THE senior British official was unequivocal. The murder of the former KGB man
Alexander Litvinenko was “undeniably state-sponsored terrorism on Moscow’s
part. That is the view at the highest levels of the British government”.
This official had access to the latest police and intelligence findings, and
he was reflecting the views of senior Home Office counter-terrorism
officials, Scotland Yard detectives and others with close knowledge of the
murder investigation. All confirmed last week that they believe the plot to
poison Litvinenko in London last year was ordered by the Russian secret
service, the FSB.
In Moscow, strong words were also being used. Russian security circles wanted
to intensify the “new cold war” with Britain caused by the murder.
Yet after a round of tit-for-tat expulsions - and the curious incident of the
hitman in the Hilton - the heat has gone out of confrontation.
If Gordon Brown and David Miliband, his foreign secretary, believed that the
FSB murdered a British citizen on British soil then their response was
surprisingly low down the diplomatic Richter scale. Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB
defector, called it “totally pathetic”.
Equally, if Vladimir Putin, former KGB spy and boss of the FSB, was now the
ruthless tsar of a killer state his actions belied it. Far from hitting back
with an iron fist, as some British commentators predicted after London
expelled four Russian diplomats, he is said by Moscow sources to have
rejected the advice of hardline associates. Instead, four British diplomats
were given 10 days to pack their bags for home.
Whatever degree of spin there may have been on either side, the evidence
suggests the two governments are now desperate to draw a line under a grisly
and embarrassing affair.
A senior official at the Foreign Office said, “That’s that. Both sides have
now acted. What’s important now is that we want to show that both nations
can still be friends.”
The question left hanging in the air, after the extraordinary events of last
week, is whether or not they will succeed.
Until now - while there has been press speculation about the FSB’s and even
Putin’s responsibility for Litvinenko’s death - informed sources have
confined themselves to the theory that former secret service associates
killed him because of a personal vendetta.
After a police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service wanted to charge
Andrei Lugovoi, a former FSB officer, with the murder; and it was Moscow’s
refusal to allow his extradition for trial, once the scandal had become an
affair of state, that led to the expulsions.
Now, however, British officials are saying that the police investigation
implicates the FSB itself. They point to the estimated £4.5m cost of the
radio-active polonium210 used to kill Litvinenko. They confirm it has been
traced back to Russia - probably to the nuclear centre at the closed city of
Sarov.
They also point out that last summer the Russian parliament gave Putin the
right to order the FSB to carry out assassinations of “enemies of the
Russian state”. They are careful to refrain from claiming he actually
ordered the killing. “Yes, the road leads to the FSB, but where the road
goes once it’s inside the FSB is not something the police are really aware
of,” said one of the officials.
Last Tuesday night, barely 24 hours after Britain announced its expulsions, a
twist to this story began to break: the apparent foiling of a plot to murder
the exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky, Litvinenko’s former patron.
Security sources said a Russian man had arrived at Heath-row airport four
weeks ago with a child who appeared to be his son. A tip-off to MI5 led to
the pair being followed as they appeared to go sight-seeing around London.
MI5 had been told the man was planning to acquire a gun with which to shoot
Berezovsky at the Hilton hotel in Park Lane, central London.
Surveillance officers thought they behaved suspiciously. “The boy seemed to be
acting as a lookout,” an official said.
The man was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to murder Berezovsky. But
instead of being charged, he and the child were handed over to the
immigration service and deported. The man was banned from returning for 10
years.
There was speculation that this revelation was the reason for an apparent
delay in Russia’s response to Britain’s expulsions. In fact, it appears
another drama was under way in Moscow. Britain’s punitive measures had
sparked a row in the Russian government, according to a Kremlin aide.
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, was advising Putin to stop the crisis
from escalating. But in a behind-the-scenes squabble a group of Kremlin
hawks from the former KGB argued for a tough response.
“Powerful figures in the Kremlin wanted Putin to kick out far more than four
British diplomats,” said the aide. “They are ill disposed towards the West
and took Britain’s response as a challenge.”
It took three days for Lavrov to win. The hardliners, according to the aide,
“were in favour of a show of force and are unhappy with a response they
judge as being too conciliatory. Putin took the decision that the conflict
has gone far enough”.
