Anti-terrorism unit takes over investigation into poisoned spy

[Judi Lynn]

Anti-terrorism unit takes over investigation into poisoned spy
Michael Evans, Defence Editor

Counter-terrorism officers from Scotland Yard took charge last night of the investigation into the suspected deliberate poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko as the first pictures were published of the former spy’s dramatically changed appearance.

Officers said that Mr Litvinenko, a strong critic of President Putin, had been placed under police guard as he continued fighting for life in a London hospital.

The effects of the poison were graphically illustrated by pictures of the ravaged physical appearance of the former agent of the FSB, the Russian state security organisation, as he sat in his hospital bed.

The announcement yesterday of the involvement of Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Command underlined the seriousness with which the attempted murder of Mr Litvinenko, 41, was being treated, and the possible diplomatic implications if a Kremlin connection were uncovered.
(snip/...)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2462894,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Don't give them any ideas, if you don't mind!

From the article:

Mr Zakayev last night accused Moscow of being behind the murder attempt. He said: “Kremlin assassination tactics to remove and discredit Putin critics can no longer be ignored by the West.”
(snip/)

[ninkasi]

2. Wasn't there another former USSR politician poisoned a few years ago?

That was, I believe this man, Victor Yushchenko. It was a different poison, and disfigured his face hideously. Wasn't he with the Orange Revolution? Poison seems to be a favorit weapon in some areas.

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1393172,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

3. I had noticed his symptoms in later photos looked as if his condition

was improving rapidly. Just went to see if I could find any others, did see this one taken at his inauguration, when it surely looked improved!



Looked around for more, found this:
Yushchenko's Austrian Test Results Show No Chemicals, Heavy Metals
Written by Artem

Thursday, November 04 2004
http://www.ukrnow.com/index.php?option=content&task=archivecategory&year=2004&month=11

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Decided, since it was the first I'd seen of this in print, I'd look up Austrian test, and found this:

December 27, 2004
Yushchenko's Disease: A Tale of Two Poisons

by Thomas Boyle, M.D.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/boyle.php?articleid=4217

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since these are the only two I've bothered to look at, I'm going to save forming an opinion until I get around to reading more. This IS interesting, however, considering the ENORMOUS boost it gave his popularity around the time of the election, and now he has apparently spent his "political capital" and is taking it in the shorts in the polls.

[ninkasi]

5. Thanks for the links, it's all very interesting, isn't it?

I remember being struck at the time with how ravaged his face looked. Politics can be a dangerous game, can't it? Of course in this country, there are mysterious plane crashes and improbable suicides. This country also has Diebold, although the overwhelming number of Democratic votes was enough to overcome whatever programs might have been tinkered with.

[dipsydoodle]

4. London has got a minor history of such things

Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed by poison dart filled with ricin and fired from an umbrella in London in 1978.
>
As he waited at a bus stop moments into his journey home, he felt a sharp jab in his thigh and saw a man picking up an umbrella.
>
A post mortem, conducted with the help of scientists from the UK government's germ warfare centre at Porton Down, established that he had been killed by a tiny pellet containing a 0.2 milligram dose of the poison ricin.

see : http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/01/07/terror.poison.bulgarian/

Needless to say the subjsect of mr Markov was dug up when there was a ricin scare here three years ago - turned out to not be ricin anyway. Whole issue comes under the general heading of "keep the population scared".