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ted_bloody_maul Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2003 Total posts: 4877 Location: Quester's Psykick Dancehall Gender: Unknown |
 Posted: 20-11-2006 11:21 Post subject: Poisoned: spy who quit Russia for Britain |
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SCOTLAND YARD is investigating a suspected plot to assassinate a former Russian spy in Britain by poisoning him with thallium, the deadly metal.
Aleksander Litvinenko, who defected to Britain six years ago, is fighting for his life in a London hospital. A toxicology test at Guy’s hospital last Thursday confirmed the presence of the odourless, tasteless poison.
A medical report obtained by The Sunday Times shows that he has three times the maximum limit in his body, a potentially fatal dose. It is as yet unclear how the poison was administered, but on the day he became ill his family say he had a meal with a mysterious Italian contact.
Friends of Litvinenko, a former lieutenant-colonel in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), are convinced that he is the victim of a murder attempt by former colleagues. They regard it as similar to the plot in which Georgi Markov, the Bulgarian dissident, was killed in 1978 with a poison-tipped umbrella on Waterloo Bridge in London.
Scotland Yard detectives have been liaising with consultants at Barnet hospital, north London, who have been treating Litvinenko since the poisoning on November 1, the anniversary of his defection.
A police spokesman confirmed an inquiry had been launched last week: “The Specialist Crime Directorate are investigating a suspicious poisoning.”
Supplies of thallium in Britain are highly restricted and cases of poisoning are extremely rare. One gram is enough to kill even the fittest of men and Litvinenko, 43, has all the symptoms of the poison, which can be diagnosed only after at least two weeks.
He has kidney damage, is constantly vomiting and has lost all his hair. He has also suffered severe damage to his bone marrow and an almost total loss of white blood cells which are vital to the immune system.
Doctors say these latter symptoms could suggest the presence of a second unknown agent in a potentially lethal “cocktail”.
In an interview last week at his bedside in the cancer ward of Barnet hospital, where he was being treated under a different name, Litvinenko said he believed it was a murder plot to avenge his defection.
“They probably thought I would be dead from heart failure by the third day,” he said. “I do feel very bad. I’ve never felt like this before — like my life is hanging on the ropes.”
Litvinenko claimed political asylum in 2000 and was granted British citizenship last month. One of the highest profile defectors from the FSB, he is on the wanted list in Moscow where he has made powerful enemies with his criticism of President Vladimir Putin.
Last month Litvinenko received an unexpected e-mail from a man he knew as Mario, an acquaintance he had made in Italy. The Italian said he wanted to meet him in London because he had some important information about the murder of Anna Politkovskaya,( http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27920 ) a Russian investigative journalist who was killed in the lift of her Moscow apartment block.
Litvinenko was a friend of Politkovskaya, one of the Kremlin’s most powerful critics, particularly over the war in Chechnya.
“We met at Piccadilly Circus,” said Litvinenko. “Mario said he wanted to sit down to talk to me, so I suggested we go to a Japanese restaurant nearby.
“I ordered lunch but he ate nothing. He appeared to be very nervous. He handed me a four-page document which he said he wanted me to read right away. It contained a list of names of people, including FSB officers, who were purported to be connected with the journalist’s murder.
“The document was an e-mail but it was not an official document. I couldn’t understand why he had to come all the way to London to give it to me. He could have e-mailed it to me.”
After the meeting the Italian had simply “disappeared”, although Litvinenko emphasised that he was not in a position to accuse him of involvement in his poisoning.
That night Litvinenko became violently ill. His wife Marina, 44, said: “At first I thought it was just a bug but then he started vomiting. But it wasn’t normal vomiting.”
She said her husband is a fit man who often runs three miles a day. He had no previous record of medical problems. He was admitted to Barnet hospital on the third day. Nine days ago, his condition suddenly deteriorated and he lost all his hair. Doctors say Litvinenko has not eaten for 18 days and is receiving what little nourishment he can take via an intravenous drip.
Russian and East European agents have a history of using poisons to attack their enemies. Markov was poisoned with ricin and died three days later.