The Kremlin hawks or “siloviki” - who made their career in Russia’s security
services - have been seeking to convince Putin to stay on after his second
and last term ends in March, a move the president has repeatedly ruled out
as it violates Russia’s constitution. A prolonged crisis with the West is
seen to play in their hands as it could persuade him to stay on.
Despite his own recent antiwestern rhetoric, Putin appeared to calculate that
Russia has more to loose than gain from allowing the spat with Britain to
escalate. In contrast to his normally bullish rhetoric, he announced: “I’m
sure we will overcome this mini-crisis.”
The Russian media, which are mostly under Kremlin control, were far less
conciliatory. They accused Britain of double standards for refusing to
extradite alleged “enemies” of Russia such as Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev,
a former Chechen field commander living in London. Moscow accuses them of
embezzlement and terrorism respectively.
“Over the past six years, Moscow has sent Britain 21 extradition requests but
not a single suspect has been extradited,” said Rossiskaya Gazeta, a
government daily. “The suspects included fraudsters, killers, terrorists,
drug dealers and persons involved in especially serious embezzlement of
funds. Six of the people mentioned in the requests have been granted
political asylum in Britain.”
Few Russian journalists dare openly defy the Kremlin line. Twelve have been
killed since Putin came to power, although there is no proof to link the
murders to the government. Last month two Russian reporters who came into
conflict with the FSB fled to the US where they are to be granted asylum.
One of them, Fatima Tlisova, said FSB agents had forced her into a car, took
her to a forest and extinguished cigarettes on every finger of her right
hand, “so that you can write better”.
Although the spat between Britain and Russia is unlikely to lead to
retaliation against the 400 British companies now working in Russia, there
are fears of long-term consequences. One Kremlin insider warned that UK
companies could lose contracts to French and German rivals.
British investment reached more than £2.5 billion in the first nine months of
last year, making Britain the largest single investor among G7 countries.
The figure is expected to be much higher this year. Bilateral trade has
trebled over the last five years, and Britain is the world’s third largest
destination for Russian investments.
This is despite the FSB’s claim in January 2006 to have caught British spies
downloading secret information into an electronic device inside a fake rock
left in a Moscow park. Putin also took a conciliatory stance then, ruling
against expelling the alleged spies as “Britain would only send new, more
professional ones”.
All the same, at last year’s G8 summit in St Petersburg, Putin angered Tony
Blair with snide remarks in public about the cash for honours scandal. Since
then both Shell and BP have been forced by the Russian government to
renegotiate lucrative contracts signed before Putin came to power.
The British Council office in Russia has been investigated by Russian
authorities in a campaign most observers believe is aimed at shutting it
down; and Anthony Brenton, the British ambassador in Moscow was harassed for
months by a pro-Kremlin youth group after attending a conference organised
by Russia’s opposition.
“Relations were on a downhill course well before Litvinenko’s death,” said a
former British diplomat. “Since his murder and Russia’s refusal to extradite
Lugovoi they have taken a dramatic nosedive. Expulsions are no trivial
matter. It’s far more than a mini-crisis and it will take a long time before
things return to normal.”
It is amazing that we have come to accept that a "restrained " response from Russia is to go further than we have (they have expelled a more senior diplomat than we did and then there is the little matter that they will no longer cooperate with Britain on terrorism). And any response was unjustified.
Then there is a complete imbalance between the siff upper lipped one-liners from the British authorities and the tirade of righteous indignation, counterattacks and insults from the Russian side. Our response (especially verbal) has been quite pathetic.
Rob, Guildford, Surrey
I am just wondering: those people who comment so fiercely that Russia is an evil state - how much do you actually know about the country? Apart from what you read in the papers?
It seems to me, very little. Because all I can read is everyone constantly repeating the same few sentences that were in the papers. Think, people. Learn to think and filter the information delivered to you by the media. If nothing else, Russians can do it better than anyone else. Yes, yes, everyone claims the media in Russian is not free - but even if it wasn't, it doesn't matter - because people can actually THINK.
Which it seems to me they can't it Britain - they just take everything for face value.
It is a very "western" (meaning UK and US) "disease" to measure everyone else by your standards - even if these standards are not nearly as good as you think they are.
