Putin denies role in death of ex-spy
Putin denies role in death of ex-spy
By Our International Staff
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: November 24 2006 20:39 | Last updated: November 24 2006 20:39
Vladimir Putin was on Friday forced into a public denial of responsibility for the death of the former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, after British authorities said the ex-spy had been poisoned by highly radioactive polonium 210.
The UK Foreign Office said it had raised the incident with the Russian ambassador after British authorities said they knew of no precedent for such a killing.
Litvinenko died in a London hospital on Thursday night, and a statement he is said to have dictated on Tuesday night blamed the Russian president.
“You succeeded 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,” said the statement, read publicly on Friday by a friend, Alexander Goldfarb. “You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.”
As Kremlin officials vigorously denied official Russian involvement, Mr Putin was forced to answer questions about Litvinenko’s death while at an EU/Russia summit in Helsinki.
“There is no grounds for speculation of this kind,” Mr Putin said, adding that talk of his government being involved “has nothing to do with reality”. He expressed his sympathy for Mr Litvinenko’s family, but added that he hoped Britain would not seek to create a “political scandal” over the death.
Mr Putin added: “As far as I understand from the medical statement, it does not say this was the result of a violence.”
He also expressed doubts as to the authenticity of the declaration. He said he was “unclear” why, if the statement had been written while Mr Litvinenko was still alive, it had not been reported at that time.
In a rare televised appearance, a spokesman for Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service also reiterated its denials of responsibility. “Probably someone wanted to make a splash out of this, but it’s difficult to say who,” he said.
Last night, three places in London visited by Mr Litvinenko before he died – a restaurant, his home and sections of a hotel – were sealed off and police said they had found traces of the isotope at each location.
Polonium 210 emits 5,000 times more alpha radiation than radium and a microscopic dose can be lethal if ingested. It has a number of uses, including as nuclear bomb triggers, nuclear batteries and, more frequently, in static electricity eliminators.
The Soviet-era predecessor to Russia’s intelligence services, the KGB, used radioactive substances to assassinate opponents, but British experts said they knew of no precedent for the use of polonium. In 1957, in an incident with reverberations in the Litvinenko case, the KGB tried to kill a defector, Nikolai Kholkhov, using radioactive thallium. He suffered horrific symptoms but he survived.
Andrei Nekrasov, a Russian film-maker and friend of Mr Litvinenko, said that his death was “clearly intentional - no doubt about that”.
He said Mr Litvinenko was convinced it was the FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence service, that had killed him but that there was no proof. Mr Litvinenko had said that “they were threatening him” and that poisoning would be completely in their style.
Mr Nekrasov said that a recent law passed by the Duma allowing Russian intelligence to eliminate Russia’s enemies abroad effectively gave licence to Mr Litvinenko’s enemies. “They hated him for going public on all these issues,” he said.
By Jimmy Burns, Stephen Fidler and Frederick Studemann in London; Daniel Dombey in Helsinki; and Neil Buckley and Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow
By Our International Staff
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: November 24 2006 20:39 | Last updated: November 24 2006 20:39
Vladimir Putin was on Friday forced into a public denial of responsibility for the death of the former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, after British authorities said the ex-spy had been poisoned by highly radioactive polonium 210.
The UK Foreign Office said it had raised the incident with the Russian ambassador after British authorities said they knew of no precedent for such a killing.
Litvinenko died in a London hospital on Thursday night, and a statement he is said to have dictated on Tuesday night blamed the Russian president.
“You succeeded 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,” said the statement, read publicly on Friday by a friend, Alexander Goldfarb. “You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.”
As Kremlin officials vigorously denied official Russian involvement, Mr Putin was forced to answer questions about Litvinenko’s death while at an EU/Russia summit in Helsinki.
“There is no grounds for speculation of this kind,” Mr Putin said, adding that talk of his government being involved “has nothing to do with reality”. He expressed his sympathy for Mr Litvinenko’s family, but added that he hoped Britain would not seek to create a “political scandal” over the death.
Mr Putin added: “As far as I understand from the medical statement, it does not say this was the result of a violence.”
He also expressed doubts as to the authenticity of the declaration. He said he was “unclear” why, if the statement had been written while Mr Litvinenko was still alive, it had not been reported at that time.
In a rare televised appearance, a spokesman for Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service also reiterated its denials of responsibility. “Probably someone wanted to make a splash out of this, but it’s difficult to say who,” he said.
Last night, three places in London visited by Mr Litvinenko before he died – a restaurant, his home and sections of a hotel – were sealed off and police said they had found traces of the isotope at each location.
Polonium 210 emits 5,000 times more alpha radiation than radium and a microscopic dose can be lethal if ingested. It has a number of uses, including as nuclear bomb triggers, nuclear batteries and, more frequently, in static electricity eliminators.
The Soviet-era predecessor to Russia’s intelligence services, the KGB, used radioactive substances to assassinate opponents, but British experts said they knew of no precedent for the use of polonium. In 1957, in an incident with reverberations in the Litvinenko case, the KGB tried to kill a defector, Nikolai Kholkhov, using radioactive thallium. He suffered horrific symptoms but he survived.
Andrei Nekrasov, a Russian film-maker and friend of Mr Litvinenko, said that his death was “clearly intentional - no doubt about that”.
He said Mr Litvinenko was convinced it was the FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence service, that had killed him but that there was no proof. Mr Litvinenko had said that “they were threatening him” and that poisoning would be completely in their style.
Mr Nekrasov said that a recent law passed by the Duma allowing Russian intelligence to eliminate Russia’s enemies abroad effectively gave licence to Mr Litvinenko’s enemies. “They hated him for going public on all these issues,” he said.
By Jimmy Burns, Stephen Fidler and Frederick Studemann in London; Daniel Dombey in Helsinki; and Neil Buckley and Arkady Ostrovsky in Moscow
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