinenko was killed because of his research of certain Russian corporations or state officials,[124][125] or as a political intrigue to undermine president Putin.[127] In April 2018, Litvinenko senior, who had returned to Russia in 2012 after a period of exile in Italy, appeared in a 30-minute interview on RT and said his son had been murdered by Alex Goldfarb, who he said was an agent of the CIA.[181] A comparison was also made with Roman Tsepov[182] who was responsible for the personal security of Anatoly Sobchak and Putin, and who died in Russia in 2004 from poisoning by an unknown radioactive substance.[183][184] FSB special forces officers from Alpha Group and Vympel were seen to be using Litvinenko photos for target practice in shooting sessions just before his poisoning, according to Russian journalist Yulia Latynina.
University College HospitalLondonCoordinatesAlexander LitvinenkoPolonium-210Andrey LugovoyDmitry KovtunFederal Security ServiceBoris BerezovskyVladimir PutinRussian mafiaacute radiation syndromeEuropean Court of Human Rightsbeyond reasonable doubtPatrushevRussian Federal Security Servicepolitical asylumLubyanka Criminal Groupthe bombing of apartment buildingsSecond Chechen WarMoscow theater hostage crisisagent provocateur1999 Armenian parliament shootingAl-QaedaAyman al-ZawahirioligarchassassinationAnna PolitkovskayaMillennium HotelYegor GaidarPiccadillynuclearMario ScaramellaRomano ProdiMitrokhin CommissiondiarrheaBarnet HospitalgastroenteritisAtomic Weapons Establishmentgamma spectroscopygamma rayelectronvoltsradioactive decaynuclear bombsalpha particlesGeiger countersScotland Yardionizing radiationHealth Protection Agencyradionuclidegreen teamicrogramsmedian lethal dosebiodistributionthalliumthallium poisoningperipheral nervescardiovascular fitnessradioactiveisotopeintensive carePrussian blueHighgate CemeteryautopsyLondon Central MosqueNorth LondonGreater LondonMetropolitan Police ServiceDeputy Assistant CommissionerInterpolErinys InternationalGrosvenor Squarefax machineAkhmed ZakayevMuswell HillHamburgHeathrow AirportfootballArsenalCSKA MoscowDepartment of Healthnuclear power plantRussian Foreign MinisterSergey LavrovYuri ChaikaForeign OfficeRussian GovernmentConstitution of RussiaDaniel TarschysSecretary General of the Council of EuropeNewsnightSir Robert OwenNikolai PatrushevArticle 2European Convention on Human Rightsprima facieadverse inferenceDziennikBalashikhabodyguardsdebt collectorsVityazFederation Council of RussiaSergei MironovPaul JoyalU.S. SenateMarylandcritical conditionSergei SkripalIllegals Programwere poisonedNovichoknerve agentSalisbury District HospitalDetective sergeantnuclear reactorsbismuthneutronsOzerskChelyabinskclosed cityBritish Airwayshalf-lifeisotope of leadFSB poison laboratoryUniversity of Surrey