Antonina, London, UK
Oh, my God!!! Everybody is so anxious about Russia's growning strength! Of course, you (the WEST) have got used to look at weak country for almost 17 years and say to it what it need to do. Now the situation is changing, isn't it? In most questions we disagree with our western "partners" on major subjects. And let's undress the truth! The weaker Russia is the calmer your kneels from trembling... we understand perfectly that losing of a spy in the person of Litvinenko is unpleasant for Britain, but try to undersatand us.))) And can anyone explain WHY ALL THE WORLD IS SO WORRIED ABOUT RUSSIA'S DEMOCRACY??? Who lives here??? you or me? and as a russian citizen i can say it's quite normal here. Unfortunately, you CAN'T dispatch military planes over ours heads as you did it in Iraq to provide it with democracy of '' the highest quality" and believing that the americans will let you drink from the oil pond. Simple conflict of murdering a spy smells of accumulated discrepancy.
Dmitriy, student, Moscow,
"Eli ,Tipei,Taiwan " is full-time PR for Berezovsky ,I suppose.
He is speaking like he's reading from paper.Sorry ,but you're "zaslanii djachok" .When you talk I recognize way of talking of Berezovsky.Are you Berezovsky from Taipei?
All things you're saying meant to convince macdonald's eaters that to kill fly you have to use nuclear bomb.Oh yeah,
It would be very effective.then All other flies, for sure, will be scared of you for 100 km around!
To Peter:
You're perfectly right: Russians would never get appreciated for what they done for England ,America and Co .Because mostly they had different interests in geopolitics.So don't bother yourself,it's question of consience.
Dos, Gent, Belgium
To Angelique, Paris, France
Wake up and look around and you'll see how ridiculous you are. Think again before saying that Russia is the centre of our universe and your rulers are allowed to do everything they want. The fact that Russia is a major exporter of oil and gas does not change anything. People in civilised countries across the world won't turn a blind eyes on the ugly things done by V. Putin and his "smartest" thugs from the FSB or other Russian secret services.
Think again before it's too late. Your country may be following the same path that had led the USSR to collapse.
Eli, Taipei,
"Angelique" from France has a few interesting comments. I lived in Russia for two years and can vouch for the fact that she may not have a Russian name but certainly has a Russian mentality. She gives herself away by repeatedly telling us how smart she is and that this is "proven by history". Shame the history taught in Russia is rather nasty propaganda. And we poor Brits have always taken the view that it is best to let other people say how smart and "dobriy" you are. Having said that, our Russian cousins would be waiting a long time for anyone (apart from themselves of course) to say something nice about Russia and Russians...
Peter, London,
Eli, Taipei, Taiwan
Do you really belive the nonsence you are saying?
The FSB as KGB has always been a million times more efficient and discrette than FBI and other secret services.
The men and women who work there are choosen among the smartest people of our country, and Russia is a very smart country, I dear to say.
Russian citizen may be different from what West finds normal, but we are smart... and that is proven by years of history.
Now, as I've already said, Russia has way to many things to tend to, to spend their precious time on scaring pour brits.
Angelique, Paris, France
To UHJpdmV0, Mukhosransk, Russia
It comes as no surprise for the rest of the world that the FSB is a bunch of brainless and greedy thugs. The murder of A. Litvinenko was arranged by the FSB or other Russian secret services that way in order to show Putin's opponents in Russia and abroad how powerful they are, It was sort of a show of force. That's why they chose polonium as an option. A. Litvinenko was not the first victim of the regime of Putin, who was killed that way. Just remember how Y. Shekochikhin, a leading journalist with the Novaya Gazeta and V. Tsepov, his former bodyguard while he was deputy mayor of St. Pete were murdered. They were killed the same way. The only mistake the murders made was they had never thought that the UK and other Western powers possessed the technical capacities to find out polonium and trace it back where it was made and delivered from.
When it comes to free speech and other civil liberties Russia has been turned into a big Mukhosransk now.
Eli, Taipei, Taiwan
What soviet era so many people are talking about? President Putin was legally elected during the democratic elections and currently has over 75% (!) of nation support. Which is a great result for any politician.
Extradition of Russian citizens is prohibited by Russian constitution. That's it. Nothing more...
