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Alexander Litvinenko

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File:Litvinenko in intensive care.jpg
Alexander Litvinenko in intensive care

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko (Template:Lang-ru, 30 August 1962 – 23 November 2006) was an ex-KGB colonel and ex-FSB lieutenant-colonel. Although born in Russia, he had been a naturalised British citizen since October 2006.

Background

Alexander Litvinenko was born in the Russian city of Voronezh, where he graduated from a Soviet secondary school in 1980. He was then drafted into the Soviet Army and rapidly rose through the ranks from private to lieutenant-colonel. In 1988, he began serving in the counter-intelligence agencies of the Soviet KGB, and in 1991, was promoted to the Central Staff of the MB-FSK-FSB of Russia, specializing in counter-terrorist activities and infiltration of organized crime. He was awarded the title of "MUR veteran" for operations conducted with MUR (Moscow criminal investigation department). Litvinenko also saw active military service in many of the so-called "hot spots" of the former USSR and Russia, and in 1997, he was again promoted to the most secret department of the Russian FSB, the Department for the Analysis of Criminal Organizations with the title of senior operational officer and deputy head of the Seventh section.

Dissidence

Litvinenko was a specialist in fighting organized crime. In 1998, he claimed that his superiors had ordered the killing of Boris Berezovsky, a businessman who then held the high government post of Secretary of the Security Council and was close to President Boris Yeltsin. Litvinenko claims that he was dismissed from the FSB, and then arrested twice on false charges which were dropped after he had spent time in harsh Moscow prisons.

Arrested for a third time in 2000 on charges of faking evidence in an investigation, Litvinenko fled before he could be imprisoned. He made his way without a passport to Turkey, where he joined his wife Marina and their son Anatoly, who had left Moscow on tourist visas. On 1 November, 2000, they emigrated to the United Kingdom, claiming political asylum, and in October 2006 he became a British citizen. He has extensively criticized the regime of President Vladimir Putin, particularly its position on Chechnya. One of the highest-profile defectors from the FSB, he was on the wanted list in Moscow.

In the book Blowing up Russia: Terror from Within, Litvinenko alleged that agents from the FSB co-ordinated the 1999 apartment block bombings in Russia that killed more than 300 people. Russian officials blamed the explosions on Chechen separatists. In the book Gang from Lubyanka (Лубянская преступная группировка), Litvinenko alleged that Vladimir Putin was personally involved in organized crime during his work in FSB.

In a July 2005 interview with Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, Litvinenko alleged that Ayman al-Zawahiri, along with other al-Qaeda leaders, was trained by the FSB in Dagestan (a republic neighboring Chechnya) in 1998.

In April 2006, a British MEP for London, Gerard Batten (UKIP), cited allegations by Litvinenko that Romano Prodi, the Italian Centre-Left leader (now Prime Minister) and former President of the European Commission, had been the KGB's "man in Italy". Batten demanded an inquiry into the allegations. He told the European Parliament that Litvinenko had been informed by FSB deputy chief, General Anatoly Trofimov (who was shot dead in Moscow in 2005,) that "Romano Prodi is our man (in Italy)". According to Brussels-based newspaper the EU Reporter on 3 April 2006, "another high-level source, a former KGB operative in London, has confirmed the story". Among Litvinenko's most serious claims is that Prodi assisted in the protection of KGB operatives allegedly involved in the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981.

On 26 April 2006, Batten repeated his call for a parliamentary inquiry, revealing that "former, senior members of the KGB are willing to testify in such an investigation, under the right conditions". He added, "It is not acceptable that this situation is unresolved, given the importance of Russia's relations with the European Union".

Illness and death

On 1 November, 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill while investigating the death of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He had lunch at Itsu, a sushi restaurant on Piccadilly, with an Italian acquaintance, Mario Scaramella, to whom he made the allegations regarding Prodi. Scaramella, attached to the Mitrokhin Commission investigating KGB penetration of Italian politics, claimed to have information on the murder of Politkovskaya, 48, the journalist who was killed at her Moscow apartment in October 2006. He passed Litvinenko papers on the Russian journalist's fate. On 20 November, it was reported that Scaramella had gone into hiding and was in fear for his life.

Oleg Gordievsky, a longtime acquaintance of Litvinenko and another former KGB colonel who had defected to the UK, told the BBC he believed Litvinenko was poisoned at the flat of an old Russian friend with whom he had had tea before going to the sushi restaurant.

Suspected thallium poisoning

Scotland Yard is investigating claims that Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium. Preliminary tests appeared to confirm the presence of the poison, which is colourless, odourless, and completely water-soluble. Thallium was once a common ingredient in rat poison, but its use was restricted in the 1970s and is now difficult to obtain. Litvinenko is said to have ingested a potentially fatal dose. Among the distinctive effects of thallium poisoning are hair loss and damage to peripheral nerves, and a photo released of Litvinenko in the hospital indeed shows his hair to have fallen out. Litvinenko attributed his survival to his cardiovascular fitness and swift medical treatment. It has been suggested that a radioactive isotope of thallium may have been used.

