Alexander Litvinenko poisoning

Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of Russian Federal Security Service, who escaped prosecution in Russia and received a political asylum in Great Britain. He authored two books, "" and "Lubyanka Criminal Group," where he accused Russian secret services of staging Russian apartment bombings and other terrorism acts to bring Vladimir Putin to power.

On 1 November 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized. He died three weeks later, becoming the first known victim of lethal polonium-210-induced acute radiation syndrome. According to doctors, "Litvinenko's murder represents an ominous landmark: the beginning of an era of nuclear terrorism". [ "Ushering in the era of nuclear terrorism", by Patterson, Andrew J. MD, PhD, "Critical Care Medicine", v. 35, p.953-954, 2007.] ["Beyond the Dirty Bomb: Re-thinking Radiological Terror", by James M. Acton; M. Brooke Rogers; Peter D. Zimmerman, DOI: 10.1080/00396330701564760, "Survival", Volume 49, Issue 3 September 2007, pages 151 - 168 ] [http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2006/polonium Radiological Terrorism: “Soft Killers”] by Morten Bremer Mærli, Bellona Foundation ]

Litvinenko's allegations about the misdeeds of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) and his public deathbed accusations that the Russian government was behind his unusual malady resulted in worldwide media coverage.

Subsequent investigations by British authorities into the circumstances of Litvinenko's death led to serious diplomatic difficulties between the British and Russian governments. Unofficially, British authorities asserted that "we are 100% sure who administered the poison, where and how". However they did not disclose their evidence in the interest of a future trial. The main suspect in the case, a former officer of the Russian Federal Protective Service (FSO) Andrei Lugovoy, remains in Russia. As a member of the Duma, he now enjoys immunity from prosecution. Before the suspect was elected to the Duma, the British government tried to extradite him, but without success, as described below.

Background

Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian Federal Security service who escaped persecution in Russia and received a political asylum in Great Britain. In his books, "" and "Lubyanka Criminal Group", Litvinenko described Vladimir Putin's rise to power as a coup d'état organised by the FSB. He stated a key element of FSB's strategy was to frighten Russians by bombing apartment buildings in Moscow and other Russian cities. [Johns Hopkins University and Hoover Institute scholar David Satter described this controversy in the United States House of Representatives: "With Yeltsin and his family facing possible criminal prosecution, however, a plan was put into motion to put in place a successor who would guarantee that Yeltsin and his family would be safe from prosecution and the criminal division of property in the country would not be subject to reexamination. For "Operation Successor" to succeed, however, it was necessary to have a massive provocation. In my view, this provocation was the bombing in September, 1999 of the apartment building bombings in Moscow, Buinaksk, and Volgodonsk. In the aftermath of these attacks, which claimed 300 lives, a new war was launched against Chechnya. Putin, the newly appointed prime minister who was put in charge of that war, achieved overnight popularity. Yeltsin resigned early. Putin was elected president and his first act was to guarantee Yeltsin immunity from prosecution." [http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/SatterHouseTestimony2007.pdf] ] He said that Russian secret services have also arranged Moscow theater hostage crisis through their Chechen agent provocateur, that they organized 1999 Armenian parliament shooting, [cite web| title = Russia Denies Involvement in 1999 Armenian Parliament Shooting | publisher = | date = 12 May 2005| url = http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/05/12/russiaarmenia.shtml| accessdate = 2007-03-25 ] and that terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri was under FSB control when he visited Russia in 1997. [ [http://cicentre.com/Documents/russia_islam_not_separate.html Russia and Islam are not Separate: Why Russia backs Al-Qaeda] , by Konstantin Preobrazhensky. According to Preobrazhenskiy, "At that time, Litvinenko was the Head of the Subdivision for Internationally Wanted Terrorists of the First Department of the Operative-Inquiry Directorate of the FSB Anti-Terrorist Department. He was ordered to undertake the delicate mission of securing Al-Zawahiri from unintentional disclosure by the Russian police. Though Al-Zawahiri had been brought to Russia by the FSB using a false passport, it was still possible for the police to learn about his arrival and report to Moscow for verification. Such a process could disclose Al-Zawahiri as an FSB collaborator. In order to prevent this, Litvinenko visited a group of the highly placed police officers to notify them in advance." ]

Just two weeks before his death Litvinenko accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of ordering the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya. Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. "", The Free Press (2007) ISBN 1-416-55165-4 ]

Illness and poisoning

On 1 November 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill. Earlier that day he had met two former KGB officers, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun. Lugovoi is a former bodyguard of Russian ex-Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar (also reportedly poisoned in November 2006) and former chief of security for the Russian TV channel ORT. Kovtun is now a businessman. Litvinenko had also had lunch at Itsu, a sushi restaurant on Piccadilly in London, with an Italian acquaintance and nuclear waste expert, Mario Scaramella, to whom he reportedly made allegations regarding Romano Prodi's connections with the KGB. [cite web
last = Batten
first =Gerard
title = Gerard Batten MEP - "60 second speech to the European Parliament "Romano Prodi" - Strasbourg
work =
publisher = United Kingdom Independence Party
date = 3 April 2006
url = http://www.ukip.org/ukip_news/gen12.php?t=1&id=2055
accessdate = 2006-11-21 ] 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. He passed Litvinenko papers supposedly concerning her fate. On 20 November, it was reported that Scaramella had gone into hiding and was in fear for his life. [cite web
last = Owen
first =Richard
title = Exile's contact in hiding after 'being made a scapegoat'
work =
publisher = "The Times "
date = 20 November 2006
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2462162,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-21 ]

The poison

Shortly after his death, the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA) stated tests had established Litvinenko had significant amounts of the radionuclide polonium-210 (Chemical symbol: ²¹⁰Po) in his body. British and US government sources both said the use of ²¹⁰Po as a poison has never been documented before, and this was probably the first time a person has been tested for the presence of ²¹⁰Po in his or her body. The poison was in Litvinenko's tea cup. People who had contact with Litvinenko may also have been exposed to radiation.cite web
last =
first =
title = Health Protection Agency press release
publisher = HPA
date = 24 November 2006
url =http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/articles/press_releases/2006/241106_litvinenko.htm
accessdate = 2006-11-24 ] cite web
last =
first =
title = Trio in clinic after spy's death
publisher = BBC News
date = 27 November 2006
url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6186666.stm
accessdate = 2006-11-27 ]

Polonium was identified only after Litvinenko's death, on 23 November. Doctors and Scotland Yard investigators could not detect polonium earlier because it does not emit the high-energy penetrating radiation called gamma rays, which are typical for radiation damage (for example in Hiroshima and Chernobyl). Hospitals only have equipment to detect gamma rays. Unlike most common radiation sources, polonium-210 emits low-energy alpha particles that do not penetrate even a sheet of paper. An alpha-emitting substance can cause significant damage only if digested or inhaled, acting on cells like a short-range weapon. "Death of a Dissident", page 327 ] Litvinenko was tested for alpha-emitters using special equipment only hours before his death

Po-210 concentration in the body of Litvinenko

The symptoms seen in Litvinenko appeared consistent with an administered activity of approximately 2 GBq (50 mCi) which corresponds to about 10 micrograms of ²¹⁰Po. That is 200 times the median lethal dose of around 238 $mu$Ci or 50 nanograms in the case of ingestion [cite web
url=http://www.3rd1000.com/elements/Polonium.htm#Overview
title=Pollonium
accessdate=2008-08-03] .

The Times, in its article on 1 December 2006 [cite web
url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article656392.ece
title=Stop the aircraft scare stories - the risk is remote, doctors say
accessdate=2008-02-06] said that it was recommended that the coffin with Litvinenko's body not be opened for 22 years.The maximum allowable concentration of Po-210 in drinking water [cite web
url=http://www.epa.gov/EPA-WATER/2000/April/Day-21/w9654.htm
title=National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; Radionuclides; Notice of Data Availability
accessdate=2008-02-06] is 15 pCi / L.Taking this rule as the basis for calculations, the basic content of Po-210 in the body should be 4.93 MCi / L. This corresponds to the concentration of Po-210 more than 1kg/kg. However, other sources say that the coffin that contains the body of Litvinenko cannot be opened for 6.5 years [cite web
url=http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/12/8D652515-398F-4465-BE34-9B4646F756DF.html
title=Litvinenko Investigation Widens To Russia, U.S.
accessdate=2008-02-06] which gives the estimated contamination more believable, 489 ng/kg or 50 times LD₅₀ (inhaled) and 10 times (ingested).