It was Britain ( with some help from mr. Berizovsky? ) that createed this conflict, not Russian officials. Russia is powerful enough to protect it's constitution from external influence.
Anyway, all this stuff feels so dirty. There are even no direct evidences that Lugovoy or Russia somehow involved in all that stuff, except Britain officials "internal information"...
Sergey, Ryazan, Russia
Freedom of speech is when any newspaper has the right to publish any nonsense, and democracy is when any citizen has the right to believe it...
Don't be ridiculous. If the FSB wanted to assassinate one of their enemies, they would have simply shot him in a dark corner. Or used some poison whose ingredients can be bought in the nearest household chemicals shop. Instead, they "used" Polonium-210 which is 1) expensive 2) hazardous to handle 3) difficult to get across the border 4) easy to trace to only one possible perpetrator (Russia). In this case the FSB must be just a bunch of clinical idiots...
UHJpdmV0, Mukhosransk, Russia
Hmm, less rhetoric and more facts please.
All I have seen are unsubstantiated allegations and innuendo. I'd like to see the evidence that MI6 - oops, I mean the British authorities - purport to have tracing the assassins to Russia. Yet none of the actual evidence has yet circulated in the countless editorials on the subject.
This smells like a dog and pony show for the media.
While we're on the subject, why did the British break into the Iraqi jail to rescue two SAS officers again? You know, the ones dressed in Muslim garb replete with fake beards and a car full of what one might call 'improvised explosive devices'? If I recall correctly, British regulars drove a Challenger tank through the wall and released some 100 Iraqi prisoners during the 'rescue'.
Now there's an important story, and it got thrown under the bus. I wonder why.
Patrick, Montreal, Canada
2 Rob.
You are mistaken. Russia is great-power. The epoch of the USA will soon end. The USA will burst as a soap bubble.
Pavel, Irkutsk,
When will british politics, as citizens, start to think logically?
There is no need to be extremelly smart to have an ounce of logic!
When you murder someone, you try to leave as small proof of your guiltiness as possible... then why use polonium, if it would lead directly to KGB?
The only thing that points at Lugovoi is this polonium affair and the evidence given by Mr.Berezovskii... known as a big manipulator and fraud.
This accusations have no real base.
Why would Russia wish to scare the UK?
Russia wants to have a stabile and calm external political behaviour... they do not seek enemies nor in Europe nor in the US...
If this countries find it fit to give asylum to terrorists and enemies of our country, they should see fit that Russia do not accept all of their requests.
Angelique, Paris, France
There is nothing to talk about. Russian Constitution doesn’t allow extradition of any Citizen of Russia. President Putin definitely is not new Stalin. He leaves his high post in next year. Nobody in Russia worries of it. I believe Russia respect every country and itself.
Natalia, Moscow, Russia
1. Britain will not extradite people to a country where they cannot expect a fair trial. In Russia they cannot in Britain they can.
2. Russia is a second-rate has-been power. It is all talk and good talk at that - some folk even believe it. We (the west) can hurt Russia far far more than the little bear can hurt us. Russia you are not a super-power any more (or even a great power) get over it.
3. The sooner will all realise this the better. Unfortunately Russia is in danger of heading for the anti-democratic authoritarian lust for glory and quest for territory which brought down Weimar Germany.
4. (for doss or is it Dross?) hahahaha
Rob, Lima, Peru
Russia will not extradite Lugovoi. This is against their constitution. As Putin put it, "If the British intelligence chief didn't know that extradition is against our law and advised Mr. Blair to request it, then he is incompetent. If he knew it and still advised Blair to request the extradition, then he's worse." Perhaps one day the British government will learn that someone can actually refuse to be a poodle of a perceived "senior power".
You don't have anyone in Britain who can say with certainty that either Lugovoi or someone else in Russia had had anything to do about this killing. What you do have is a group of intelligence analysts and investigators who are stuck without any leads. What do you do then? You cook up a claim that someone beyond your reach holds a key piece of evidence and complain loudly when this evidence is not delivered to you on a silver plate. Doesn't this sound so much a-la 2003?
Litvinenko's real assassins must be laughing hard at all this.
