Current Headlines 12 of 12

There is a great deal of intrigue, speculation and facts in the media. In this post, I will try to provide a characterization of this work, research and opinion.

Lugovoy Accuses MI6, Berezovsky, Russian Mafia of Poisoning Alexander Litvinenko Charles Ganske, Real Russia Project, revisits the Andrei Lugovoi interview, and provides links to support some of the accusations.

Police Seize Drafts of Books on Putin Douglas Birch, Breibart, reported that Russian journalist, Vladimir Pribylovsky, said law enforcement officials searched his apartment and carted off computers that contained draft chapters of two books he was writing about President Vladimir Putin. Pribylovsky has been working with Yuri Felshtinsky, a historian and author living in the United States. The working titles for the books are "Putin's Comrades," and "Operation Successor." Felshtinsky co-authored a book, "Blowing Up Russia," with Alexander Litvinenko.

Lavrov Says Britain Politicizing Litvinenko Case, HULIQ is quoting Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, as saying that "instead of a professional inquiry, we're seeing an attempt to turn the criminal case into some sort of a political campaign."

Russia says Litvinenko visited Chechnya to kill for Berezovsky Russian News & Information Agency NOVOSIT quotes a senior Russian official, who said there is strong evidence that Alexander Litvinenko visited Chechnya to eliminate witnesses linking tycoon Boris Berezovsky to terrorist warlord Shamil Basayev.

British secret service involved in Litvinenko killing, says suspect The Times Online, Nico Hine's article provides links to multimedia, background and related links on the latest Lugovoi interview, including Richard Beeston's Times Online article, Claim by Claim: Lugovoy's Theories examined.

Britain Rejects Chaika's Lugovoi Offer Jim Heintz, in The Moscow Times reports that Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika's offer to prosecute Andrei Lugovoi in Russia, was rejected by British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.

Litvinenko `Rebellion' Poses Awkward Questions: Cannes Roundup Bloomberg film critic, Iain Millar, writes that filmmaker Andrey Nekrasov made a powerful and incendiary intervention on behalf of his late friend Alexander Litvinenko, when his documentary "Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case" screened yesterday at the 60th Cannes Film Festival.

Litvinenko film maker's Finland home burgled Reuters reports on a break-in at the Finnish holiday home of Russian movie director Andrei Nekrasov, whose documentary on murdered Russian exile Alexander Litvinenko was shown at Cannes film festival.

Russia and the rule of law: Poisoning case underscores Europe's doubts International Herald Tribune's Steven Lee Myers writes an excellent essay on Vladimir Putin's Russia. If recent history is any guide, Russia will not fare well, and the consequences could be profound, deepening the political, diplomatic and social rift between Russia and its European neighbors. In proceeding after proceeding, Russia's actions have withered under the scrutiny of international justice. As a result, the very concepts of law and justice have become touchstones for larger fears about how Putin amasses and uses power, and whether he is returning Russia to habits that brought Europe grief in the past.

The amorality of the Putin regime, Jim Hoagland, Washington Post Writers Group, writes that Russia's refusal to extradite the prime suspect in the polonium poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London last November reveals the essential amorality of the Putin regime and its false narrative of recent history.

I Spied for Britan But You Have Abandonded Me David Paul, Daily Express, reports that the fugitive, former KGB double agent in hiding, in Britain, Victor Makarov, tells how he fears being the next target for assassins who poisoned defector Alexander Litvinenko.

Death of a dissident: Moscow's murky assassins Diplomatic Editor Anne Penketh, Daily Independent, reminds us that Russia's sinister spies are back in the spotlight, but suggests that they never really left us.

The April 1998 Video

Video Shows Russian Spy Litvinenko Saying Bosses Ordered Killings, Kidnappings The Voice of America, reports that a Russian talk-show host has released a video, recorded in 1998 outside Moscow, that shows three Russian security agents describing how their bosses had ordered them to kill, kidnap and frame prominent Russians. On the video, seen by Western journalists, the Federal Security Service officers, including the late Alexander Litvinenko, said the video was only to be released if something happened to one of them. Spy-turned-Kremlin critic Litvinenko is now dead.