Thallium - initial hypothesis

Scotland Yard initially investigated claims that Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium. It was reported that early tests appeared to confirm the presence of the poison.cite web
last = Townsend
first =Mark
title = Poisoning of Russian agent raises fears of UK vendetta
work =
publisher = "The Guardian "
date = 19 November 2006
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1952004,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-21 ] [cite web
last = Murphy
first =Kim
title = Who poisoned a former KGB agent?
work =
publisher = "Los Angeles Times "
date = 21 November 2006
url = http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-poison21nov21,1,1336322.story?coll=la-headlines-world
accessdate = 2006-11-21 ] Among the distinctive effects of thallium poisoning are hair loss and damage to peripheral nerves,cite web
last =
first =
title = Ex-spy's '50% chance of survival'
work =
publisher = "The Guardian"
date = 19 November 2006
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6225933,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-21 ] and a photograph of Litvinenko in hospital, released to the media on his behalf,cite web
last =
first =
title = Poisoned former KGB man dies in hospital
publisher = "The Guardian "
date = 24 November 2006
url =http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1955864,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-24 ] indeed showed his hair to have fallen out. Litvinenko attributed his initial survival to his cardiovascular fitness and swift medical treatment. It was later suggested a radioactive isotope of thallium might have been used to poison Litvinenko. [cite web
title = London doctor: Radioactive poison may be in ex-Russian spy
url = http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-20-spy_x.htm?csp=34
date = 21 November 2006
accessdate = 2006-11-24
publisher = USA Today ] Dr. Amit Nathwani, one of Litvinenko's physicians, said "His symptoms are slightly odd for thallium poisoning, and the chemical levels of thallium we were able to detect are not the kind of levels you'd see in toxicity." [ cite web
title = Doctors in dark on poisoned ex-spy
url = http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/21/uk.spypoisoned/index.html
date = 21 November 2006
accessdate = 2006-11-22
publisher = CNN ] Litvinenko's condition deteriorated, and he was moved into intensive care on 20 November. Hours before his death, three unidentified circular-shaped objects were found in his stomach via an X-ray scan. [es iconcite web
title = Murió Alexander Litvinenko, el ex espía ruso que fue envenenado en Londres
url = http://www.eltiempo.com/internacional/europa/noticias/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3337667.html
date = 24 November 2006
accessdate = 2006-11-24
publisher = "El Tiempo"] It is thought these objects were almost certainly shadows caused by the presence of Prussian blue, the treatment he had been given for thallium poisoning.cite web
title = Ex-Russian spy dies in hospital
publisher = BBC
date = 24 November 2006
url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6178890.stm
accessdate = 2006-11-24 ] cite web
last =
first =
title = Ex-spy's condition deteriorates
work =
publisher = BBC
date = 24 November 2006
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6176004.stm
accessdate = 2006-11-24 ]

Death and last statement

Litvinenko died on 23 November at the age of 43 [cite web

title = Poisoned Russian former spy dies
work =
publisher = CNN
date = 23 November 2006
url = http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/23/uk.spypoisoned/index.html
accessdate = 2006-11-23 ]

On 25 November, an article attributed to Litvinenko was published by the Mail on Sunday Online entitled "Why I believe Putin wanted me dead"...cite web
title = Why I believe Putin wanted me dead
url = http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=418652&in_page_id=1770
publisher = "Daily Mail"
accessdate = 2007-03-10 ] In his last statement he said about Putin:

cquote|...this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition.

You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed. You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilised men and women.

You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.

Litvinenko's postmortem took place on 1 December. According to doctors Litvinenko's body had five times the level of polonium-210 that would be considered lethal.cite web
first = Philippe
last = Naughton
title = British police arrive in Moscow to hunt for spy death clues
publisher = "The Times"
date = 4 December 2006
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2486268_1,00.html
accessdate = 2006-12-04] [cite web
title = No signs of Poisoning
publisher = "Sky News"
date = 1 December 2006
url = http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13554873,00.html
accessdate = 2006-12-02] Litvinenko's funeral reading took place on 7 December at the Central London mosque, after which his body was buried at Highgate Cemetery in North London. [cite web
title = 'Solemn' burial for murdered spy
publisher = "BBC News"
date = 7 December 2006
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6216202.stm
accessdate = 2008-08-26]

Polonium-210

ources and production of polonium

A freelance killer would not be able to obtain polonium legally from commercially available products in the amounts used for Litvinenko poisoning, because more than microscopic amounts of polonium can only be produced in state-controlled nuclear reactors [cite web
last = Felgenhauer
first = Pavel
title = Russian political intrigue means Putin could not have been in the dark about Litvinenko attack
work =
publisher = Jamestown Foundation
date = 2006-11-29
url = http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2371683
accessdate = 2006-12-03 ] (see commercial products containing polonium for detail).

Ninety seven percent of the world's legal polonium-210 (²¹⁰Po) production occurs in Russia in RBMK reactors [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/06/AR2007010601491.html Poisoning Of Ex-Agent Sets Off Alarm Bells. Nuclear Regulators Fear Wider Attempt] By Peter Finn, Washington Post, Sunday, 7 January 2007 ] "Death of a dissident, pages 336-341. ] About 85 grams (450,000 Ci) are produced by Russia annually. According to Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's state atomic energy agency, RosAtom, all of it goes to U.S. companies through a single authorized supplier. The production of polonium starts from bombardment of bismuth (²⁰⁹Bi) with neutrons at the Ozersk nuclear reactor, near the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia. The product is then transferred to the Avangard Electromechanical Plant in the closed city of Sarov [ [http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2008/intell-080402-rianovosti01.htm U.S. lawmakers urge Russia to assist Britain in Litvinenko case] by Russian RIA Novosti ] . [ [http://www.ransac.org/Projects/WMD%20Expertise%20Redirection%20Project/Nonproliferation%20Centers%20Reports%20and%20Projects/avangard_paper5.html Conversion of the radioisotope production at the Avangard plant] by Partnership for global security ] cite web
last = Gardham
first= Duncan and Steele, John
title = Spy's contact and wife also poisoned
work =
publisher = The Daily Telegraph
date = 2 December 2006
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/02/npoison02.xml
accessdate = 2006-12-02 ] This of course 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. However, Russian investigators have said they could not identify the source of polonium. [cite web
title = Russian experts fail to find polonium source in Litvinenko case
publisher = RIA Novosti
date = 21 January 2008
url = http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071002/81934498.html
accessdate = 2008-01-21]

Polonium-210 is a synthetic element that has a half-life of 138 days and decays to the stable daughter isotope of lead, ²⁰⁶Pb. Therefore the source is reduced to about one eighth of its original radioactivity about a year after production. By measuring the proportion of polonium and lead in a sample, one can establish the production date of polonium. The analysis of impurities in the polonium (a kind of "finger print") allows to identify the place of production.cite web
last =
first =
title = Explainer: Polonium 210
publisher = Guardian Unlimited
date = 25 November 2006
url =http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1956792,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-30 ] It is assumed by Litvinenko's wife and his close confident that that British investigators were able to identify the place and time of production of polonium used to poison Litvinenko, but their findings remain unpublished.

Possible motivation for using polonium-210

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." [cite web
title = What is polonium-210?
publisher = BBC News
date = 8 December 2006
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6181688.stm
accessdate = 2007-03-12] Oleg Gordievsky, the most senior KGB agent ever to defect to Britain, made a similar comment that Litvinenko assassination was carefully prepared and rehearsed by Russian secret services, [cite web
title = Смерть Литвиненко «была отрепетирована, как в Большом театре»
publisher = svobodanews.ru
date = 19 December 2006
url = http://www.svobodanews.ru/Article/2006/12/19/20061219101636110.html
accessdate = 2007-03-12 English translation: cite web
title = Litvinenko: Gordievsky Interview - II
publisher = A Step At A Time
date = 19 December 2006
url = http://halldor2.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/litvinenko-gordievsky-interview-ii/] but the poisoners were unaware that technology existed to detect traces left by polonium-210: "Did you know that polonium-210 leaves traces? I didn’t. And no one did. ...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." [cite web
title = Смерть Литвиненко «была отрепетирована, как в Большом театре»
publisher = svobodanews.ru
date = 19 December 2006
url = http://www.svobodanews.ru/Article/2006/12/19/20061219101636110.html
accessdate = 2007-03-12 English translation: cite web
title = Litvinenko: Gordievsky Interview - II
publisher = A Step At A Time
date = 19 December 2006
url = http://halldor2.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/litvinenko-gordievsky-interview-ii/]

Nick Priest, a nuclear scientist and expert on polonium who's worked at most of Russia's nuclear research facilities, says that although the execution of the plot was a "bout of stupidity", the choice of polonium was a "stroke of genius". He says: "the choice of poison was genius in that polonium, carried in a vial in water, can be carried in a pocket through airport screening devices without setting off any alarms", adding, "once administered, the polonium creates symptoms that don't suggest poison for days, allowing time for the perpetrator to make a getaway." Priest asserts that "whoever did it was probably not an expert in radiation protection, so they probably didn't realize how much contamination you can get just by opening the top (of the vial) and closing it again. With the right equipment, you can detect just one count per second". [cite web | title = 'The sadistic poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko'
publisher = CBC
date = 19 December 2006
url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/murray/20061219.html
accessdate = 2008-03-28]