Victor, Windhoek,
Berezovsky is smiling .It's what he wanted and talked about when he said he was prepairing something.Those dinners for english politicians where good investment.I would think it was him.Poor english people is completely confused in what their government let them to believe to.Just give Russia their criminals.Don't play with fire.Those criminals make your corrupted cuntry even whorse.Just get rid off it.But you´re done.
MI is real master of your minds.Accept this and follow them.
Dos, Gent, Belgium
I can't believe that I'm reading in British papers these days. So much fuss and so many attempts to discredit Russia all the while UK along with US continue their crusade to invade other countries and kill innocent people in order to steal their oil and then leave them in a state of civil war, go completely unpunished for their warcrimes and yet plan more wars.
They want to get their hands Lugovoi yet they won't give up Berezovsky. How is that reasonable? People believe his lies but he is probably involved into this murder more than Lugovoi. And where is the evidence that Lugovoi killed Litvinenko? All we've "seen" so far or rather heard is just claims that might as well have been sucked out of one's finger. And now US is getting involved into this something that's non of their business really. As for Russian made Polonium, in case you didn't know it is also imported to USA.
The way I see it, this whole mess is pretty much fabricated by the West in order to discredit Russia and Putin
Serge Gray, London, UK
This is unbelievable that they used polonium to kill a spy !!!
this entire things looks like a cookedup story
whatever it Putin is a real leader who can move Russia to back to its powers and Britain is just worried about it now.
If they wan the kgb spy why don't they give Russia the 20 militants or anti-national of Russia now in Briton ?????
I admire Putin - Russia seems to be back to the powers
Tony was a faithful dog of US
And US is the real power in the world - we control all hehe
rick, TX, TX
So far Britain has not produced any evidence against Lugovoi - which indicates all the proof they got is the same as an infamous "dossier" claiming WMD in Iraq. The cost of Polonium is beyond reach for an individual, and if it was FSB plotting this murder, they got much cheaper and much more efficient poisons; just remember poor mr. Markov.
It would be much better to search who had the real reasons to kill Litvinenko; clearly the defunct ex-spy was no danger for Putin.
Nick, London, UK
I like this part of the article: "Britain’s punitive measures had sparked a row in the Russian government, according to a Kremlin aide.
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, was advising Putin to stop the crisis from escalating. But in a behind-the-scenes squabble a group of Kremlin hawks from the former KGB argued for a tough response.
“Powerful figures in the Kremlin wanted Putin to kick out far more than four British diplomats,†said the aide. “They are ill disposed towards the West and took Britain’s response as a challenge.†It is nothing else than everlasting russian(KGB) cheap tricks to deceive western public opinion by imitating split among governing elite into an evil- and- good-policemen style role playing for next "perestroika and glasnost" primitive show.
Albert, Sundsvall, Sweden
Albert, Sundsvall, Sweden
I think the bulk of commentators have the right idea. We are all at the mercy of Russians. There are hundreds of ways KGB masterminds can dispose of their decadent Western opponents, slautering them as in cattle farm, only more painfully. As history in Chechnya and eslewhere showed, for them the more bystanders get hurt, the better.
Verivorst, Tallinn, Estland
A former Russian Ambassador in the US once remarked after the FBI captured the American traitor Hanssen who is a double agent. That nothing special, "intelligence is intelligence", even the UK and US spy each other. Take note that even the US executes traitors. Litvinenko is a traitor to Russia, how could he be put to trial if he's being protected in London. He was an MI6 agent, he is also recruiting Russian agents like Lugovoi to betray or undermine Russia. Lets be real, if its a matter of national security most of times morality is being discarded, take the case of UK-BAE-Saudi probe.
Mark Herd, London,
Why do this government fly into the face of adversity by expelling Russian diplomats over a random act of assassination, culminating in all manner of retalliations surely those intent on removing adverseries of the Russian gov,t are managable at our borders, not so, the enemy within, we tolerate living side by side many a score of assassins, resident on British soil. My children suffered racial comments by asians females in school more than 15yrs ago, comments of white trash and prostitute, upon complaint to staff, the perpetrator denied abuse, claiming themselves to be the victim, who infact were vindicated. This gov,t will not strive to care for the British people, but strive to divert attention of the serious and present danger, by diverting public attention to towards a more manageable highlight, The Kremlin. When will we learn to recognise? 'SPIN'.
