Russia was tracking Litvinenko's killers: WikiLeaks

[deminks]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BA2OV20101211

(Reuters) - Russian authorities were following the suspected killers of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian agent murdered in London four years ago, but were told by Britain the matter was under control, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks on Saturday.

Former KGB agent Litvinenko, who lived and worked in Britain, was poisoned in November 2006 using the highly toxic polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope, with his associates blaming Russian agents for his death.

His death soured relations between Britain and Russia to a post-Cold War low, and London has called on Moscow to extradite former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy to stand trial for murder.

Russia has refused and Lugovoy, who was later elected to the Russian parliament giving him immunity from prosecution, denies any link to the death.

According to the leaked secret U.S. cable published on the Guardian newspaper website, a Russian official said shortly after Litvinenko's death that Russia had been tracking the dissident's assassins and had also indicated that the Kremlin had not been involved in the murder.

[myrna minx]

1. Wow. I'd like to learn more about this. Thanks for posting. nt

[sabrina 1]

3. His widow feels that because in one of the cables a U.S.

diplomat stated that 'it is unlikely that Putin did not know about it', his family's suspicions have been proven to be correct. She is not happy that they felt this way just two weeks after his death, but never said so publicly and that they were so 'matter-or-fact' about it.

US embassy cables vindicate Litvinenko murder claim, says widow



Alexander Litvinenko accused Vladimir Putin of his assassination as he lay dying. Photograph: Natasja Weitsz/Getty Images

The widow of Alexander Litvinenko said that leaked US diplomatic cables vindicated her long-standing claim that Vladimir Putin had authorised her husband's murder.

In secret conversations with the French, the top US diplomat Daniel Fried said it was unlikely Putin was not aware of the operation to poison Litvinenko with polonium, "given Putin's attention to detail".

Fried also dismissed the idea that rogue criminal elements were to blame. The Russians were behaving with "increasing self-confidence to the point of arrogance", he added, in a classified cable revealed yesterday.

In a statement to the Guardian today, Marina Litvinenko said the cable – written two weeks after her husband's death in November 2006 – confirmed her assertion this was a Kremlin-authorised operation.

She said: "There is some satisfaction in seeing what we have all known to be true documented so officially, and I would add brutally by being so matter of fact in its description. It brings me a little closer to achieving truth and justice for my late husband.

"For years we have been trying to get the authorities in the west to view my husband's murder as a state-sponsored crime. Now it appears they knew it all along."

That was a cruel murder, I remember it. Sad for the widow to hear all this now.

[myrna minx]

4. I remember when it happened and the suspicion landed with Putin.

This is chilling and I too feel so sad for his widow.

Thank you for posting this article.

Speaking of mysterious deaths, I wonder if we'll learn anything about new about Dr David Kelly through wiki leaks?

[burnsei sensei]

2. I took Litvinenko's death really hard.

It sticks me just to think that a man wants no more than to create another life with his family in a new country, and then is snuffed out like that.
This man deserved better-- he deserved to live.

[SoCalDem]

5. So...They were looking in the mirror?.. n/t

[femrap]

6. I remember this poisoning...

and I thought of the evil that 'our great leaders' enjoy creating.


I love your cat...I will be borrowing the line. Since I live in Dumfukistan, the former state of Ohio, no one here knows how to drive. It's a nightmare just to get to the grocery store.