WikiLeaks has some cables pertaining to the murder of a former K.G.B. officer, Alexander V. Litvinenko, by Polonium poisoning. According to the NYT's Alan Cowell's article, "Cables Shed Light on Ex-K.G.B. Officer’s Death", a senior Russian official asserted that Moscow had been tailing his killers before he died but had been waved off by Britain’s security services.The Russian assertion, denied by British officials, seemed to revive a theory that the British intelligence services played a murky role in the killing — a notion voiced at the time by some in Moscow to deflect allegations of the Kremlin’s involvement in the murder.
The cable, dated Dec. 26, 2006, and marked “secret,” was one of several in the WikiLeaks trove that tried to examine the still unanswered question of who exactly ordered the use of a rare radioactive isotope, polonium 210, to poison Mr. Litvinenko, leading to his death on Nov. 23, 2006. Russia produces polonium commercially, but the process is closely guarded and British investigators have concluded that the isotope could not have been easily diverted without high-level intervention.
WTF? Here indeed, there be weasels, even if it's just F.S.B. disinformation. For sure, it's a zinger of a tale.
I'm not sure how valid this is, but Putin and "Goodfellas" . . . hmmm. Putin: the real Teflon Don?
The point is, was the murder by isotope done by others than the FSB, the successor to the KGB? Does Vlad and the inner gang have a private "Murder, Inc."?
Le Carré 2
The above are podcast links to an interview with John le Carré, in which he mentions the state of espionage today. Our tax dollars at work. How I love the CBC.
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