However, Dr. Amit Nathwani, one of Litvinenko's physicians, reported "His symptoms are slightly odd for thallium poisoning, and the levels of thallium we were able to detect are not the kind of levels you'd see in toxicity, but it is also quite possible that we may never find the ultimate cause." Following a deterioration of his condition on 20 November, Litvinenko was moved into intensive care. On 23 November, an X-ray was said to have revealed three small objects in his intestines, almost certainly due to Prussian blue, the treatment he had been given for thallium poisoning. It was reported that his doctors had given him a 50/50 chance of survival over the three- to four-week period following the poisoning. Furthermore, on 22 November, it was reported through Mr Litvinenko's medical staff that he had suffered a 'major setback' in his treatment in IC (intensive care) due to either heart failure or an overnight heart attack. The following day, doctors at the hospital announced his death.

Media reaction and past cases

The incident was widely covered in the international media on 19 November 2006, with much speculation that he may have been poisoned by Russian secret service. Comparisons have been made to the 2004 poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko and the 1978 poisoning of the journalist Georgi Markov by the Bulgarian State Security. The incident with Litvinenko has also attracted comparisons to the poisoning by radioactive thallium of KGB defector Nikolay Khokhlov and journalist Yuri Schekochikhin of Novaya Gazeta (the Novaya Gazeta interview with the former, coincidentally, prepared by Anna Politkovskaya). Like Litvinenko, Yuri Schekochikhin had investigated the Russian apartment bombings (he was a member of Kovalev Commission that hired Litvinenko's friend Mikhail Trepashkin as a legal counsel). Former KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky believes that murders of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, Yuri Sheckochikhin, and Anna Politkovskaya and the incident with Aleksander Litvinenko show that FSB has returned to the practice of political assassinations, which were conducted in the past by Thirteenth KGB Department.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, dismissed the idea of Putin's involvement as "pure nonsense". However Viktor Ilyukhin, a deputy chairman of the Russian parliament’s security committee, said that he "can’t exclude that possibility". He said: "That former KGB officer had been irritating the Russian authorities for a long time and possibly knew some state secrets. So when our special services got the chance to operate not only inside but outside the country, they decided to get rid of him". He apparently referred to a recent counter-terrorism law in Russia that gives the President right to order such actions. The involvement of Moscow was denied by SVR representative Sergei Ivanov who said: "May God give him health."

An article in the London Evening Standard on 21 November 2006 suggested that Litvinenko had passed a tape recording to British Intelligence alleging that sexually explicit video tapes of Russian President Vladimir Putin had circulated for several years in Moscow.

Death

Litvinenko died on 23 November, 2006. Scotland Yard reported that "Inquiries continue into the circumstances surrounding how Mr. Litvinenko, 44 years, of North London, became unwell." BBC also informed that hours before his death 3 circular-shaped, 2 cm diameter unidentified objects have been found in his stomach.

References

  1. "Litvinenko was told that he was marked for death". Times. 22 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. "Kremlin gave order to kill dissident and former spy, claims top defector". Times. 20 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. Nyquist, J.R. (20 November 2006). "Kremlin Poison". Financial Sense Online. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. "Former FSB General, Wife Shot Dead in Moscow". Mosnews.com. April 11 2005. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. Donnelly, Cillian (April 3 2006). "Prodi Accused Of Being Former Soviet Agent". EU Reporter. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. Batten, Gerard (26 April 2006). "2006: Speech in the European Parliament: Romano Prodi". Gerard Batten MEP. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. Batten, Gerard (April 3 2006). "Gerard Batten MEP - "60 second speech to the European Parliament "Romano Prodi" - Strasbourg". UKIP. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. Owen, Richard (November 20 2006). "Exile's contact in hiding after 'being made a scapegoat'". The Times. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. Townsend, Mark (19 November 2006). "Poisoning of Russian agent raises fears of UK vendetta". Guardian. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. Murphy, Kim (21 November 2006). "Who poisoned a former KGB agent?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Ex-spy's '50% chance of survival'". Guardian. 19 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. "London doctor: Radioactive poison may be in ex-Russian spy". USA Today. 21 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. "Doctors in dark on poisoned ex-spy". CNN. 21 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. "Ex-spy's condition deteriorates". BBC. 24 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. "Ex-Russian spy dies in hospital". BBC. 24 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. Template:Ru icon"ВСТРЕЧА С ПРОШЛЫМ". novayagazeta. 1 January 2004. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. Template:Ru icon"Бывший резидент КГБ Олег Гордиевский не сомневается в причастности к отравлению Литвиненко российских спецслужб". svobodanews.ru. 20 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. *Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7
  19. Laville, Sandra (November 21 2006). "Clinging to life and under armed guard, the spy the Kremlin denies poisoning". The Guardian. Retrieved 2006-11-21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. "Poisoned by radiation". The Sun. 21 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. Template:Ru icon"Федеральный закон Российской Федерации от 6 марта 2006 г. N 35-ФЗ О противодействии терроризму". Government of Russia. 20 November 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. Graff, Peter (21 November 2006). "Doctors may never know what poisoned ex-Russian spy". Reuters. Retrieved 2006-11-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. "Poisoned Russian former spy dies". CNN. November 23 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. Template:Es icon"Murió Alexander Litvinenko, el ex espía ruso que fue envenenado en Londres". El Tiempo. November 23 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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