I nearly 16 years have passed since the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, but to this day the case has not yet been finally clarified.
The former lieutenant colonel of Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, was one of Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics. In 2000, he immigrated illegally to the United Kingdom, where he was granted political asylum.
The accusations that Litvinenko publicly leveled against the Kremlin are more than shocking. According to him, Putin is responsible for the bombing of residential buildings in Moscow, and the FSB has ties to organized crime and supports terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda.
Litvinenko’s murder was “probably” approved by Putin pic.twitter.com/iIABOWbeWH
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 21, 2016
All this leads many people to believe that the Russian head of state is behind his murder – something that the Kremlin categorically denies.
The poisoning of Litvinenko
On November 1, 2006, Litvinenko met with two former KGB agents, Andrey Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, in an establishment in London. Shortly before that, he spoke with Italian scientist Mario Scaramella, who handed him materials that included a list of Russian dissidents the Kremlin wanted to eliminate. At the meeting in question, Scaramella stated that he had information about journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in Moscow on October 7, 2006.
Litvinenko felt the first symptoms of poisoning as early as November 1. The next day his condition worsened and he was admitted to hospital. Initially, doctors thought it was a viral infection. After his treatment proved fruitless, they listened to the words of Litvinenko himself, who claimed that he had been poisoned. Toxicologists assumed he had ingested thallium salts. However, others have noted that the symptoms are reminiscent of radioactive exposure and it is possible that it is a case of radioactive thallium poisoning.
Litvinenko died on November 23. The cause of his death was poisoning with radioactive polonium-210. The question of who is responsible for what happened continues to be the subject of heated disputes.
Who was Alexander #Litvinenko? https://t.co/lgFnluJdMm pic.twitter.com/UzsnIMdVYY
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 21, 2016
The investigation found that there were traces of polonium-210 in several places visited by Lugovoi and Kovtun – such as offices, hotels, airplanes and even the Arsenal football club stadium. Despite this evidence, the two denied having anything to do with Litvinenko’s death. The Russian authorities, in turn, refused to extradite them to Britain, where they would face trial.
Kovtun died earlier this year after contracting COVID-19. As for Lugovoi, he is known to have known Litvinenko since the 1990s. He presented himself as a “consultant” to Russian businessmen looking to invest in the UK.
Russia was behind Litvinenko assassination, European court finds https://t.co/v4hwS52DO8 pic.twitter.com/izJV9Wn4VJ
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 21, 2021
The investigation revealed one more thing – what happened on November 1 was not the first attempt to poison Litvinenko. A little earlier, Lugovoi and Kovtun offered him a glass of water containing polonium-210, but he never drank it.
Boris Berezovsky and the “London Circle”
Boris Berezovsky is a Russian oligarch who personally knew both Lugovoi (whom he helped financially on his arrival in Britain) and Litvinenko.
In 1994, an attempt was made against him with a car bomb. Berezovsky survived, but his driver died. The investigation of the case was entrusted to Litvinenko. A few years later, after Vladimir Putin became the president of Russia, relations between the businessman and the Kremlin began to deteriorate. Berezovsky sharply criticized a proposal that gave the head of state the right to dismiss elected governors. He attacked Putin and his reaction to the Kursk submarine incident that killed 118 sailors.
As a result of all this, the pressure on Berezovsky in Russia increased. On November 7, 2000, while he was abroad, the businessman announced that he had no intention of returning to his homeland. According to him, he was faced with the choice of becoming a political prisoner or a political emigrant. Since 2002, Berezovsky has not been able to leave Britain, as Moscow has requested his extradition, and the authorities in London have granted him political asylum.
In the United Kingdom, he created the so-called “London circle”, which also included Litvinenko, Alex Goldfarb and Akhmed Zakaev. Berezovsky said it was not a mission to oust Putin “by force” or through a “bloodless revolution”. He launched a campaign aimed at exposing the Russian president’s misdeeds. According to him, Putin is constantly trampling on freedom of speech and is responsible for committing war crimes in Chechnya.
Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky found dead at his British estate – @TelegraphNews http://t.co/WLgUYr3s9u
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) March 23, 2013
Berezovsky was found dead in his home on March 23, 2013. His body was found in the bathroom with a bandage around his neck. According to the investigators, he committed suicide. Later it became clear that the oligarch was in debt and suffering from depression. A day before his death, Berezovsky even declared that he no longer had anything to live for. However, many people are skeptical of the official conclusions and believe that it was an assassination that was behind the Kremlin. According to them, the investigation was concluded too quickly and a number of questions remained unanswered.
Serhiy Abeltsev’s sinister speech
Sergey Abeltsev is a member of the Russian Duma and a former bodyguard of the well-known politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky. One of his statements, made on the occasion of Litvinenko’s death, caused outrage around the world and convinced many people that it was the Kremlin behind the assassination attempt. Here’s what Abeltsev said: “The traitor received his deserved punishment … this terrible death should serve as a warning to all traitors.”
This is far from all. After Litvinenko’s death, Abeltsev addressed Berezovsky with the following words: “In Russia we do not forgive traitors. I would advise Citizen Berezovsky to stay away from the food that will be offered to him during the memorial ceremony for his accomplice Litvinenko.”
Did Abeltsev know something that remained secret from the general public or was he simply expressing his personal opinion? There is no answer to this question yet.
Who shot Paul Joyal?
Another incident that is the subject of all sorts of conspiracy theories is that of Paul Joyal, former head of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, who knew Litvinenko. In an interview with NBC television in late February 2007, he stated that his assassination was the work of the Kremlin and that Putin was trying to “shut up all his critics.” Joyal also recalled that Litvinenko took up the investigation into Politkovskaya’s death. “A message was sent to anyone who intends to rebel against the Kremlin: if you do, no matter who you are or where you are, we will find you and silence you – in the most horrifying way possible,” he added. .
A few days after the interview in question, Joyal was shot outside his home in Adelphi, Maryland. Although he suffered severe injuries, he survived. The FBI took over the investigation of the attack. However, the shooter was never found.
A curious detail is that shortly before the interview Joyal met with former KGB general Oleg Kalugin (whom the Kremlin accuses of being an American spy). Additionally, according to NBC, after being shot, Joyal managed to get home and told his wife to call Kalugin immediately. To this day, it is not clear what was the reason for this.
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