Filmmaker and friend of Litvinenko, Andrei Nekrasov, has suggested that the poison was "sadistically designed to trigger a slow, tortuous and spectacular demise". [cite web
title = 'Promise me you won't go back to Russia - or you will be the next'
publisher = The Times
date = 24 November 2006
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article648230.ece
accessdate = 2007-03-12] Russian expert Paul Joyal suggested that "A message has been communicated to anyone who wants to speak out against the Kremlin.... If you do, no matter who you are, where you are, we will find you, and we will silence you, in the most horrible way possible". [cite web
title = Who killed Alexander Litvinenko?
publisher = NBC News
date = 25 February 2007
url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17332541/
accessdate = 2007-03-12]

Investigation

Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service Terrorism Unit has been investigating the poisoning and death. 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. There will also be an extensive examination of CCTV footage." [cite web
last =
first =
title = Police investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko
work =
publisher = Metropolitan Police Service
date = 24 November 2006
url = http://cms.met.police.uk/news/major_operational_announcements/police_investigation_into_the_death_of_alexander_litvinenko
accessdate = 2006-11-27 ] The United Kingdom Government COBRA committee met to discuss the investigation. [cite web
last = Brown
first =Colin and Castle, Stephen
title = Cobra meets over fears about assassination squad
work =
publisher = "The Independent "
date = 24 November 2006
url = http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2013335.ece
accessdate = 2006-11-27 ] Richard Kolko from the United States FBI stated "when requested by other nations, we provide assistance" - referring to the FBI now joining the investigation for their expertise on radioactive weapons. [cite web
title = FBI joins in Russian spy death probe
publisher = The Sydney Morning Herald
date = 1 December 2006
url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/fbi-joins-in-russian-spy-death-probe/2006/12/01/1164777758528.html
accessdate = 2006-12-01] [cite web
last = Quinn
first = Jennifer
title = FBI Joins Investigation of Poisoned Spy
publisher = Associated Press
date = 30 November 2006
url = http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/30/D8LNLOEG2.html
accessdate = 2006-11-30] The Metropolitan Police announced on 6 December 2006 that it was treating Litvinenko's death as murder. Interpol has also joined the investigation, providing "speedy exchange of information" between British, Russian and German police.

On 7 July 2008, a British security source told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "We very strongly believe the Litvinenko case to have had some state involvement. There are very strong indications." [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/russia-backed-dissidents-poisoning-862145.html Russia 'backed dissident's poisoning'] By Sadie Gray The Independent 8 July 2008.] Moscow was infuriated with the allegations and demanded an explanation from the British government. Shortly thereafter, the British government rejected the allegations, stating that no intelligence or security officials are authorised to comment on the case. [ [http://russiatoday.ru/news/news/27354 London rejects BBC Litvinenko allegations] Russia Today Retrieved on 11 July 2008]

Polonium trails

Detectives traced three distinct polonium trails in and out of London. The trails were left by Litvinenko, Andrei Lugovoi, and Dmitry Kovtun. The patterns and levels of radioactivity they left behind suggested that Litvinenko ingested polonium, whereas Logovoi and Kovtun handled them directly. The human body dilutes the polonium before excreting in sweat, which results in a reduced radioactivity level.

The poisoning of Litvinenko took place at around 5 p.m. of 1 November in the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square. The bus he travelled to the hotel had no signs of radioactivity - but large amounts had been detected at the hotel. [cite news
title =Litvinenko 'poisoned at hotel'
publisher =News24
date = 2006-12-11
url = http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,9294,2-10-1462_2043107,00.html
accessdate = 2006-12-19 ] Polonium was subsequently found in a fourth-floor room and in a cup in the Pine Bar at the hotel. [cite news
title = Detectives focus on hotel as site of Litvinenko poisoning
publisher = The Scotsman
date = 2006-12-09
url = http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1830482006
accessdate = 2006-12-19 ] After the Millennium bar, Litvinenko stopped at the office of Boris Berezovsky. He used a fax machine, where the radioactivity was found later. At 6 p.m. Akhmed Zakayev picked Litvinenko up and brought him home to Muswell Hill. The amount of radioactivity left by Litvinenko in the car was so significant, the car was rendered unusable. Everything that he touched at home during next three days was contaminated. His family was unable to return to the house even six months later. His wife was tested positive for ingesting polonium but did not leave a secondary trail behind her. This suggested that anyone who left a trail could not have picked up the polonium from Litvinenko.

Besides Litvinenko, only two persons left the polonium trails: Lugovoy and Kovtun who were school friends and worked previously for Russian intelligence in the KGB and the GRU respectively. These people handled the radioactive material directly and did not ingest it, because they left more significant traces of polonium than Litvinenko.

Lugovoy and Kovtun met Litvinenko in the Millennium hotel bar "two" times, on 1 November (when the poisoning took place), and earlier, on 16 October. Trails left by Lugovoy and Kovtun started on 16 October, in the same sushi bar where Litvinenko was poisoned later, but at a different table. It was assumed that their first meeting with Litvinenko was either a rehearsal of the future poisoning, or an unsuccessful attempt of the poisoning.

Traces left by Lugovoy were also found in the office of Berezovsky that he visited on 31 October, a day before his second meeting with Litvinenko. Traces left by Kovtun were found in Hamburg, Germany. He left them on his way to London on 28 October-31. The traces were found in passenger jets [cite web
last = Cowell
first = Alan
title = Planes tested for radioactivity in link to death of the former Russian spy
publisher = "New York Times"
date = 29 November 2006
url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/29/news/russia.php
accessdate = 2006-11-30 ] [cite web
last =
first =
title = Radiation on airliners may be from poisoned spy
publisher = CNN
date = 29 November 2006
url = http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/29/uk.spy.ba.ap/index.html
accessdate = 2006-11-30 ] BA875 and BA873 from Moscow to Heathrow on 25 October and 31 October, as well as flights BA872 and BA874 from Heathrow to Moscow on 28 October and 3 November. [cite web
title = BA jets grounded after radiation discovered at Heathrow
publisher = Times Online
date = 29 November 2006
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2478451,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-29] [cite web
last = Oliver
first =Mark
title = Radiation found at 12 sites in Litvinenko case
work =
publisher = The Guardian
date = 30 November 2006
url = http://politics.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329649159-110481,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-30 ]

Andrei Lugovoi has said he flew from London to Moscow on a 3 November flight. He stated he arrived in London on 31 October to attend the football match between Arsenal and CSKA Moscow on 1 November. [cite web
title = Victim's tea companion denies any involvement
publisher = Times Online
date = 24 November 2006
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2469663,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-29] When the news broke that a radioactive substance had been used to murder Litvinenko, a team of scientists rushed to find out how far the contamination had spread. It led them on a trail involving hundreds of people and dozens of locations. [cite web
title = Who else was poisoned by polonium?
publisher = Guardian Unlimited
date = 5 June 2007
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2095599,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=18
accessdate = 2006-06-05]

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 entering back into service.

Prospects of prosecution

British extradition request

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. On 3 December, reports stated that Britain has demanded the right to speak to at least five Russians implicated in Litvinenko's death, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted that Moscow was willing to answer "concrete questions." [cite web
first = Brian
last = Brady
title = Spy death: 5 Russians wanted
publisher = The Scotsman
date = 3 December 2006
url = http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1792032006
accessdate = 2006-12-03 ] Russian Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika said on Tuesday, 5 December that any Russian citizen who may be charged in the poisoning will be tried in Russia, not Britain. [cite web
first =
last =
title = Russia says no extradition for Litvinenko suspects
publisher = Reuters
date = 5 December 2006
url = http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-12-05T125914Z_01_L05626310_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRITAN-POISONING-PROSECUTOR.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
accessdate = 2006-12-05 ] Moreover, Chaika stated that Russian prosecutors would present any questions to Russian citizens in the presence of the UK detectives. [cite web
first = Neil
last = Buckley
title = Russians set limits in helping polonium death case
publisher = "Financial Times"
date = 5 December 2006
url = http://www.ft.com/cms/s/28d68a18-848e-11db-87e0-0000779e2340.html
accessdate = 2006-12-05 ]

On 26 January 2007 The Guardian reported the British government was preparing an extradition request asking that Andrei Lugovoi be returned to the UK to stand trial for Litvinenko's murder. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1999128,00.html "UK wants to try Russian for Litvinenko murder"] The Guardian. 26 January 2007] On 28 May 2007 the British Foreign Office submitted a formal request to the Russian Government for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi to the UK to face criminal charges relating to Litvinenko's murder.

