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RUSSIA: DENIES ALLEGATIONS OVER POISONING EX-SPY November 21, 2006
Zainab Osman
(SomaliNet) Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning of a former KGB agent in London as Britain gave the investigation top priority, calling in counter-terrorism police to spearhead the probe. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Soviet KGB agent is currently in hospital as his situation worsens.
Litvinenko ingested thallium, a deadly poison banned in Britain since the 1970s and historically used in assassinations because it dissolves easily and anyone consuming it can't detect it. All of his hair has fallen out and Professor Jon Henry, a clinical toxicologist involved in Litvinenko's care, said his white cell count was down to nearly zero, making him extremely vulnerable to infection, his liver was also damaged.
The poisoning is now being investigated by Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, reflecting the high priority Britain is giving the investigation.
Litvinenko, a thorn in the Russian government's side since the late 1990s, fell ill earlier this month after a meal with an Italian contact who claimed to have details about the assassination of another Kremlin critic, Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
After lunch with the Italian, named in some media reports as Mario Scaramella, he began to feel ill. But Litvinenko's friends have dismissed suggestions that the Italian was involved. If Mr. Litvinenko’s poisoning turns out to be an attempt on murder then Britain will treat it as a serious matter, amounting to attempted murder by a foreign government of a British national through methods that are used by terrorists.
Russia dismissed as “pure nonsense” suggestions that it had ordered the murder of former agent Alexander Litvinenko, 41, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin. Evidence of a Kremlin hand in such an incident on British soil would have far-reaching diplomatic consequences at a time of mounting concern in the West at Moscow’s human rights record.