More recently Victor Yuschenko suffered facial disfigurement after being poisoned with suspected dioxin as he campaigned for the presidency of Ukraine.
Litvinenko, a specialist in fighting organised crime, came to prominence in 1998 after he accused the Russian authorities of trying to kill Boris Berezovsky, a tycoon close to Boris Yeltsin, who was then president.
He claims he was drummed out of the spy agency and subjected to harassment to punish him for speaking out. He was arrested twice on what he says were trumped up charges. Although he was acquitted, he spent months in Moscow prisons.
In 2000 he was arrested for a third time on charges of faking evidence in an investigation. Friends told him he was unlikely to escape lightly under the Putin regime.
Litvinenko decided to flee before he was arrested. Stripped by the authorities of his passport, he ended up in Turkey where he joined Marina and their son Anatoly, who had flown from Moscow on tourist visas. They came to Britain and claimed asylum. He has been a thorn in Moscow’s side ever since.
Marina said she was hoping to find a bone marrow donor to save her husband’s life.
Doctors have moved him to another hospital offering more specialised treatment and police have taken his family into protective custody.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2460129_1,00.html |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 20-11-2006 11:54 Post subject: |
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| So, if it really was the Russian Intelligence, why is the guy still alive and why did they use something as easily traceable as thallium? |
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| coldelephant |
| Posted: 20-11-2006 13:12 Post subject: |
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Therein lies the real mystery.
What if it was some cack handed amateur the Russian Mafia had indirectly hired through an administrative error?
Why Russian Mafia?
Well that leads into another conspiracy theory that Putin is in fact their lackey. |
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| Timble2 Imaginary person Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Total posts: 7114 Location: Practically in Narnia Age: 58 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 20-11-2006 13:42 Post subject: |
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Agatha Christie uses thallium as a poison in The Pale Horse.
I've heard that AC is quite popular in Russia.
I wondered about the Russian Mafia as well. |
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| ted_bloody_maul Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2003 Total posts: 4877 Location: Quester's Psykick Dancehall Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 20-11-2006 14:06 Post subject: |
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| coldelephant wrote: | Therein lies the real mystery.
What if it was some cack handed amateur the Russian Mafia had indirectly hired through an administrative error?
Why Russian Mafia?
Well that leads into another conspiracy theory that Putin is in fact their lackey. |
well he does business with some pretty dodgy people apparently.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/10/02/ccabram02.xml |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 20-11-2006 19:26 Post subject: |
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| Didn't somebody try to bump off Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko with Thallium? I wonder if it's the same people behind both plots, or is this a popular way of assassination in Eastern Europe? |
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| OldTimeRadio Great Old One Joined: 15 Aug 2005 Total posts: 5539 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio USA Age: 72 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 21-11-2006 06:32 Post subject: |
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| Timble2 wrote: | | Agatha Christie uses thallium as a poison in The Pale Horse. |
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But wasn't young Mr. Graham Young the first Briton to actually carry out a murder by thallium? |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 21-11-2006 13:16 Post subject: |
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| gncxx wrote: | | Didn't somebody try to bump off Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko with Thallium? I wonder if it's the same people behind both plots, or is this a popular way of assassination in Eastern Europe? |
Dioxins.
...
More news. Apparently who ever had a go at the ex-KGB man used radioactive thallium.
| Quote: | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6167728.stm
Radioactive poison fear over spy
Tuesday, 21 November 2006
The Russian dissident ill in a London hospital may have been poisoned with a radioactive substance, an expert toxicologist has said.
Professor John Henry said Alexander Litvinenko, 41, had symptoms consistent with thallium poisoning but other symptoms linked to other substances.
"It's not 100% thallium," Dr Henry said outside University College Hospital.
He said the poison may have been radioactive thallium, which would now be difficult to trace.
He said: "It may be too late. If it's a radioactive poison with a short half-life it may have gone.
"Radioactive thallium degrades very rapidly so that by now we've missed the chance [to trace the poison]."
Radioactive thallium is used in hospitals but Dr Henry said it was not used in massive doses consistent with Mr Litvinenko's condition.
The critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin fell ill on 1 November after a meeting at a London sushi bar.
'Sheer nonsense'
Scotland Yard anti-terrorist officers have taken charge of the investigation into the poisoning by thallium of a former KGB colonel living in the UK.
The hospital said his condition was unchanged overnight.
The Kremlin has dismissed as "sheer nonsense" claims it was involved.
... |
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| WhistlingJack Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Total posts: 4298 Location: The Sewers of The Strand Age: 9 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 22-11-2006 12:17 Post subject: |
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| OldTimeRadio wrote: | | Timble2 wrote: | | Agatha Christie uses thallium as a poison in The Pale Horse. |
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But wasn't young Mr. Graham Young the first Briton to actually carry out a murder by thallium? |
He definitely used it - I'm not entirely sure as to whether he was the first to do so, however.
Meanwhile, doctors aren't now so sure that Mr. Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium: -
| Quote: | Poisoned spy 'had death threats'
A friend of a former Russian spy seriously ill in a London hospital said both had received e-mail threats days before his poisoning.
Italian Mario Scaramella told a Rome press conference that he met Alexander Litvinenko the day he fell ill.
Scotland Yard anti-terrorist officers have taken charge of the investigation.
Meanwhile, doubts persist over whether the substance responsible for Mr Litvinenko's illness was the toxic metal thallium, or some other poison.
Toxicologist Professor John Henry said at University College Hospital that the poison may have been a radioactive form of thallium, which would now be difficult to trace, but that some other substance was also involved.
Meanwhile, officers are treating the case as a suspected "deliberate poisoning" and say it could have taken place in the last two weeks.
Police have not yet identified the 'time window' in which the poisoning was administered.
The doctor treating the former spy said in the hospital's first official statement that the cause may never be found.
Dr Amit Nathwani said it was possible he may not have been poisoned by thallium, adding that he could not be sure because of the time he presented himself to University College Hospital.
The consultant said his patient was seriously ill but stable - a situation which had not deteriorated substantially in the last day.
He added that moving him into intensive care had been a precautionary measure.
Dr Nathwani also complained that media interest in the case had become "somewhat intrusive".
BBC Rome correspondent Christian Fraser said Mr Scaramella, who is involved in an Italian parliamentary inquiry into KGB activity, was sufficiently worried by the contents of an e-mail to ask for advice from Mr Litvinenko.
He said he met the Russian in a London sushi bar on 1 November for 35 minutes to discuss the e-mail.
He said Mr Litvinenko had promised to look into the message but when Mr Scaramella called him later that night the Russian was already falling ill.
Meanwhile, detectives are planning to travel to Italy to interview Mr Scaramella and are also investigating whether Mr Litvinenko was being followed.
Dr Henry said Mr Litvinenko, 43, had symptoms consistent with thallium poisoning but other symptoms linked to other substances.
He said Mr Litvinenko's bone marrow was not functioning and his white cell count has dropped to zero.
"Something other than thallium is involved," he said.
Radioactive thallium is used in hospitals, but Dr Henry said it was not used in massive doses consistent with Mr Litvinenko's condition.
"Poisons can be taken by mouth, they can be injected, they can be inhaled," he said.
"In this case his symptoms are gastro-intestinal so the probability is that he has swallowed something that is poisoned.
Friends of Mr Litvinenko have alleged he was poisoned because he was critical of the Russian government.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they did not want to comment about the accusations, which they called "sheer nonsense".
Russia's foreign intelligence service also denied involvement.
Mr Litvinenko had been investigating the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of Mr Putin and Russian policy in Chechnya, who was shot dead at her Moscow apartment building last month.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/11/22 10:02:31 GMT
© BBC MMVI |
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| min_bannister Lancette |
| Posted: 22-11-2006 13:11 Post subject: |
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The KGB has used radioactive Thallium in the past to try and murder a former agent who defected to the West Nicolai Khokhlov.
| Quote: | In the 1950s, Georgi Okolovich was a prominent dissident Russian emigre. He was an official in the Popular Labor Alliance of Russian Solidarists, an anti-Soviet group based in West Germany. The KGB marked him for death.