Reply by Russian government

Russian General Prosecutor's Office declined to extradite Lugovoi, citing that extradition of citizens is not allowed under the Russian constitution (Article 61 of the Constitution of Russia). [ [http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-03.htm Chapter 2. Rights and Freedoms of Man And Citizen | The Constitution of the Russian Federation ] ] [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSL0536765420070705?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0 UPDATE 5-Russia rejects UK's Litvinenko extradition request] Reuters Retrieved on 16 March 2008] Russia has said that they could take on the case themselves if Britain provided evidence against Lugovoi but Britain has not handed over any evidence. The head of the investigating committee at the General Prosecutor's Office said Russia has not yet received any evidence from Britain on Lugovoi. "We have not received any evidence from London of Lugovoi's guilt, and those documents we have are full of blank spaces and contradictions. [ [http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070829/75649246.html RIA Novosti - Russia - Wr
] ]

Vladimir Putin said on the issue: "According to the information I received from the prosecutor-general's office, such justification has not been provided by the British side. There was a request to extradite Mr. Lugovoy, but there were no materials based upon which we were supposed to do that. There is no substance in that request." [ [http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,486345-2,00.html 'I am a True Democrat'] , G-8 interview with Vladimir Putin, Spiegel, 4 June 2007 ]

Yury Fedotov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, pointed out that when the Russian Federation ratified the European Convention on Extradition it entered a declaration concerning Article 6 in these terms: "The Russian Federation declares that in accordance with Article 61 (part 1) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, a citizen of the Russian Federation may not be extradited to another state." [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article2099940.ece Russia has the right to refuse extradition -Times Online ] ]

Legal expert opinion

Professor Daniel Tarschys, former Secretary General of the Council of Europe, asserted that another article of the Constitution "opens the door" for the extradition. According to Prof Tarschys, Russia ratified three international treaties on extradition in 1999.cite web
title = Article opens door to extradition of Lugovoi
url = http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7a2c916a-3590-11dc-bb16-0000779fd2ac.html
author = Prof Daniel Tarschys
date = 19 July 2007
publisher = Financial Times
accessdate = 2007-08-04] cite web
title = European Convention on Extradition
url = http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/024.htm
publisher = Council of Europe, Paris
date = 13 December 1957
accessdate = 2007-08-04] [cite web
title = Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Extradition
url = http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/086.htm
publisher = Council of Europe, Strasbourg
date = 15 October 1975
accessdate = 2007-08-04] [cite web
title = Second Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Extradition
url = http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/098.htm
publisher = Council of Europe, Strasbourg
date = 17 March 1978
accessdate = 2007-08-04] [cite web
title = Archives 1999 on changes in Treaties
url = http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Archives/News/News_1999.htm
publisher = Council of Europe, Strasbourg
year = 1978
accessdate = 2007-08-04] Article 63, paragraph 2 of the Constitution states that " [t] he extradition of people accused of a crime [..] shall be carried out on the basis of the federal law or international agreements of the Russian Federation".cite web
title = The Constitution of the Russian Federation. Chapter 2. Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen. Article 63, paragraph 2.
url = http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-03.htm#63
publisher = Garant
date = 12 December 1993
accessdate = 2007-08-04] Article 15 of the Constitution affirms the precedence of international treaties when Russian laws contradict them.cite web
title = The Constitution of the Russian Federation. Chapter 1. The Fundamentals of the Constitutional System. Article 15, paragraph 4.
url = http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-02.htm#15
publisher = Garant
date = 12 December 1993
accessdate = 2007-08-04
quote = "If an international treaty or agreement of the Russian Federation fixes other rules than those envisaged by law, the rules of the international agreement shall be applied."] [However, Article 63 of the Russian constitution is about foreign citizens or people without citizenship (it says that extradition of such people is governed by federal law or international treaty), not Russian citizens, as Andrei Lugovoi is, and therefore does not apply to them. Article 61 explicity forbids Russian citizens from being extradited. Article 15 applies only to legislation, not the Constitution - the precedence of international treaties applies only to legislation, not the Constitution.]

Reply by Lugovoi

Lugovoi has accused British intelligence agents of being behind the killing, and claimed MI6 had tried to recruit him to spy on Russia. [ [http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1274495,00.html Russia Refuses To Extradite Spy Suspect |Sky News|World News ] ] On 27 October 2007, the "Daily Mail", citing unnamed "diplomatic and intelligence sources", stated that Litvinenko was paid about £2,000 per month by MI6 at the time of his murder.cite web | author = Daily Mail | title = Revealed: Poisoned ex-Russian spy Litvinenko WAS a paid-up MI6 agent |date= 2007-10-27 | url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=490007&in_page_id=1770 | accessdate = 2007-10-27 ] Allegedly, Sir John Scarlett, the current head of MI6, was personally involved in recruiting him.

Possibly related events

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. An FBI spokesman said the agency was "assisting" the police investigation into the shooting. Police would not confirm details of the shooting or of the condition of Mr Joyal, however, a person familiar with the case said he was in critical condition in hospital. It was reported that while there were no indications that the shooting was linked to the Litvinenko case, it is unusual for the FBI to get involved in a local shooting incident. A person familiar with the situation said NBC had hired bodyguards for some of the journalists involved in the programme. [ [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7af97578-c924-11db-9f7b-000b5df10621.html "Expert in Litvinenko death is shot"] Expert in Litvinenko death is shot, Demetri Sevastopulo, 4 March 2007]

Theories

Many theories of Litvinenko poisoning circulated after his death. Many circumstances led to suspicion that he was killed by a Russian secret service. [cite web
last =
first =
title = Leading Russian critic of Putin's regime is poisoned in London
work =
publisher = "The Telegraph"
date = 20 November 2006
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/19/npoison19.xml
accessdate = 2007-11-06 ] Viktor Ilyukhin, a deputy chairman of the Russian Parliament's security committee for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, said that he "can’t exclude that possibility" [cite web
last =
first =
title = Poisoned by radiation
work =
publisher = "The Sun"
date = 21 November 2006
url = http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006540128,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-24 ] He apparently referred to a recent Russian counter-terrorism law that gives the President the right to order such actions. [ru iconcite web
last =
first =
title = Федеральный закон Российской Федерации от 6 марта 2006 г. N 35-ФЗ О противодействии терроризму
work =
publisher = Government of Russia
date = 20 November 2006
url = http://www.rg.ru/2006/03/10/borba-terrorizm.html
accessdate = 2006-11-24 ] cite web
last = Eke
first = Steven
title = Russia law on killing 'extremists' abroad
work =
publisher = BBC News
date = 27 November 2006
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6188658.stm
accessdate = 2006-11-27 ] An investigator of the Russian apartment bombings, Mikhail Trepashkin wrote in a letter from prison that an FSB team had organised in 2002 to kill Litvinenko. He also reported FSB plans to kill relatives of Litvinenko in Moscow in 2002, although these have not been carried out..ru iconcite web
title = М. Трепашкин: «Создана очень серьезная группа»
publisher = Chechen Press State News Agency
date = 1 December 2006
url = http://www.chechenpress.info/events/2006/12/01/03.shtml
accessdate = 2006-12-01 ] ru iconcite web
title = Березовский и УРПО / дело Литвиненко
publisher = "Агентура.Ру"
date = 27 November 2006
url = http://www.agentura.ru/timeline/1998/urpo/
accessdate = 2006-11-30 ] State Duma member Sergei Abeltsev commented on 24 November 2006: said: "The deserved punishment reached the traitor. I am confident that this terrible death will be a serious warning to traitors of all colors, wherever they are located: In Russia, they do not pardon treachery. I would recommend citizen Berezovsky to avoid any food at the commemoration for his accomplice Litvinenko."

Many publications in Russian media suggested that the death of Litvinenko was connected to Boris Berezovsky. [cite web
last = Weaver
first = John
title = Mafia Hit On The Media
work =
publisher = Atlantic Free Press
date = 24 November 2006
url = http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/262/
accessdate = 2006-11-26 ] [ru iconcite web
last = Alexeev
first = Petr
title = Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, who is next?
work =
publisher = Electorat. Info
date = 24 November 2006
url = http://www.electorat.info/oligarx/22196-1/
accessdate = 2006-11-26 ] Former FSB chief Nikolay Kovalev, for whom Litvinenko worked, said that the incident "looks like [the] hand of Berezovsky. I am sure that no kind of intelligence services participated." [ru iconcite web
last =
first =
title = Who orchestrated plan to discredit Russia?
work =
publisher = "Kommersant"
date = 25 November 2006
url = http://www.kommersant.ru/doc-y.html?docId=724957&issueId=30261
accessdate = 2006-11-26 ] This involvement of Berezovsky was alleged by numerous Russian television shows.

