Anybody else following the Litvinenko story? (1 Viewer)

[JaxBill]

I keep waiting to turn on the news and see Tom Clancy being interviewed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061201/ap_on_...oisoned_spy_124

ETA: I'm also curious to hear the reaction of the UK FBGs since I'm sure this is huge news there.

 

[Genedoc]

I keep waiting to turn on the news and see Tom Clancy being interviewed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061201/ap_on_...oisoned_spy_124

I've been following it aggressively. Fascinating, scary stuff.

 

[JaxBill]

According to Fox, they've had to evacuate a small private Hotel in England because of the radiation concerns.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,233578,00.html

 

[perry147]

Give me the basics about this story please.

Is Vladimir Putin killing off his critics?

 

[bostonfred]

I don't understand how they got radioactive material onto a plane.

 

[Genedoc]

I don't understand how they got radioactive material onto a plane.

Are geiger counters widely used? I was thinking it would be pretty easy to get on a plane.

 

[JaxBill]

I don't understand how they got radioactive material onto a plane.

Are geiger counters widely used? I was thinking it would be pretty easy to get on a plane.

Yeah, I think they look mainly for the instrument (bomb) that would deliver the payload. They're not expecting or checking for a person who has been poisoned with radioactive materials to board the plane.

 

[CBusAlex]

Anybody else following the Litvinenko story?

No. And you'd be wise not to either.

 

[Genedoc]

Give me the basics about this story please.Is Vladimir Putin killing off his critics?

In short, very likely. Very short version is that an outspoken critic of the Russian government, and a former Soviet spy Litvinenko, was investigating the mysterious death of an investigative journalist who was also a critic of the Russian government. Litvinenko had dinner with a contact on Nov 1 in Great Britain, and fell ill shortly after. While dying, he said he was the vicitm of an assassination plotted by Putin. His dinner partner that evening has also tested positive for Polonium poisoning. His name was on an alleged hit list published a while back, along with several others who've recently died. Furthermore, Polonium 210 is almost exclusively available in poisonous amounts in the military industrial complex. It's an alpha emitter, meaning it must be ingested to be really dangerous. It cannot penetrate the outer layer of skin, but if ingested can do serious damage.

 

[JaxBill]

Give me the basics about this story please.Is Vladimir Putin killing off his critics?

From what I understand, the alleged story is Putin killed off his critics in the late 90's. Former Russian spy is trying to blow whistle on Putin and tell the West. Spy, spy's friend, and spy's wife all have varying levels of polonium poisoning. Story also is that spy was on hit-list to cover tracks and the list isn't finished yet.

 

[Genedoc]

Give me the basics about this story please.Is Vladimir Putin killing off his critics?

From what I understand, the alleged story is Putin killed off his critics in the late 90's. Former Russian spy is trying to blow whistle on Putin and tell the West. Spy, spy's friend, and spy's wife all have varying levels of polonium poisoning. Story also is that spy was on hit-list to cover tracks and the list isn't finished yet.

Wife isn't poisoned - she has trace exposures from what I've read.

 

[perry147]

Give me the basics about this story please.Is Vladimir Putin killing off his critics?

In short, very likely. Very short version is that an outspoken critic of the Russian government, and a former Soviet spy Litvinenko, was investigating the mysterious death of an investigative journalist who was also a critic of the Russian government. Litvinenko had dinner with a contact on Nov 1 in Great Britain, and fell ill shortly after. While dying, he said he was the vicitm of an assassination plotted by Putin. His dinner partner that evening has also tested positive for Polonium poisoning. His name was on an alleged hit list published a while back, along with several others who've recently died. Furthermore, Polonium 210 is almost exclusively available in poisonous amounts in the military industrial complex. It's an alpha emitter, meaning it must be ingested to be really dangerous. It cannot penetrate the outer layer of skin, but if ingested can do serious damage.

I remember when the journalist was killed - I saw something about it on the BBC (I think) but US news sources have almost ignored the story. This sounds like a real life John le Carré novel.

 

[snitwitch]

Anyone know anything about a similar story that occured in the 70s? Something about a spy being pricked by the end of an umbrella, and dying shortly thereafter?

 

[Wyldfox]

Weren't there something like 12 planes showing signs?

What about that sushi restaurant; any word on that?

 

[John Mamula]

is the thought that the spy ingested the material at the sushi spot?

if it isn't dangerous via airborne (or is it?) that would narrow it down no?

 

[johnnycakes]

is the thought that the spy ingested the material at the sushi spot?if it isn't dangerous via airborne (or is it?) that would narrow it down no?

I heard it could be absorbed by eating it, breathing it, or through a cut. And the amount it takes is microscopic - literally so small you couldn't see it.

 

[Genedoc]

is the thought that the spy ingested the material at the sushi spot?if it isn't dangerous via airborne (or is it?) that would narrow it down no?

I heard it could be absorbed by eating it, breathing it, or through a cut. And the amount it takes is microscopic - literally so small you couldn't see it.

