Current Headlines

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.

Russian FSB’s named MI6 ‘Russian recruit’ accuses late Litvinenko of preparations to murder Putin AXIS Information and Analysis quotes ex-FSB agent Vyacheslav Zharko as saying that Alexander Litvinenko planned the murder of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and had been preparing for a series of acts of terrorism, one of which "would shake all Russia and the whole world".

J'Accuse! Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko, write in their commentary to The Wall Street Journal, that the poisoning of Alexander (Sasha) Litvinenko in London last November revealed the old monster of the Soviet "evil empire" behind the benevolent façade of a new Russia. I suspect there is no coincidence to the fact that US President George W. Bush has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin, to Maine, next week for talks. Mr. Goldfarb and Ms. Litvinenko are the authors of "Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the return of the KGB," published by Free Press.

Former FSB officer: Litvinenko’s murder was ordered by Russian First Vice Premier Evgenie Lymarev, in an report in AXIS Information and Analysis, blames the First Vice-Premier of the Russian government, and possible successor of the current Russian President, Sergei Ivanov for the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko. Lymarev claims that the crime was organized and carried out at a clan level. He stressed that Sergei Ivanov, organizes one of the most powerful clans of the FSB and SVR, Foreign Intelligence Service, and that the executors were former Spetsnaz members to give no reason blaming the Russian state for the killing.

Russian who saw poisoned Litvinenko in London says he himself is still alive AXIS Information and Analysis reports that Vyacheslav Sokolenko, responded to remarks of Boris Berezovsky, that he already is not alive, according to news agency ITAR-TASS reports today. Sokolenko met with journalists in Moscow today and announced he was alive, was well and everything was ok with his health. Sokolenko denied claims that he was the "third man" at the Millennium Mayfair Hotel meeting on 1 November, 2006 in London after which Litvinenko fall fatally ill. However, he admitted that he had been staying at the hotel at the time. Sokolenko later said he had gone to the hotel where Lugovoy and Kovtun had their meeting with Litvinenko on 1 November and only fleetingly greeted Litvinenko.

Department V (also known as Vympel)

(Вымпел meaning Pennant, also known as Vega Group or Spetsgruppa V) is a Russian counter-terrorism unit. In 1981, the Soviet Politburo secretly approved a proposal, from then KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov and Gen. Yuri Drozdov, for Vympel within the First Chief Directorate of the KGB as a dedicated OSNAZ unit. The unit specialized in deep penetration, sabotage, universal direct and covert action, embassy protection and spy cell activation in case of war. It was a covert unit in Russian intelligence whose officers are trained to "liquidate" people abroad.

This special unit of the Russian secret service could have provided the polonium that killed the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Sources in Russia have suggested that a secret unit called Department V could have obtained the radioactive substance that has left a trail across Europe.

Polonium 210 is only produced in a small number of state-controlled facilities and Department V, also known as Vympel, is charged with guarding Russia's nuclear installations. The "Spetsnaz", or special forces unit was responsible for assassination operations abroad in the Soviet era and is supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Like Dignity and Honour, the group of former FSB officers accused of targeting Mr Litvinenko, Vympel also has a veterans group, headed by Sergei Shestov a former commander in the unit. The group says: "Love of homeland and civil consciousness and fulfilment of the high military duty are eternal truths which have always been followed by the members of Vympel."

It also runs a private security enterprise called "Lubyanka", named after the former headquarters of the KGB, which offers the "protection of property of proprietors during its transportation" and complex services for foreign businessmen who visit Russia." "Whether Department V actually exists is a real question," Mark Galeotti, a Russian expert at Keele University, said yesterday. "But I believe that Vympel is back." "It used to be a hit squad and maybe it is still used as such but its main function is as a rapid reaction group to counter nuclear theft and terrorism. As such it has some training in various isotopes, although they would not be true specialists, and runs operations at nuclear facilities, which may well have given members the opportunity to access polonium in a more subtle way than sending an order from Moscow."