An explanation put forward by the Russian Government appeared to be that the deaths of Litvinenko and Politkovskaya were intended to embarrass President Putin. Other theories included involvement of rogue FSB members [cite web
title = Litvinenko affair: now the man who warned him poisoned too
publisher = The Guardian
date = 2 December 2006
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1962354,00.html
accessdate = 2006-12-02] or suggestions that Litvinenko was killed because of his research of certain Russian corporations or state officials, [cite web
last = McGrory
first =Daniel and Halpin, Tony
title = Poisoned spy visited Israel with oil dossier
work =
publisher = "The Times"
date = 27 November 2006
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2473385_1,00.html
accessdate = 2006-11-27 ] [cite news
title = Litvinenko murdered over damaging file on Russian business partner: BBC
publisher = Yahoo!
date = 2006-12-16
url = http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061216/wl_uk_afp/britainrussiaspycompany_061216164519
accessdate = 2006-12-20 ] or as a political intrigue to undermine president Putin [cite web
last =
first =
title = Radioactive Trail Follows Litvinenko
work =
publisher = "St. Petersburg Times"
date = 28 November 2006
url = http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=19601
accessdate = 2006-12-02 ]

Suspects

;Andrei Lugovoi : A former Federal Protective Service of Russia officer and millionaire who met with Litvinenko on the day he fell ill (1 November). He had visited London at least three times in the month before Litvinenko's death and met with the victim four times. Traces of polonium-210 have been discovered in all three hotels where Lugovoi stayed after flying to London on 16 October, and in the Pescatori restaurant in Dover Street, Mayfair, where Mr Lugovoi is understood to have dined before 1 November; and aboard two aircraft on which he had travelled. [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2129960.ece "Litvinenko inquiry closes in on suspected killers"] The Independent. 6 January 2007. By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent ] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/07/nlitvin07.xml " Police believe Litvinenko poisoned twice"] The Daily Telegraph. 6 January 2007. By David Harrison, Sunday Telegraph] He has declined to say whether he had been contaminated with polonium-210. [http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21037379-38200,00.html "Litvinenko murder witness leaves hospital"] Reuters. 10 January 2007] The Crown Prosecution Service has charged him with murder and has sent an extradition request to Russia that includes a summary of the evidence, but the only third party to have seen the extradition request, American journalist Edward Epstein, has described the substantiation as "embarrassingly thin". [ [http://www.nysun.com/foreign/specter-that-haunts-the-death-of-litvinenko/73212/ The Specter That Haunts the Death of Litvinenko] , Edward Jay Epstein, The New York Sun] [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/the-litvinenko-files-was-he-really-murdered-819534.html The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered?] , Mary Dejevsky, The Independent, 2 May 2008, retrieved on 5 May 2008] ;Dmitry Kovtun : A Russian businessman and ex-KGB agent who met Litvinenko in London first in mid-October and then on 1 November, the day Litvinenko fell ill. On 7 December Kovtun was hospitalized, with some sources initially reporting him to be in coma. On 9 December, German police found traces of radiation at Hamburg flat used by Kovtun. The following day, 10 December, German investigators identified the detected material as polonium-210 and clarified that the substance was found where Kovtun had slept the night before departing for London. British police also report having detected polonium on the plane in which Kovtun travelled from Moscow. [cite web
last = The Economist
title = A Remarkable Plot
publisher = The Economist
date = 2006-12-11
url = http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8401580&top_story=1
format = html
accessdate = 2006-12-11 ] Three other points in Hamburg were identified as contaminated with the same substance. [cite web
last= German Press Agency
title = Kovtun contaminated with polonium on way through Hamburg
publisher = German Press Agency
date = 2006-12-10
url = http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Kovtun_contaminated_with_polonium_o_12102006.html
format = html
accessdate = 2006-12-10 ] On 12 December Kovtun told Russia's Channel One TV that his "health was improving".

: Kovtun is currently under investigation by German detectives for suspected plutonium smuggling into Germany in October.cite news
title = Interpol joins Litvinenko inquiry
publisher = BBC News
date = 2006-12-13
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6172765.stm
accessdate = 2006-12-14]

;Vyacheslav Sokolenko : A business partner of Andrei Lugovoi. [cite web
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/25/npoison725.xml
title = I'm not Vladimir, says the third man
accessdate = 2007-03-11] ; Vladislav : The Times stated that the police have identified the man they believe may have poisoned Litvinenko with a fatal polonium dose in a cup of tea on the fourth-floor room at the Millennium Hotel to discuss a business deal with Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi before going to the bar. These three men were joined in the room later by the mystery figure who was introduced as Vladislav, a man, who could help Litvinenko win a lucrative contract with a Moscow-based private security firm. [cite web
url = http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1200
title = Eurasian Security Services Daily Review
accessdate = 2007-03-11 ]

: Vladislav is said to have arrived in London from Hamburg on 1 November on the same flight as Dmitry Kovtun. His image is recorded by security cameras at Heathrow airport on arrival. He is described as being in his early 30s, tall, strong, with short black hair and Central Asian features. Oleg Gordievsky, an ex-KGB agent, has said that this man was believed to have used a Lithuanian or Slovak passport, and that he left the country using another EU passport. He has also said Vladislav started his preparations in early 2006, "some time between February and April", that he "travelled to London, walked everywhere, and studied everything." [cite web
title= Олег Гордиевский: "Убийца Литвиненко умрет через 3 года"
publisher = Moskovski Komsomolets
date = 25 January 2007
url = http://www.mk.ru/blogs/MK/2007/01/25/abroad/90421/
accessdate = 2008-01-16]

: Businessman and politician Boris Berezovsky said in a police interview that "Sacha mentioned some person who he met at Millennium Hotel", but would not "remember whether [his name] was Vlladeema or Vuchislav." [Citation
publisher = The Litvinenko Foundation
pages = 52
url = http://litvinenko.org.uk/bb.pdf
accessdate = 2008-01-16] Litvinenko's friend Alex Goldfarb writes that according to Litvinenko, "Lugovoy brought along a man whom [Litvinenko] had never seen before and who had 'the eyes of a killer.'" [cite web
title = Who Killed Alexander Litvinenko?
publisher = Slate Magazine
date = 8 June 2007
url = http://www.slate.com/id/2167972/entry/2167974/
accessdate = 2008-01-16]

;Igor the Assassin : The code name for a former KGB assassin. He is said to be a former Spetznaz officer born in 1960 who is a Judo master and walks with a slight limp. He allegedly speaks perfect English and Portuguese and may be the same person who served Litvinenko tea in the London hotel room. [ cite web
last = The Daily Mail
first =
title = Scotland Yard hunt for 'Igor the assassin' as Hain breaks ranks to attack Putin
publisher = Daily Mail
date = 2006-11-26
url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=418820&in_page_id=1770
format = html
accessdate = 2007-11-06]

;Leonid Nevzlin : A businessman living in Israel has been accused by Russian Procurator's office of links to several murders in Russia and was one of the key figures in the Yukos oil company. [cite web
url = http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/28/061228091432.idx7son5.html
title = Russia fingers Israeli fugitive in radiation poison probe
accessdate = 2007-03-11 ]

Other persons related to the case

; Yegor Gaidar : The sudden illness of Yegor Gaidar in Ireland on 24 November, the day of Litvinenko's death, has been linked to his visit to the restaurant where polonium was present and is being investigated as part of the overall investigation in the UK and Ireland. [cite web
last = Anderson
first =Paul
title = Kildare incident linked to Litvinenko death
work =
publisher = The Irish Times
date = 29 November 2006
url = http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/1129/breaking82.htm
accessdate = 2006-11-30 ] However, other observers noted he was probably poisoned after drinking a strange-tasting cup of tea. Gaidar was taken to hospital; doctors said his condition is not life-threatening and that he will recover. [ru iconcite web
last =
first =
title = Gaidar's family and friends refuse to say which hospital he is located in, for fear of his life
work =
publisher = Newsru
date = 30 November 2006
url = http://www.newsru.com/russia/30 November 2006/gaidar.html
accessdate = 2006-11-30 ] [ru iconcite web
last =
first =
title = White Noise
work =
publisher =
date = 30 November 2006
url = http://www.ej.ru/dayTheme/entry/5498/
accessdate = 2006-11-30] This incident was similar to the poisoning of Anna Politkovskaya on a flight to Beslan. After poisoning, Gaidar claimed that it was enemies of Kremlin who tried to poison him. He gave reasoning that Kremlin was a least interested organization to kill him. He also published his thoughts in Financial Times.