The amount it would take would depend entirely on how freshly made it was. Polonium 210 has a short half life, so if it was brand new, it wouldn't take much volume wise, but if it had been sitting around a while, it would take a lot more.

 

[RoarinSonoran]

I don't understand how they got radioactive material onto a plane.

3oz bottle in a clear freezer-size Ziplock bag.

 

[John Mamula]

I don't understand how they got radioactive material onto a plane.

3oz bottle in a clear freezer-size Ziplock bag.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Britain says fighter jets scrambled to intercept Russian bombers "The Russian planes were escorted by the RAF until they were out of the UK area of interest. At no time did the Russian military aircraft cross into UK sovereign airspace," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Last year, NATO conducted more than 100 intercepts of Russian aircraft, about three times as many as in 2013, amid sharply increased tensions between the West and Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

Elizabeth Quintana, a senior research fellow at defence think-tank the Royal United Services Institute said Wednesday's incident was unusual however, and could be linked to Britain beginning an inquiry into the death nine years ago in London of Kremlin critic and ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko.

"Normally Russian Bears come past Norway and down the North Sea. It could have been used to probe the RAF speed of reaction south," she told the Daily Mail newspaper.

"Flying any military aircraft in or close to the sovereign airspace of another country signals displeasure or at worst aggression." (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Michael Holden)

"The Russian planes were escorted by the RAF until they were out of the UK area of interest. At no time did the Russian military aircraft cross into UK sovereign airspace," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Last year, NATO conducted more than 100 intercepts of Russian aircraft, about three times as many as in 2013, amid sharply increased tensions between the West and Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

Elizabeth Quintana, a senior research fellow at defence think-tank the Royal United Services Institute said Wednesday's incident was unusual however, and could be linked to Britain beginning an inquiry into the death nine years ago in London of Kremlin critic and ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko.

"Normally Russian Bears come past Norway and down the North Sea. It could have been used to probe the RAF speed of reaction south," she told the Daily Mail newspaper.

"Flying any military aircraft in or close to the sovereign airspace of another country signals displeasure or at worst aggression." (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Michael Holden)

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/britain-says-fighter-jets-scrambled-to-intercept-russian-bombers/ar-AA8Ijkl?ocid=ansnewsreu11

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Litvinenko autopsy was world's most dangerous, UK inquiry hears(Reuters) - Pathologists examining the body of ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope nine years ago in London, carried out the world's most dangerous-ever autopsy on his body, an inquiry into his killing heard on Wednesday.

They also said they would probably never have discovered the way he had died had unusual tests not been carried out just before his death.

British police say Kremlin critic Litvinenko died three weeks after drinking tea poisoned with polonium-210 at the plush Millennium hotel, which they believe was administered by two Russians Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitri Kovtun.

At its opening at London's High Court on Tuesday, the inquiry was told Litvinenko had told police Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally ordered his death.

His widow's lawyer said this was to partly to cover up Kremlin links to the mafia which the former spy was going to help Spanish intelligence to expose.

Russia and the two suspects have repeatedly rejected any involvement in the death.

Litvinenko's health deteriorated rapidly after his meeting with Lugovoy and Kovtun on Nov. 1, 2006 and he died later that month having suffered multiple organ failure.

The inquiry was told "an inspired hunch" by police led them to bring in atomic scientists who found Litvinenko tested positive for alpha radiation poisoning two days before he died.

Lead pathologist Nat Cary said without that, the cause of death would not have been discovered in a post-mortem, adding he was unaware of any other case of someone being poisoned with alpha radiation in Britain, and probably the world.

Co-pathologist Benjamin Swift told the inquiry: "It was probably the most dangerous post-mortem that's ever been conducted."

Those involved had needed to wear two white protective suits with specialised hoods fed with filtered air.

One of Britain's top nuclear scientists, identified only as A1, told the inquiry only a tiny amount, nanograms to micrograms, of polonium would be fatal.

Tests had shown traces of polonium in parts of a ceramic teapot from the Millennium Hotel, including its spout, which were "off the scale", she said.

However, she said the purity of the polonium they had found meant it was impossible to determine where it had been MADE.

The controversy generated by Litvinenko's killing plunged Anglo-Russian relations to a post-Cold War low.

As ties improved though, Britain rejected holding an inquiry in 2013, but then, as the Ukraine crisis unfolded, the government changed its mind last July although it said the political Ukrainian situation was not a factor.

Ben Emmerson, the lawyer for Litvinenko's widow Marina, said the police's main suspect Lugovoy had given an interview to Russian radio on Tuesday denouncing the inquiry as a "judicial farce".

"When the situation in Ukraine had kicked off and the UK's geographical interests had likely begun to change, they decided to dust off the mothballs and commence these proceedings," Lugovoy said according to Emmerson.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/uk-britain-russia-litvinenko-idUKKBN0L11M620150128