Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Cracking the code of the nuclear assassin (Te Times)

Focus: Cracking the code of the nuclear assassin
Interessante il dilemma politico di Blair (ma chi me lo fa fare), miei 
asterischi.
Am.
The nuclear poison used to kill Alexander Litvinenko has left a trail 
that appears to lead back to Moscow. It's a killing that could yet 
seriously undermine relations between Britain and Russia
You would be hard put to find better cover to assassinate an exiled 
Russian dissident. On Wednesday, November 1, hundreds of Russians were 
in London to watch Arsenal play CSKA Moscow in the Champions League. 
Among all the families, groups and individual supporters arriving from 
Moscow, a killer, or killers, could hope for anonymity.
After the evening kick-off at the spectacular new Emirates stadium in 
north London, Arsenal wasted three good chances on goal. The match ended 
in a draw. Elsewhere in the capital, however, someone had struck with 
lethal accuracy. 
That evening in Muswell Hill, a little north of Arsenal, Alexander 
Litvinenko, a former Russian spy and enemy of Vladimir Putinąs regime, 
became ill and began vomiting.
Within days he was in hospital; by November 23 he was dead, his internal 
organs destroyed by a rare radioactive isotope called polonium-210.
This murder ‹ and it looks increasingly like a cunning, ruthless murder 
‹ has sparked a huge police investigation that has uncovered radiation 
at 12 sites across London and on two British Airways planes that had 
flown between London and Moscow.
British Airways has had to warn 33,000 passengers who travelled on 
flights in the contaminated planes. Thousands of people have contacted 
the NHS, worried that they may have come into contact with polonium. 
Though the risk to their health is said to be minimal, the chief medical 
officer was impelled to warn doctors that the symptoms of poisoning from 
tiny amounts of polonium might not appear for up to four weeks, a 
deadline that ran out last week.
The affair also threatens a diplomatic crisis as accusations fly that 
the Russian security service, or rogue elements of it, are behind 
Litvinenkoąs death. It has prompted statements in parliament and hurried 
meetings of Cobra, the government committee that handles emergencies. 
The cabinet was briefed about the affair on Thursday. According to 
authoritative sources, John Reid, the home secretary, described 
Litvinenkoąs background in the Russian security service and also said he 
had been involved with organised crime ‹ as have many former Russian 
security personnel.
Reid said about 20 sites ‹ more than publicly admitted ‹ were being 
investigated for radiation. Ministers were warned there was a danger of 
the health system being overloaded. Ministers were also told that Russia 
had complained about the publication of a deathbed statement by 
Litvinenko, blaming Putin for his killing.
***Tony Blair told ministers his prime concern was the damage the 
Litvinenko affair might do to relations with Russia. The most important 
thing, Blair told cabinet, was łto manage the relationship with Russia˛.
For if the case of the poisoned spy is down to a foreign assassin it is 
an unprecedented łnuclear attack˛ on British soil. There is a temptation 
for those concerned with the political fallout to clutch at alternative 
scenarios to a killing by a Kremlin hitman.***
A senior Scotland Yard source said yesterday that investigators are 
closing in on a suspect. Hunting with radiation detectors, the police 
have been painstakingly reconstructing Litvinenkoąs movements on 
November 1, trying to identify where he went and who he met.
Late last week police were still working behind a sealed-off part of the 
eighth floor of the Sheraton Park Lane hotel after finding traces of 
polonium.
They were investigating a Russian guest whose room had shown signs of 
contamination before November 1. If so, it would be a strong clue to the 
origins of the polonium.
The police were giving nothing away about the identity of their target. 
But The Sunday Times has established that a former Russian agent called 
Andrei Lugovoi, who was known to Litvinenko, stayed in the hotel in the 
days before November 1 and that he is ‹ he says ‹ significantly 
contaminated with polonium.
Litvinenkoąs close friends believe Lugovoi is deeply involved, either 
knowingly or unknowingly, in the poisoning. But Lugovoi and his business 
partner, Dimitri Kovtun, who also visited London, vehemently deny 
involvement and say they have been set up as fall guys.
Lugovoi has claimed: łTraces were found even on my children and on my 
wife. To think that I would handle the stuff and put them at risk is 
simply ludicrous.˛
Though it remains hedged in murk and mystery, a few firm findings are 
emerging from the fog of conspiracy theories. They include:
Polonium-210 of the quantity and purity used to kill Litvinenko is 
difficult to obtain, and cannot simply be ordered over the internet. The 
amount used, more than 100 times a lethal dose, implies it was obtained 
either from a reactor or in an unusually large commercial transaction 
that łwould have raised eyebrows˛.
Though some polonium is imported into Britain, no polonium is made here 
and none has been reported missing. This indicates that the isotope was 
smuggled into the country.
Litvinenko was contaminated on November 1 and not before. Yet it is 
thought traces of polonium on a plane and in a London hotel date from 
October 25.
Police have identified a trail of polonium residues at 12 sites across 
London, including a restaurant, two hotels, some offices and 
Litvinenkoąs home.
So far only Litvinenko, his wife Marina and Mario Scaramella, an Italian 
who met Litvinenko on November 1, have tested positive for absorbing 
polonium into their bodies. Marina and Scaramella have far lower levels 
of contamination than Litvinenko suffered and as yet are reportedly 
showing no ill-effects.
THE more that emerges about Litvinenkoąs death, the more polonium is 
revealed as an extraordinary weapon for assassination. Though it leaves 
a radiation trail, this is of usually benign łalpha˛ particles that do 
not register on normal geiger counters. The assassin or assassins may 
have gambled it would never be detected.
There are three basic types of radioactive particles or rays: alpha, 
beta and gamma. Gamma are generally regarded as the most deadly because 
they are a powerful penetrator of solid objects. Alpha radiation, on the 
other hand, can be stopped by something as thin as a piece of paper or 
skin.
łAs far as I know this is the first person ever to have died of an 
overdose of alpha radiation,˛ said Nick Priest, the former head of 
biomedical research at the Atomic Energy Authority. łI canąt think of 
any other case where a lethal dose has been administered by alpha 
radiation.˛
Only if a substance emitting alpha particles gets inside the body and 
dissolves into the bloodstream does it slowly wreak havoc.
This is why doctors treating Litvinenko when he fell ill were baffled. 
He exhibited classic signs of radiation poisoning, including vomiting, 
hair loss and organ failure. But when they tested for gamma radiation 
with a geiger counter, they found nothing unusual.
The police who interviewed Litvinenko in hospital initially did not know 
what had caused his illness and had little to go on. There was no trail 
to follow.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA), a body that merged with the National 
Radiological Protection Board in 2005, was out of its depth. Polonium is 
so rare that nobody thought to look for it.


Se la city vuol far la guerra alla Russia che si accomodi.
Nessuno beve sta bufala tutta inglese, nessun servizio segreto usa certi
mezzi, non sono somari come te.
Probabilmente i contratti con la Shell e la BP a Shakalin salteranno, come
del resto vogliono i Russi, da figli di puttana che sono si stanno
rimangiando i contratti.
Londra un covo di terroristi, dove avvengono strani omicidi.
Anche gli yankee hanno scherzato con la loro Al Quaeda affiliata alla CIA,
abbiamo visto i risultati.
Chi vivra' vedra'.
Saluti Tag
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