Julia Fitzpatrick, Manchester, England
Dear Alex from Rostov in Russia.
Izdrastvutye, Nobody in the UK is anti-russian, it is just that we wish to know the facts as to WHY the FSB spent US$10mn on Polonium from the Sarov nuclear labs to murder their ex-colleague in London? Is this normal behaviour?
What is most puzzling is that you, as a russian citizen seem to have little or no interest in finding out whether your own government is/are murdering people. Or maybe you don't care. You see to have a blase attitude to "democratic" rights which you placed in inverted commas. The state must be made accountable for its actions.
This case has no link with Russia's economy or their demand for high prices for their gas&oil. That is totally unconnected...so pls do not mix these issues.
If the British had murdered a leading Briton in Russia in this way, all British people would be demanding answers...not feeling that Russians were impugning their national pride.
Russians are hypersensitive about foreign powers
John Smith, london, UK
Hopefully, this is the 'beginning of the end' for the existing Russian 'tsarist' regime. The 'Ivan' is getting more aggressive, pumped with oil, gas and foreign investments, yet the children of Norilsk are dying of metal-infested water, and if you get outside Moscow and St,Petersburgh (for only about 40 to 50 kilometers), you have under-developed, remote, backward (in distribution and mentality), and miserable environment. Russia talks about its own 'freedom' - one journalist defined it well: "...freedom is having toilet paper in a public restroom in any part of the country...". It is up to the West to show resistance, strength, resolve, and unity. Of course, how do you make French agree with the British, Americans agree with the Germans, and so forth. West needs to unite against the 'common enemy' in the same way as the Russian 'stalinist hawks' are uniting the good-old Russian motherland against the West.
Alex, New York, USA
During Eltsin's reign the government control over radioactive materials practically did not exist. There were times that even fissile materials were left unsupervised in research laboratories and storage sites. And who would care about useless polonium? Well, unfortunately crooks figured out how to put radioactivity in use, and there were a number of radioactive poisoning cases then. These were chilling cases. But the most chilling were the ones that were done with sophisticated alpha emitters (Po210), and publicly mistaken for some form of bio or chemical poisoning. My guess is that Litvinenko's "friends" decided to bring this practice to Britain, grossly underestimating technical capabilities of Scotland Yard. Could these "friends" be FSB?
Bill, Boston, USA
It amazes me. How has the Government of Britain got involved in murder of a third rate gangster Litvinenko, who died in a Russian mafia in fighting ?
Kate, Catford, UK
It is hard to verify the quality of information in the article as related to Lugovoi - his erratic behavior clearly shows that he might have something to hide. However, whoever supplied David and Mark with the information about polonium clearly lied to the journalists. There are few statements about polonium that are easy to verify using Web or books in any local library:
1) Polonium is a widely used industrial metal (in small quantities, of course)
2) All production of Polonium is currently done in Russia. US production stopped after Cold War, since it is cheaper to buy Russian metal.
3) Almost all Polonium is exported from Russia for use in industrial applications in the West.
4) Polonium is very expensive, but much cheaper than the article states. An anti-static device that has enough Polonium inside to kill a man retails for about US $100. It is not easy to extract Polonium from such devices, so it should have come from other source, but the millions of pounds were not needed
Vadim, Seaside,
This article describes partly, because indirectly, something called “sovereign democracy†by Putin.
AG, S-c, Poland
All this story precisely has to do with CHK-OGPU-NKVD-KGB-FSK-FSB disregarding every possible state law since inception and to do with gross disrespect by the whole Russian state of laws of the rest of the world. Shall I remain you Mr Yandarbiev's murder in Qatar story? Besides when needed Russia has extradited it's citizen to Turkmenistan never remembering about that famous consitution norm.
Misha, Tblisi, Georgia
The chilling realite over the murder of Mr Litvenko is the method used. No snipers bullet, nor two pistol rounds to the head. Of all things, the people who ordered his assasination chose to use radio active material that came with such a large signature...one step short of using a full on 'Dirty Bomb'!
The use of Polonium210 is a political statement; a clear 'end game' message to the British government and its Russian ex pat population living in the UK...time's up!
