More Litvinenko

In this story from AP, the Brits are on Alexander Litvinenko death like white on rice. My favorite part fo this story was the suggestion that Litvinenko had done this himself, slipped himself a radioactive cocktail.

This substance, polonium-210, is a highly toxic material that can only be produced in a nuclear reactor thus limiting the places in the world it can be produced. So how does Litvinenko bring it into Britain and hold on to it until just the right time, whatever that may be? I read some blog comments today trying to blame this on the Israeli government, too, which I thought was astounding.

Litvinenko has a history with a Russian oligarch, Boris Berezovsky. Supposedly Litvinenko, when he was with the FSB, was ordered to kill Berezovsky. Instead, Litvinenko told Berezovsky about his orders and the oligarch fled the country. They had both relocated to London. Putin's buddies in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian alleged legislature, started pointing fingers at Berezovsky right away as the culprit in this sordid mess.

In this little tidbit from Moscow News, the plot thickens even further, with links showing up to the Kremlin takeover of Yukos oil. Berezovsky was one of the owners of Yukos before the Soviet style takeover. The principal owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is now freezing his ass off in a Siberian prison. (Wikipedia on Yukos here.)

So now we have Yukos, Putin, the murders of Anna Politskovskaya and Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian emigre community in London and the British security forces all involved in a real life spy story.

Too bad real people are dying in this story.