; Mario Scaramella : The United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced that significant quantities of polonium-210 had been found in Mario Scaramella although his health was found to be normal. He has been admitted to hospital for tests and monitoring. [cite web
last = Davies
first =Andrew
title = Positive radiation test
work =
publisher = Channel 4
date = 1 December 2006
url = http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=4049
accessdate = 2006-12-02 ] Doctors say that Scaramella was exposed to a much lower level of polonium-210 than Litvinenko had been exposed to, and that preliminary tests found "no evidence of radiation toxicity". [cite web
last =
first =
title = Italian undergoing tests in poisoned spy case
work =
publisher = Associated Press
date = 2 December 2006
url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16002222/
accessdate = 2006-12-02 ] According to the 6 pm channel 4 (9 December 2006) news the intake of polonium he suffered will only result in a dose of 1 mSv. This will lead to a 1 in 20000 chance of cancer. According to The Independent, Scaramella alleged that Litvinenko was involved in smuggling radioactive material to Zürich in 2000. [cite web
last =Milmo
first =Cahal
coauthors =Popham, Peter and Bennetto, Jason
title = Litvinenko 'smuggled nuclear material'
publisher = The Independent
date = 29 November 2006
url = http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2023856.ece
accessdate = 2006-12-02]

: Boris Volodarsky, a KGB defector residing in London, stated that Evgeni Limarev, another former KGB officer residing in France, continued collaboration with FSB, infiltrated Litvinenko's and Scaramella's circles of trust and misinformed the latter. [ [http://www.svobodanews.ru/Article/2007/03/06/20070306173434490.html They wanted to lead a person to Litvinenko and make that person a suspect] , an interview with Boris Volodarsky by Natalia Golitsyna, Radio Liberty, 6 March 2007. [http://www.online-translator.com/url/tran_url.asp?direction=re&autotranslate=on&transliterate=on&url=http://www.svobodanews.ru/Article/2007/03/06/20070306173434490.html Machine translation] .] [ [http://www.ilgiornale.it/a.pic1?ID=153326 Così gli 007 di Mosca hanno incastrato Scaramella] , editorial, Il Giornale, 31 January 2007. [http://www.online-translator.com/url/tran_url.asp?direction=ie&autotranslate=on&url=http://www.ilgiornale.it/a.pic1?ID=153326&PRINT=S Machine translation] ]

; Marina Litvinenko : UK reports state Litvinenko's widow tested positive for polonium, though she is not seriously ill. The Ashdown Park hotel in Sussex has been evacuated as a precaution, possibly to do with Scaramella's previous visit there. [cite web
title = Pair test positive for polonium
publisher = BBC
date = 1 December 2006
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6199464.stm
accessdate = 2006-12-02] According to the 6 pm channel 4 (9 December 2006) news the intake of polonium she suffered will only result in a dose of 100 mSv. This will lead to a 1 in 200 chance of cancer.

; Akhmed Zakayev : The forensic investigation also includes the silver Mercedes by Litvinenko's home believed to be owned by his close friend and neighbour Akhmed Zakayev, then foreign minister of the separatist government in exile of Ichkeria. [cite web
last = Brownell
first = Ginnane
title = Did He Let His Guard Down?
publisher = Newsweek/MSNBC
date = 30 November 2006
url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15975091/site/newsweek/
accessdate = 2007-01-03] [cite web
last = Stebbings
first = Peter
title = Radiation scare at home of poisoned ex-spy
publisher = This Is Hertfordshire
date = 30 November 2006
url = http://www.thisishertfordshire.co.uk/news/roundup/display.var.1048696.0.radiation_scare_at_home_of_poisoned_exspy.php
accessdate = 2006-11-30] [cite web
title = Moves to allay health fears after radiation found
publisher = The Daily Telegraph
date = 28 November 2006
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/health/2006/11/28/npoison125.xml
accessdate = 2006-11-30] Reports now state that traces of radioactive material were found in the vehicle. [cite web
title = Polonium for Litvinenko's Murder Transported in Car of Chechen Emissary Ahmed Zakayev
publisher = The Daily Telegraph
date = 2 December 2006
url = http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n100761
accessdate = 2006-12-02]

; British Police : Two London Metropolitan police officers tested positive for ²¹⁰Po poisoning. [cite web
title = Spy widow points finger at Russia
publisher = BBC News
date = 10 December 2006
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6165913.stm
accessdate = 2006-12-10]

; Bar staff : Some of the bar staff at the hotel where the polonium contaminated teacup was found were discovered to have suffered an intake of polonium (dose in the range of 10s of mSv). These people include Norberto Andrade, the head barman of the bar and a long-time (27 years) worker at the hotel. He has described the situation thus: : "When I was delivering gin and tonic to the table, I was obstructed. I couldn't see what was happening, but it seemed very deliberate to create a distraction. It made it difficult to put the drink down.": "It was the only moment when the situation seemed unfriendly and something went on at that point. I think the polonium was sprayed into the teapot. There was contamination found on the picture above where Mr Litvinenko had been sitting and all over the table, chair and floor, so it must have been a spray.": "When I poured the remains of the teapot into the sink, the tea looked more yellow than usual and was thicker - it looked gooey." : "I scooped it out of the sink and threw it into the bin. I was so lucky I didn't put my fingers into my mouth, or scratch my eye as I could have got this poison inside me."cite web
title = Litvinenko waiter recounts polonium poisoning
publisher = Telegraph Media Group
date = 15 July 2007
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/15/nlitvin115.xml
accessdate = 2008-01-17]

Chronology

Background history

* 7 June 1994: A remote-controlled bomb detonated aiming at chauffeured Mercedes 600 with oligarch Boris Berezovsky and his bodyguard in the rear seat. Driver died but Berezovsky left the car unscathed. Litvinenko, then with the organized-crime unit of the FSB, was an investigating officer of the assassination attempt. The case was never solved, but it was at this point that Litvinenko befriended Berezovsky.
* 17 November 1998: At a time that Vladimir Putin was the head of the FSB, five officers including Lieutenant-Colonel Litvinenko accuse the Director of the Directorate for the Analysis of Criminal Organizations Major-General Eugeny Hoholkhov and his deputy, 1st Rank Captain Alexander Kamishnikov, of ordering them to assassinate Boris Berezovsky in November 1997.

2006

October 2006

* 7 October: The Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya is shot in Moscow.
* 16 October: Andrei Lugovoi flies to London.
* 16 October-18 October: Former KGB agent Dmitry Kovtun visits London, during which time he eats two meals with Litvinenko, one of them at the Itsu sushi bar (see 1 November 2006). cite news
title = Litvinenko's associate 'in a coma' as spy murder mystery deepens
publisher = The Independent
date = 2006-12-08
url = http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2055590.ece
accessdate = 2006-12-09 ] cite news
title = Litvinenko Contact Says He Was Contaminated by Ex-Spy
publisher = Deutsche Welle World
date = 2006-12-13
url = http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2270583,00.html
accessdate = 2006-12-14 ]
* 17 October: Litvinenko visits "Risc Management", a security firm in Cavendish Place, with Lugovoi and Kovtun. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2493244,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=Britain "Ex-KGB spy 'was poisoned in hotel'"] , "The Times", 8 December 2006]
* 19 October: Litvinenko accuses President Putin of the Politkovskaya murder.
* 28 October: Dmitry Kovtun arrived in Hamburg, Germany from Moscow on an Aeroflot flight. Later German police discovered that the passenger seat of the car that picked him up at an airport was contaminated with Polonium-210.
* 31 October: Dmitry Kovtun comes to London from Hamburg, Germany. German police found that his ex-wife's apartment in Hamburg was contaminated with polonium-210. [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/10/world/main2244002.shtml "Officials: Traces Predate Spy Poisoning"] , "CBS News", 10 December 2006]

November 2006

* 1 November: Just after 3 p.m., at the Itsu sushi restaurant on Picadilly, Litvinenko meets the Italian security expert Mario Scaramella, who hands alleged evidence to him concerning the murder of Politkovskaya. Around 4:15 p.m., he comes to the office of Boris Berezovsky to copy the papers Scaramella had given him and hand them to Berezovsky. Around 5 p.m. he meets with the former KGB agents Andrei Lugovoi, Dmitry Kovtun and Vyacheslav Sokolenko in the Millennium Hotel in London. He later becomes ill. [cite web
url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17332541/page/3/
title=Who killed Alexander Litvinenko?
accessdate=2007-03-16
publisher=MSNBC/NBC
author=Ann Curry ] [cite web
url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article642902.ece
title=Kremlin gave order to kill dissident and former spy, claims top defector
accessdate=2007-03-16
publisher=Times Online
author=Michael Binyon ]
* 3 November: Litvinenko is brought into Barnet General Hospital.
* 11 November: Litvinenko tells the BBC he was poisoned and is in very bad condition.
* 17 November: Litvinenko is moved to University College Hospital and placed under armed guard.
* 19 November: Reports emerge that Litvinenko has been poisoned with thallium, a chemical element used in the past as a rat poison.
* 20 November: Litvinenko is moved to the Intensive Care Unit. The police take statements from people with close relation to Litvinenko. A Kremlin speaker denies the Russian government is involved in the poisoning.
* 22 November: The hospital announces that Litvinenko's condition has worsened substantially.
* 23 November: 9:21 p.m.: Litvinenko dies.
* 24 November: Litvinenko's dictated deathbed statement is published. He accuses President Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his death. The Kremlin rejects the accusation. The HPA announces that significant amounts of Polonium-210 have been found in Litvinenko's body. Traces of the same substance are also found at Litvinenko's house in North London, at Itsu and at the Millennium Hotel.
* 24 November: Sergei Abeltsev, State Duma member from the LDPR, in his Duma address he commented on the death of Litvinenko with the following words: "The deserved punishment reached the traitor. I am sure his terrible death will be a warning to all the traitors that in Russia the treason is not to be forgiven. I would recommend to citizen Berezovsky to avoid any food at the commemoration for his crime accomplice Litvinenko"ru iconcite web
title = Address to Duma by Sergei Abeltsev
publisher = Duma
date = 25 November 2006
url =http://wbase.duma.gov.ru/steno/nph-sdb.exe?B0CW%5bF11&24.11.2006&F11&&F11&&F258&^&%5dH2512
accessdate = 2006-12-08 ]
* 24 November: The British police state they are investigating the death as a possible poisoning.
* 28 November: Scotland Yard announces that traces of Polonium-210 have been found in seven different places in London. Among them, an office of the Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, an avowed opponent of Putin.
* 29 November: The HPA announces screening of the nurses and physicians who treated Litvinenko. The authorities find traces of a radioactive substance on board British Airways planes.
* 30 November: Polonium-210 traces are found on a number of other planes, most of them going to Moscow.