To unleash such a material upon any capital city would be devastating in larger quantity, especially in London, our financial hub of money making around the globe. Russia would only do this in the UK and never on US soil because it sees us as being weak and enept.
In using such a destructive weapon, Mr Putin has not only sent a clear message to the UK/US, he has paved the path for other more radical elements to take.
In the end, Putin proves how dangerous might is, in the wrong hands. Where next from here?
David Downes, Chester, UK
Putin going to be a new Stalin .
He is very dangerous man,but he is not powerful yet ,but Russians wont poreful man and they will make him powerful like Stalin.
Lorenzo Del Franchesco Fiore, Venice, Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia.
This murder seems to carry the hall marks of the KGB now convienently reincarnated as the FSB. It also smacks storngly of the Cold War to me. The Kremlin cannot, it seems tolerate criticisms in what is now supposedly a free state, the rule of communism now long dead and buried or is it? Long gone are the days supposedly when if someone disagreed with the government that they were made to disappear from the face of the earth by one way or another but now these methods have come back to Russia and are just as wide spread but by a long way more publicised than when they were in the days of the good old USSR.
Tom Hreben, Eastbourne, England
This whole ordeal is outright ridiculous! It is a politically motivated drama forced upon Russia by a self-proclaimed "democratic", "fair" and "objective" Britain -- baseless canard, an absurdity with a sole purpose is to discredit Russia.
Russia is on the rise and as Russian citizen I can say it is getting better, and we are moving in the right direction. Gas/Oil addicted Europe must accept the fact that strong and stable Russia is inevitable. So we must answer to the envious Brits - Bloke, stop throwing sticks in the wheels and teach your kids Russian.
Alex, Rostov-On-Don, Russia
A recent WSJ article got it bang to rights: the fact of the matter is that Russia is a fascist state now -- pure and simple.
No surprise about that: this country has always been lagging behind Europe some 3 generations. The real problem is it won't survive it as it is doomed to disappear in about 20 years.
max , Moscow, RF
Britain wants Russia officials to ignore Russian law that doesn't allow extradition to the foreign countries. I'm sure that noone in Russia will do that especially in the shade of upcoming Elections here in Russia.
Law does mean a lot here in Russia. Everyone i know says that "even if Litvenenko did that - come here and prove that he is the murder". He is our citizen. He is under protection of our country until his guilty is proven...
All this story has nothing to do with KGB or however it is called now. It's all about disrespect of Russia and Russian laws in the West... At least this is the way a lot of Russians understand that.
Max, Moscow, Russia
Almost all the conclusions of the article are simply misleading. "The right to order the FSB to carry out assassinations of “enemies of the Russian stateâ€" is an ill imagination of the Times. There is an antiterrorist act, similar to those as for example in the USA, which refers not to "enemies", but to "terrorists". Russian TV are supported by the state but the newspapers enjoy much more freedom than the Times does. The article points out that Russians refused Lugovoy's extradiction but conveniently forgets to mention that Russian extradiction is prohibited by Russian constitution. It also forgets to metion that Britain refused to hand over several Russian criminals including Berezovski.
Jao, Fukuoka, Japan
The legislation that was passed by the Russian Duma, does not permit to kill the "enemies" of the state, but only “terroristsâ€. While, Litvinenko, might have been considered by some as an enemy, he was certainly no terrorist, so the legislation would not have covered his assassination. The difference between an "enemy" and "terrorist" is essential in any legislation, particularly in one as neat picking and formal as the Russian one. Russian media has been discussing the reasons why the British media refuses to recognize this simple fact, which, with good reasons, it attributs to bias and sensationalism.
Anton, Toronto, Canada
Nothing new under the sun. KGB rules in Russia now. Needless to say that recently Russia passed a new law allowing their secret services to track and murder its enemies and oponents abroad. As we see this law is in action. I think the murder of Alexander Livinenko was ordered by V. Putin or his close aides.
Eli, Taipei, Taiwan
Polonium is artificially produced and can be traced to its source. It looks it has been done in this case and the source was found to be in Russia. This truth appears to be very inconvenient, both for Britain and Russia. There is a great temptation to hide it, but I do not think it will do any good. Truth, whatever it is, is always better than lies. "Know the truth and the truth will set you free".
Alex, New York, USA