Russians Telling Different Tales In Litvineko Murder?

See Ace and Allah for more on the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko after looking at what I found below.

Ace:

A dupe? Someone used by his Russian intelligence sources to suggest a sushi meal with the ex-spy, in order to give the "bad fish" theory a go?

Allah:

Ace reminded me yesterday that after Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian president, was poisoned, some of his Russian enemies dismissed his illness as nothing more than a case of bad sushi.

Litvineko had a "major dose" of polonium-210. He should have fallen sick within an hour of being poisoned. If he were poisoned at the sushi bar at 1 PM, it's doubtful he would have appeared normal three hours later at a meeting with some Russian businessmen.

Even with a minute dose, half of the victims can expect to die within 30 days and this life expectancy decreases as the dose rises. Symptoms including vomiting begin to appear an hour or so after the victim is irradiated.

From here:

The former agent's death has been linked to the presence of a "major dose" of radioactive polonium-210 in his body.

In a Moscow media report, the one Russian claims to have been in London for nothing more than a vacation.

I was in London for a single purpose to show the city to my family. I was in the UK also with my two business partners Vyacheslav Sokolenko and Dmitry Kovtun to attend a football game CSKA vs Arsenal and to rest. That’s it,“ the Russian businessman added.

But the other business partner claims they had business to do the next day, including with Litvineko.

Litvinenko had wanted to discuss a business meeting they were due to attend with a British company the following day, Mr Kovtun said. "To be honest, we didn't really understand why he wanted to meet because all of the questions could have been settled on the telephone."

Now about this:

Detectives have pinpointed Itsu, a sushi restaurant in Piccadilly, London, as the most likely place that the former KGB colonel was poisoned with polonium-210, a radioactive metal element used to trigger nuclear weapons.

That would likely be due to the timing of Litvineko's schedule. He was at the sushi bar before the hotel meeting. But the Russians new the place well, having dined with Litvineko there two weeks before.

Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command wants to question two Russians and an Italian professor who lunched with Litvinenko at the same Japanese restaurant in central London, just two weeks apart. On Saturday, the professor said he feared for his life.

There is a simple answer. They were watching Litvineko, knew where he lunched - poisoned him at the hotel then went back and left traces of polonium-210 at the sushi bar to throw the time line off.

Mario Scaramella, the Italian who had lunch with Litvineko had already turned police on to a previous smuggling attempt:

Prof Scaramella's knowledge of atomic materials is clear, however. The Mail on Sunday has discovered that in June last year Italian police launched an investigation into an alleged plot to smuggle uranium into the country after being tipped off by Prof Scaramella.

It's as perfect as Russian poetry - you poison one enemy and frame another - killing two birds with one polonium-210 stone.

Comments

[larry]

russian poetry isn't "perfect", dude - it's a major *bummer*.

"the cheka shot uncle yuri last month
mama's wasting disease is getting worse
we finished the last of the horse last night
now let's get out there and smash
those production quotas!"

only in russian can you rhyme "gamine" with "famine" and be called a genius. ("svetlana with the hungry eyes", by akhmatova)