December 2006

* 1 December: An autopsy is performed on the body of Litvinenko. Toxicology results from Mr Litvinenko's post-mortem examination revealed two "spikes" of radiation poisoning, suggesting he received two separate doses. [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2129960.ece "Litvinenko inquiry closes in on suspected killers"] The Independent. 6 January 2007. By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent ] Scaramella tests positive for Polonium-210 and is admitted into a hospital. Litvinenko's widow also tests positive for Polonium-210, but was not sent to the hospital for treatment.
* 2 December: Scotland Yard's counter-terrorist unit have questioned Yuri Shvets, a former KGB spy who emigrated to the United States in 1993. He was questioned as a witness in Washington in the presence of FBI officers. Shvets claimed that he has a "lead that can explain what happened".
* 6 December: Scotland Yard announced that it is treating his death as a murder.cite web
first=Jill
second=Lawless
title = Ex-spy's death to be treated as murder
publisher = yahoo! AP
date = 6 December 2006
url =http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061206/ap_on_re_eu/britain_poisoned_spy
accessdate = 2006-12-08 ]
* 7 December: Confused reports state that Dmitry Kovtun was hospitalized, the reason has not yet been made clear.
* 7 December: Russian Office of the Prosecutor General has opened a criminal case over poisoning of Litvinenko and Kovtun by the articles "Murder committed in a way endangering the general public" (убийство, совершенное общеопасным способом) and "Attempted murder of two or more persons committed in a way endangering the general public". [cite web
title = General Procurator's office of the Russian Federation filed criminal charges of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, and the attempted murder of Dmitry Kovtuna
publisher = Yahoo! AP
date = 7 December 2006
url =http://www.genproc.gov.ru/ru/news/news_current.shtml?2006/12/5159.html
accessdate = 2006-12-08 ]
* 8 December: Kovtun is reported to be in coma.
* 9 December: German police find traces of radiation at Hamburg flat used by Kovtun. cite news
title = Radiation 'trace' at Hamburg flat
publisher = BBC News
date = 2006-12-09
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6163667.stm
accessdate = 2006-12-09 ]
* 9 December: UK police identify a single cup at the Pines Bar in the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair which was almost certainly the one used to administer the poison.cite news
title = POISON SPY: IT WAS IN HIS TEA Cups were 'nuked'
publisher = Daily Mirror
date = 2006-12-09
url = http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=poison-spy--it-was-in-his-tea-&method=full&objectid=18235402&siteid=94762-name_page.html | accessdate = 2006-12-09 ]
* 11 December: Andrei Lugovoi is interrogated in Moscow by UK Scotland Yard and General Procurator's office of the Russian Federation. He refuses to reveal any information concerning the interrogation.cite news
title = Луговой не сказал, чем интересовались генпрокуратура РФ и Скотланд-Ярд
publisher = RIA Novosti
date = 2006-12-11
url = http://www.rian.ru/defense_safety/investigations/20061211/56772372.html | accessdate = 2006-12-11 ]
* 12 December: Dmitry Kovtun tells a Russian TV station that his "health [is] improving".
* 24 December: Mario Scaramella was arrested in Naples on his return from London, on apparently unrelated charges.cite news
title = Dead spy's Italy contact arrested
publisher = BBC
date = 2006-12-24
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6208065.stm | accessdate = 2006-12-24 ]
* 27 December: Prosecutor General of Russia Yury Chaika accused Leonid Nevzlin, a former Vice President of Yukos, exiled in Israel and wanted by Russian authorities for a long time, of involvement in the poisoning, a charge dismissed by the latter as a nonsense. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/28/npoison28.xml]

2007

February 2007

* 5 February: Boris Berezovsky told the BBC that on his deathbed, Litvinenko said that Lugovoi was responsible for his poisoning.cite web
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6333809.stm
title = Litvinenko friend breaks silence
publisher =BBC
date = 2007-02-05
accessdate = 2007-03-11 ]
* 6 February: The text of a letter written by Litvinenko's widow on 31 January to Putin, demanding that Putin work with British authorities on solving the case, was released. [cite web
url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/05/news/poison.php
title = Litvinenko's widow challenges Putin to bring killers to justice
accessdate = 2007-03-11 ]

May 2007

* 21 May: Sir Ken Macdonald QC (Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales ) say that Lugovoi, should face trial for the "grave crime" of murdering Litvinenko.
* 22 May: Macdonald announces that Britain will seek extradition of Lugovoi and attempt to charge him with murdering Litvinenko. The Russian government states that they will not allow the extradition of any Russian citizens.cite web|title=British Prosecutors to Press Murder Charges in Litvinenko Case|url=http://voanews.com/english/2007-05-22-voa13.cfm|publisher=Voice of America|accessdate=2007-05-22|date=22 May 2007]
*28 May: The British Foreign Office formally submits a request to the Russian Government for the extradition of Lugovoi to the UK to face criminal charges. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6698545.stm UK requests Lugovoi extradition] BBC News]
** The Constitution of Russia forbids extradition of Russian citizens to foreign countries (Article 61), so the request can not be fulfilled. [http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-03.htm The Constitution of the Russian Federation. Chapter 2. Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen] ] Extradition requests had been granted in the past (For example in 2002 Murad Garabayev has been handed to Turkmenistan. [http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=CDI+Russia+Profile+List&articleid=a1184779596 Britain cuts off its nose to spite Russia's face] RIA Novosti] However, Garabayev's extradition was later found unlawful by the Russian courts and he was awarded 20,000 Euros in damages to be paid by the Russian government by the European Court of Human Rights. [http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/Hof.nsf/d0cd2c2c444d8d94c12567c2002de990/6a61916d53a30b1fc12572f10031c5c8?OpenDocument Garabayev vs. Russia] ] ) Article 63 does not explicitly mention Russian citizens, and therefore does not apply to them, but only to foreign nationals living in Russia. Article 61 supersedes it for the people holding the Russian citizenship.

*31 May: Lugovoi held a news conference at which he accused MI6 of attempting to recruit him and blamed either MI6, the Russian mafia, or fugitive Kremlin opponent Boris Berezovsky for the killing. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6706921.stm UK 'behind Litvinenko poisoning'] BBC News]

July 2007

*16 July: The British Foreign Office confirms that, as a result of Russia's refusal to extradite Lugovoi, four Russian diplomats are to be expelled from the Russian Embassy in London. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6901346.stm UK expels four Russian diplomats] BBC News]
*17 July: The Russia's deputy foreign minister, Mr Alexander Grushko, threatens to expel 80 UK diplomats. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6902046.stm Russia to expel 80 UK diplomats] ]
*19 July: The Russian Foreign ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, declared the expulsion of 4 UK diplomats from the British Embassy in Moscow. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6906481.stm Russia expels 4 UK diplomats] ]

October 2007

*27 October: British newspaper "Daily Mail" journalists Stephen Wright and David Williams, reported that Alexander Litvinenko was an MI6 agent and was receiving a retainer of £2000 per month when he was murdered and that the current head of MI6 Sir John Scarlett was involved in his recruitment, quoting unnamed "diplomatic and intelligence" sources.cite news
title =Revealed: Poisoned ex-Russian spy Litvinenko WAS a paid-up MI6 agent
publisher = Daily Mail
date = 2007-10-27
url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=490007&in_page_id=1770
accessdate = 2008-03-09 ] Such claims have been denied by Marina Litvinenko [cite news
title = Widow Says Litvinenko's Accuser Being Directed By FSB
publisher = Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
date = 2007-06-04
url = http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/06/909eb910-41f9-46c3-9b26-344b27af2e7c.html
accessdate = 2008-03-09 ] and Oleg Gordievsky. [cite news
title = Litvinenko's widow denies claims he was MI6 spy
publisher = Independent News and Media Limited
date = 2007-10-28
url = http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3104665.ece
accessdate = 2008-03-09 ]

