Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Litvinenko affair
John Reid, the Home Secretary, who was also in Brussels briefing his European counterparts on the Litvinenko affair, said: “The police will follow the evidence wherever it goes.”
In interviews before his death, Litvinenko seems to claim he was ordered to hire assassins to kill rivals to Kremlin-favoured business leaders and execute whistle-blowers who threatened to expose corruption.
The main figure that the British counter-terror team want to question is Andrei Lugovoy, a former FSB agent. He made three visits to London in the fortnight before Mr Litvinenko fell ill and met him four times at various restaurants and bars. Mr Lugovoy, who is a successful entrepreneur, was briefly imprisoned in Moscow after he left the FSB. After his release his business career thrived and his company is reported to be worth more than £100 million.
Albawabaforums say he was "a former KGB colleague and bodyguard to one-time Russian Prime Minster Yegor Gaidar" (the guy who got bad guts in Ireland recently).
Well, the Eurasian Secret Services Daily Review give his history here.
Georgian TVs appear to have clashed with one another over accounts of Litvinenko's death. Rustavi 2 TV reported in its recent primetime news programs that Lugovoy has recently visited Georgia several times through the invitation of Badri Patarkatsishvili’s Tbilisi-based charitable foundation. The station said that Lugovoy could have been linked to the poisoning of the ex-Russian spy. Rustavi 2 TV, which said that officials from Patarkatsishvili’s charitable foundation were not available for comments, described Lugovoy as a person in charge of Patarkatsishvili’s security during his foreign trips. Imedi TV said that Lugovoy “has nothing to do” with Patarkatsishvili’s security service. Now if I have it right, Rustavi 2 supports the government and Imedi supports the opposition in Georgia. Latvia supports Georgia's NATO aspirations. So as Georgia could join NATO, the British could have a real interest in this Litvinenko matter.
IMO: The Kuwait Times mentions that Lugovoy was apparently one-time head of security at a television station owned by controversial Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky. Pretty good to go from a TV station employee to £100 million, eh?.
In interviews before his death, Litvinenko seems to claim he was ordered to hire assassins to kill rivals to Kremlin-favoured business leaders and execute whistle-blowers who threatened to expose corruption.
The main figure that the British counter-terror team want to question is Andrei Lugovoy, a former FSB agent. He made three visits to London in the fortnight before Mr Litvinenko fell ill and met him four times at various restaurants and bars. Mr Lugovoy, who is a successful entrepreneur, was briefly imprisoned in Moscow after he left the FSB. After his release his business career thrived and his company is reported to be worth more than £100 million.
Albawabaforums say he was "a former KGB colleague and bodyguard to one-time Russian Prime Minster Yegor Gaidar" (the guy who got bad guts in Ireland recently).
Well, the Eurasian Secret Services Daily Review give his history here.
Georgian TVs appear to have clashed with one another over accounts of Litvinenko's death. Rustavi 2 TV reported in its recent primetime news programs that Lugovoy has recently visited Georgia several times through the invitation of Badri Patarkatsishvili’s Tbilisi-based charitable foundation. The station said that Lugovoy could have been linked to the poisoning of the ex-Russian spy. Rustavi 2 TV, which said that officials from Patarkatsishvili’s charitable foundation were not available for comments, described Lugovoy as a person in charge of Patarkatsishvili’s security during his foreign trips. Imedi TV said that Lugovoy “has nothing to do” with Patarkatsishvili’s security service. Now if I have it right, Rustavi 2 supports the government and Imedi supports the opposition in Georgia. Latvia supports Georgia's NATO aspirations. So as Georgia could join NATO, the British could have a real interest in this Litvinenko matter.
IMO: The Kuwait Times mentions that Lugovoy was apparently one-time head of security at a television station owned by controversial Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky. Pretty good to go from a TV station employee to £100 million, eh?.
# posted by uv : 4:59 AM
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