In 1954, Soviet assassin Nicolai Khokhlov was sent to West Germany to kill him. But the plot hit an unusual snag: before accomplishing his mission, the assassin converted to Christianity and rejected his murderous profession. Upon his arrival in West Germany he defected and warned Okolovich about the plots against him.
By saving Okolovich's life, however, Khokhlov became a marked man himself: in 1957 the KGB poisoned him with radioactive thallium. Hospitalized and given massive blood transfusions and a variety of antitoxins, he survived. |
Radioactive Thallium is used as a radioactive tracer in medicine and has a half life of about 3 days so it would be difficult to trace after a few weeks. One of the treatments for it is Prussian Blue, not the creepy child singers but the drug. |
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| Rarebird Yeti Joined: 16 Oct 2005 Total posts: 39 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 24-11-2006 01:13 Post subject: Ex-Russian spy dies in hospital |
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| Quote: | Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in hospital three weeks after apparently being poisoned in London.
University College Hospital, London, said Mr Litvinenko had died at 2121 GMT on Thursday and the cause of his condition was still being investigated.
Friends have said the 43-year-old was poisoned because of his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin - Russia has denied any involvement.
Scotland Yard said they were now investigating "an unexplained death".
Defector
A hospital spokesman said: "Every avenue was explored to establish the cause of [Mr Litvinenko's] condition and the matter is now an ongoing investigation being dealt with by detectives from New Scotland Yard.
"Because of this we will not be commenting any further on this matter. Our thoughts are with Mr Litvinenko's family."
Mr Litvinenko, who defected to the UK in 2000 and was later granted asylum and citizenship, was apparently poisoned on November 1.
Thallium theory
He was admitted to University College Hospital on 17 November. His condition deteriorated after he suffered a heart attack overnight on Wednesday.
Initial reports from the hospital said Mr Litvinenko had been poisoned with the heavy metal thallium, but later it was suggested that some form of radioactive material may have been used.
Head of critical care at the hospital, Dr Geoff Bellingan, has subsequently dismissed both of these explanations.
Reports of three objects found on X-rays of the patient were "misleading" and were almost certainly shadows caused by Prussian Blue, used to treat thallium or caesium poisoning, he said.
Asylum
Before Mr Litvinenko's death, police said they suspected "deliberate poisoning".
Investigations are examining two meetings, one at a London hotel with a former KGB agent and another man, and a later rendezvous with Italian security consultant Mario Scaramella at a sushi restaurant in London's West End.
Mr Litvinenko fled to the UK in 2000, claiming persecution in Russia, and was granted asylum. He is understood to have taken British citizenship this year.
He had been investigating the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Both the Kremlin and Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, have denied any part in poisoning Mr Litvinenko, who is a former security agent with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6178890.stm |
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JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5779 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-11-2006 02:32 Post subject: |
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This morning's R4 News at 8am led with a scoop that his intestines had three unidentified packages in them.
Was it 8am or 7am? I'd hate to be wrong. Later news was not exactly detailed. RIP.  |
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| stuneville Administrator
Joined: 09 Mar 2002 Total posts: 10230 Location: FTMB HQ Age: 46 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-11-2006 07:36 Post subject: |
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Must have been 7.00 am, as I heard it on Today as well and I left the house at 7.45 yesterday.
See if the post mortem sheds any light . |
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| Timble2 Imaginary person Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Total posts: 7114 Location: Practically in Narnia Age: 58 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 24-11-2006 09:21 Post subject: |
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| The three packages was in yesterday's news as well. The death was on the news right from the start of R4 this morning... |
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| min_bannister Lancette |
| Posted: 24-11-2006 10:58 Post subject: Re: Ex-Russian spy dies in hospital |
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So is that over and above this part of the article?
| Rarebird wrote: | | Reports of three objects found on X-rays of the patient were "misleading" and were almost certainly shadows caused by Prussian Blue, used to treat thallium or caesium poisoning, he said. |
What I mean is, are they now saying the items are suspicious again after having said they are not?
Poor chap. |
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