Comparisons to other deaths

Deaths from ingesting radioactive materials

According to the IAEA in 1960 a person ingested 74 MBq of radium (assumed to be ²²⁶Ra) and this person died four years later. [cite web
first=Abel J
last=Gonzáles
title=Timely action
publisher=International Atomic Energy Agency
month=March | year=1999
url=http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull413/article1.pdf
format=pdf
accessdate=2006-12-08] Harold McCluskey survived 11 years (eventually dying from cardiorespiratory failure) after an intake of at least 37 MBq of ²⁴¹Am (He was exposed in 1976). It is estimated that he suffered doses of 18 Gy to his bone mass, 520 Gy to the bone surface, 8 Gy to the liver and 1.6 Gy to the lungs; it is also claimed that a post mortem examination revealed no signs of cancer in his body. The October 1983 issue of the journal "Health Physics" was dedicated to McCluskey, and subsequent papers about him appeared in the September 1995 issue. [cite web
last=Gene
first=Carbaugh
title=Harold McCluskey & Hanford Accident
publisher=Vanderbilt University
date=6 May 1996
url=http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/9605/msg00108.html
accessdate=2006-12-08]

uspicious deaths of people involved in Russian politics

Comparisons have been made to the alleged 2004 poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko (Ukraine and Russia have been separate states since 1991), the alleged 2003 poisoning of Yuri Shchekochikhin and the fatal 1978 poisoning of the journalist Georgi Markov by the Bulgarian Committee for State Security (Russia and Bulgaria had never been parts of the same state). The incident with Litvinenko has also attracted comparisons to the poisoning by radioactive (unconfirmed) thallium of KGB defector Nikolay Khokhlov and journalist Shchekochikhin of "Novaya Gazeta" (the "Novaya Gazeta" interview with the former, coincidentally, prepared by Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was later found shot to death in her apartment building). [ru iconcite web
last =
first =
title = ВСТРЕЧА С ПРОШЛЫМ
work =
publisher = Novaya Gazeta
date = 1 January 2004
url = http://2004.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2004/46n/n46n-s10.shtml
accessdate = 2006-11-21 ] Like Litvinenko, Shchekochikhin had investigated the Russian apartment bombings (he was a member of the Kovalev Commission that hired Litvinenko's friend Mikhail Trepashkin as a legal counsel).

KGB defector and British agent Oleg Gordievsky believes the murders of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, Shchekochikhin, and Politkovskaya and the incident with Litvinenko show that FSB has returned to the practice of political assassinations, [ru iconcite web
last =
first =
title = Бывший резидент КГБ Олег Гордиевский не сомневается в причастности к отравлению Литвиненко российских спецслужб
work =
publisher = svobodanews.ru
date = 20 November 2006
url = http://www.svobodanews.ru/Transcript/2006/11/20/20061120204213113.html
accessdate = 2006-11-24 ] which were conducted in the past by Thirteenth KGB Department. Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, "The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West", Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7 ] A comparison was also made with Roman Tsepov [cite web
last = Gurin
first = Charles
title = Roman Tsepov, RIP
work= Eurasia Daily Monitor
publisher = The Jamestown Foundation
date = 27 September 2004
url =http://www.jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2368580
accessdate = 2006-12-08 ] who was responsible for personal protection of Anatoly Sobchak and Putin, and who died in Russia in 2004 from poisoning by an unknown radioactive substance. [ru iconcite web
last =
first =
title =ДЛЯ ВНУТРЕННЕГО УПОТРЕБЛЕНИ
work =
publisher = "Novaya Gazeta"
date = 30 November 2006
url = http://2006.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2006/91n/n91n-s00.shtml
accessdate = 2006-12-02 ] [cite web
title = The Laboratory 12 poison plot
publisher = "The Times"
date = 8 April 2007
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1625866.ece
accessdate = 2008-01-21]

Officers of FSB "special forces" liked to use Litvinenko photos for target practice in shooting galleries, according to Russian journalist Yulia Latynina. [ru iconcite web
last = Latynina
first = Yulia
title = Вам удастся заставить молчать одного человека
work =
publisher =
date = 28 November 2006
url = http://www.ej.ru/dayTheme/entry/5474/
accessdate = 2006-11-28 ]

References in popular culture

* Channel Four Television Corporation has signed Mentorn productions to make a television drama based on the Litvinenko poisoning. Peter Kosminsky will be the director. [cite web
title =Daybreak Pictures Commissioned To Produce Litvinenko Poisoning Drama
publisher = All Headline News
date =7 December 2006
url =http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005782642
accessdate = 2006-12-08]
* Johnny Depp is reportedly planning to make a film based on a forthcoming book. [http://www.itv.com/news/entertainment_272e8dca5cfa3bcb61859ffd84edce8c.html Depp to make Litvinenko film] ] [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20008313,00.html Depp Takes On the KGB] , by Mike Bruno, "Entertainment Weekly"] cite web
title = Film-maker fears returning to Russia
publisher = Times Online
date =20 January 2007
url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2556475.html
accessdate = 2007-01-20]
* A 2007 episode of "Law & Order Criminal Intent" featured a story that alluded to the incident and the "60 Minutes" CBS News program aired a segment on "Who Killed Alexander Litvinenko?" on 7 January 2007. A transcript is available online. [cite web
title =60 Minutes Episode "Who Killed Alexander Litvinenko?"
publisher = CBS TV News
date =7 January 2007
url =http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/05/60minutes/main2333207.shtml
accessdate = 2007-01-07]

* Thriller writers Frederick Forsyth and Andy McNab claimed that the killing of Alexander Litvinenko is a classic case of fact being stranger than fiction and that they would be fighting a losing battle if they offered a Litvinenko-style story to a publisher. [cite web
last = Majendie
first = Paul
title = Spy writers say Litvinenko case stranger than fiction
work = Reuters
publisher = news.scotsman.com
date = 11 December 2006
url = http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1840772006
accessdate = 2006-12-13 ]

ee also

*Litvinenko Justice Foundation
*Poison laboratory of the Soviet secret services
*Active measures
*List of crimes involving radioactive substances
*Allegations of state terrorism by Russia
*FSB
*Anglo-Russian relations
*Anna Politkovskaya

References

External links

* [http://www.litvinenko.org.uk/ Litvinenko Justice Foundation] on Litvinenko.org.uk
* [http://www.ionactive.co.uk/news_article.html?n=42 A review of the technical issues associated with the ²¹⁰Po poisoning.]
* [http://files.filefront.com/6436339 Downloadable Word document of Alexander Litvinenko's book, "Blowing Up Russia"]
* [http://www.litvinenkomurder.org/ 60 Minutes & The Second Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko] at LitvinenkoMurder.org
* [http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8407464 The Litvinenko affair: Murder most opaque] - "The Economist"
* [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/12/14/litvinenko/index.html From Russia with lies] in Salon.com
* [http://thefinalphaseforum.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=660&st=0 The Litvinenko Chronicles]
* [http://eng.terror99.ru/ Terror99] Information on the Russian apartment bombings and books by Alexander Litvinenko
* [http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-7225032942379831216&q=Anna+Politkovskaya Alexander Litvinenko at the Frontline Club accusing Vladimir Putin of the assassination of journalist Anna Politkovskaya] ru icon ((en icon
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2469176,00.html The article] by film-maker Andrei Nekrasov in "The Times"
* [http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=7658755847655738553&q=disbelief Watch the Andrei Nekrasov film "Disbelief (Loose change in Russia 1999)" which recounts the book "Blowing up Russia: Terror from within" by Alexander Litvinenko]
* [http://www.westbournemouthukip.com/Battenonprodi.html UKIP MEP Gerard Batten reveals some information given to him by Alexander Litvinenko]
* [http://www.countercurrents.org/avnery020804.htm "The Oligarchs"; Former Knesset Member Uri Avnery on how Berezovsky et. al. amassed their wealth]
* [http://litvinenko.org.uk/bb.pdf Transcript of interview with Boris Berezovsky conducted on behalf of Russian General Prosecutor's Office]
* [http://www.kommersant.com/p-10989/Zakayev_Litvinenko_London_interview/ Transcript of interview with Ahmed Zakayev conducted on behalf of Russian General Prosecutor's Office]
* [http://www.litvinenko.org.uk/news/en/chronology/ The Litvinenko Justice Foundation]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1595727.ece "The Moscow plot"; Excerpt from the book "The Litvinenko File" by former BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1625866.ece "The Laboratory 12 poison plot"; Another excerpt from the same book]
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2167972/entry/2167973/ An excerpt from the book "Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB" by Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko]
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2167972/entry/2167974/ Another excerpt from the same book]
* [http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2008-08-14-The-Terminal-Spy_N.htm An excerpt from "The Terminal Spy: A True story of Espionage, Betrayal, and Murder" by New York Times journalist Alan S. Cowell]
* [http://www.interfax.com/17/295255/Interview.aspx Sir Tony Brenton: “Crisis” the wrong term to describe current British-Russian rift]