New Footage Of Litvinenko Released SkyNews has excerpts of the original interview April 20, 1998.

Videotape Shows Litvinenko Feared Retribution The Moscow Times, Jim Heintz reports that journalist Sergi Dorenko conducted the interview with Alexander Litvinenko, Alexander Gusak and Andrei Ponkin, all Federal Security Services (FSS) Agents, late one night in April 1998, at a guest house outside Moscow. The extraordinary video includes claims that their bosses had ordered them to kill, kidnap and frame prominent Russians.

Litvinenko feared for life before poisoning The Globeandmail, Jim Heintz, further describes the circumstances regarding the release of the videotape.

Litvinenko Knew He Was Marked Man SkyNews provides links to the video and translated scripts of the three FSS Agents.

"Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case"

Cannes Selection Changed to Host "Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case" Kommersant reports that Andrey Nekrasov's film, Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case, will be shown at the Cannes Film festival, on Saturday, May 26, and Alexander Litvinenko’s widow Marina will attend the premier.

Russian spy film a late entry to Cannes Alison James, Variety Magazine's Festival Shootout at the Cannes Film Festival, describes the suspense and politics of hosting the surprise world premier of the movie. Russian feature and documentary filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov, a friend of the former spy, and Olga Konskaya made the one hour 53-minute documentary.

Andrei Lugovoy WANTED for MURDER

CPS announces decision on Alexander Litvinenko case May 22, 2007, The Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, announced that the Crown Prosecution Service has made its decision in the Alexander Litvinenko case.

Lugovoy a "walking time bomb" Reuters Mark Trevelyan quotes Alex Goldfarb, "Lugovoy will probably show up dead very shortly," Goldfarb told Reuters. "If he talks -- and he understands that he is a walking time bomb for the Russian government -- then it will be really bad. I would be very much surprised if he lives long."

Britain, Russia square off in spy case Paul Reynolds, BBC News, describes the extradition process, then interviews Martin Sixsmith, who puts the whole situation in perspective, "You have to see this whole thing as part of the war between President Putin and his supporters and their opponents, which has burst into the open."

Litvinenko Killed by Lugovoy, Britain’s Investigators Said Kommersant questions why the second suspect, Dmitry Kovtum, was not charged with murder.

Ex-KGB Agent Accused in Litvinenko Death Tariq Panja, Breitbart, quotes Andrei Lugovoy, "I consider that this decision to be political, I did not kill Litvinenko, I have no relation to his death and I can only express well-founded distrust for the so-called basis of proof collected by British judicial officials. Moreover, there has never been either objective or subjective motives for committing what London is charging me with."


Britain demands Litvinenko handover PerthNow's Mark Trevelyan and Peter Graff report that Britain's Foreign Office summoned the Russian ambassador and told him in strong terms it expected “full cooperation” over Lugovoy's case but Russia's Prosecutor-General office said the constitution prevented it from extraditing Russian citizens. They're calling this an “extraordinarily grave crime”.

Mysterious Personage in Litvinenko's Case AXIS Information and Analysis, credits information received from a former employee of the Russian Public TV (ORT), assisting AIA to fill in a series of lacunas in biography of one of the main and the most mysterious personages of Alexander Litvinenko’s case, Andrei Lugovoy.




Memorandum of understanding on co-operation between the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation and the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales Signed November 15, 2006 by the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Alexander Zvyagintsev-Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, and the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales, Ken Macdonald QC-Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales.

Timeline in Poisoning of Ex-KGB Agent Breibart provides a comprehensive time line of the period November 1, 2006 through today, May 22, 2007 when Andrei Lugovoy was named as the murder suspect.

Key figures in the Litvinenko affair USA Today, published a Who's Who in the Case of Alexander Litvinenko. The list includes, Andrei Lugovoy, Dmitry Kovtum, Mario Scaramella, Anna Politkovskaya, Boris Berezovsky, Akhmed Zakayev, and Vladimir Putin.

Boris Berezovsky's Interview

Here is the link to Boris Berezovsky's interview with Alexander Otvodov, investigator with Russian General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, conducted in London on March 30, 2007.