Friday, December 08, 2006

Hypothesis 3.0: A Poisoned Drink (but not Hemlock) in the Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel

The Times Online reports the following hypothesis:
A minute quantity of polonium-210 placed in Litvinenko's glass would explain how he ingested the radioactive poison that led to his agonising death three weeks later.

The vapour that evaporated from the drink would have been inhaled by anyone in the area, with a greater concentration for his Russian companions and staff, who would have been in the bar much longer.

Investigators believe the poison cocktail was likely to have been manufactured in a guest room at the hotel, a short walk away from the US Embassy. Significant traces of polonium-210 were found in a fourth-floor room, which was occupied by a visiting Russian. Police believe that the killer may have stalked Litvinenko in London that day and had first tried to poison the ex-KGB colonel in a sushi bar. That failed but the poisoner left ample traces of the deadly radioactive isotope in the Piccadilly restaurant. Traces were also found on an Italian academic, Mario Scaramella, who was in the Itsu sushi bar. Toxicologists found polonium-210 in every place that Litvinenko visited after his drink at the hotel. It was not until he arrived home two hours later that he was violently ill.

Times Online added this tidbit:
Traces of polonium-210 has been found at Parkes Hotel, Mayfair, it was confirmed last night. It means that radiation has been found at all three hotels where Mr Lugovoy had stayed since flying to London on October 16. The Parkes was the first he stayed at.
Is it possible that Lugovoy is the victim, not of a conspiracy, but of circumstances? One wants to know: Did Lugovoy start trailing clouds of polonium 210 before he met with Litvinenko in the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel? (The answer is surely out there, in the media reports. It's just that I don't have the time to look for it.)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's a new, very interesting party involved - the society of former Soviet/Russian intelligence agents. Some people already have accused the organization - its name translates as 'Honor & Respect' for the murder, and the president of the society has vigorously denied any association. While I personally would think of 'Honor & Respect' as a society of honourable principles, it is well-known that very many ex-agents do work for criminal or semi-criminal business organizations.

Unknown said...

pp,

Where can I find out about this society?

Peter T

Anonymous said...

Dignity and Honour, run by a Colonel Valentin Velichko

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/03/nspy03.xml

Telegraph, however misspells Valentin Velichkos's surname, and reverses words in organization's name (correct would be 'Honour and Dignity').

Personally, I'm a sceptic with respect to the Russian spy threat, heavily maintained in recent days not only by Telegraph but Financial Times as well. Could a nation with dire social and economic conditions, unclear ideology, very high crime level (police officers on very low salaries, turning to bribes and criminal activity) have a well-run intelligence organization? I see no way how this could be possible.

Anonymous said...

The link does not fit into the window. Here it is in parts:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/03/
nspy03.xml

Or, Google with "telegraph velichko", there's another article on Velichko.

Of course, theoretically, there's no lack of motive, . Veterans who have decided to take handling of traitors to their own hands (FSB obviously neither able nor willing to do anything with numerous traitors living handsomely in UK).

Anonymous said...

Also theoretically, would one easily come the hypothesis that 'spies left out to cold' would organize themselves, join one or another organization? I would not. A strong poetic image appears to attracts then kepp your line of thought.

Anonymous said...

Wow, in the second article above - the organization has 3,000+ members! I would think of dozens!

Anonymous said...

Sorry for too many comments..

'Honour and Dignity' really isn't any obscure organization--Russian President Vladimir Putin is a member.

And regarding the UK press. A Russian nationalist youth organization, one with direct contact with the closest advisors of Putin, has been harrassing (stalking) the UK Ambassador in Moscow for months. It seems like insults have been taken personally, on both parties.

Unknown said...

Dear pp,

Not too many comments at all. Blogging is meant to be informal, not formal, stiff.

In my own case, I'm not sure that anything I say on the blog is terribly important or interesting. I blog for the sake of entertainment and to whet my curiosity; I don't blog for status etc. In my case blogging is practically a Bewusstsseinstrom. (Do I have an extra "s" there?)

Peter T

Anonymous said...

The gentleman in the car is UK Ambassador to Moscow. The young man standing is 'komissar' (party leader) of the 'Nashi' nationalist youth organization in Moscow. His access to the Russian leadership is at least as direct as that of Ambassador's to the UK leadership. 'Nashi' has been harrassing the UK Embassy for months. UK officials characterize the campaign as "professionally conceived" and implemented under guidance of the FSB. 'Nashi' strongly supports Putin's policies and is often viewed as a 'youth guard' of Putin.

Anonymous said...

http://www.lenta.ru/articles/2006/12/08/brenton/

Unknown said...

I have no firm opinions yet about who killed Litvinenko. If one focuses on the question of the responsibility of the upper reaches of the Russian government, it may turn out that it does not matter whether VIP X did or did not say "Kill him!" The investigations of the killings of critics of the regime have been notably unproductive. At some point one must reach the conclusion that the unproductivity of the criminal investigations evidence official indifference; and at some point such indifference amounts to "wilful" indifference, and there is not a substantial differences between "wilful indifference" and "deliberate." The Russians once knew how to investigate crime. I suspect they have not lost all of their skills. The people in the upper reaches of the Russian government just don't think it's very important to investigate the murders of critics such as newspaper reporters. It's not unfair to pin this "indifference" on Putin himself. Even if he did not order any such killings, those who do the killing must now understand -- unless they are extraordinarily dim-witted -- that the results do not greatly displease Putin and that he will not demand that the people conducting the investigations do a better job. Having said all that, I would like to know who killed Litvinenko. Sometimes we think we have found "cold hard facts" -- and such things -- evidence and facts -- have a capcity to persuade that general ruminations about matters such as "governmental indifference" lack.

Unknown said...

Postscript:

Of course, one can't be too optimistic about the power of evidence of evidence and facts. Depending on how one counts, Stalin may killed more people than Hitler did. A good many of these killings were in the equivalent of concentration camps, the gulags. Yet it seems that many Russians still view Stalin as a "great man." Do such admirers of Stalin really not know how murderous he was? My feeling is that they generally do not want to know. I think "wilful ignorance" is, for moral purposes, generally the same as "knowledge"; when the issue is genocide or mass murder, "wilful ignorance" is no excuse.

Anonymous said...

A prosecutor of Hamburg has announced today that he has ground to say that Dmitri Kovtun was the poisoner. I do not have link yet, though.

Unknown said...

SLATE now (Dec. 13) reports that one of the planes contaminated by polonium 210 flew with Lugovoi onboard before November 1. So Lugovoi was a radioactive pig-pen before Nov. 1, before the fatal gathering in the Millennium Hotel Therefore ...? It would take some very clever scheming to set things up so that Lugovoi or some other radioactive pig-pen unwittingly fatally poisoned Litvinenko. (But did someone perchance ask Lugovoi [or the pig-pen travelert via Hamburg] to deliver a box of chocolates or a flask of Russian vodka or some such delicacy to Litvinenko?)