Webloggin » Former Russian Spy Killed By Radiation Poisoning

The story about Russian critic and former spy Alexander Litvinenkotook an interesting twist in the wake of his death. Mr. Litvinenko was found to have been killed with lethal doses of a very rare and highly toxic radioactive element called Polonium-210. Traces of the radiation were also found in three locations in London that Litvinenko had visited before he became terminally ill.

Litvinenko implicated Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government for the poisoning in a statement he made before he died on Thursday.

I thank my wife Marina, who has stood by me. My love for her and our son knows no bounds.

But as I lie here I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death.

I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like.

I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition.

You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.

You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value.

You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilised men and women.

You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.

May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.

Mr. Putin denied any involvement and downplayed the death while calling Litvinenko’s statements political provocation.

Friends have said Mr Litvinenko was poisoned because of his criticism of Russia.

In a statement dictated before he died at University College Hospital on Thursday, the 43-year-old accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of involvement in his death.

Mr Litvinenko had recently been investigating the murder of his friend, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, another critic of the Putin government.

Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated the Kremlin’s earlier dismissal of allegations of involvement in the poisoning as “sheer nonsense”.

Mr Putin himself has said Mr Litvinenko’s death was a tragedy, but he saw no “definitive proof” it was a “violent death”. - src BBC news

I think it is strange for Putin to downplay Litvinenko’s death as not being violent. Further, when you consider the rareness of Polonium-210 one would have to come to the conclusion that it was likely acquired from some very hard to reach sources.

The Hazardous Subtances Data Bank lists the Polonium-210 as follows:

Polonium-210 is usually produced artificially by the bombardment of the stable bismuth-209 isotope with neutrons in a nuclear reactor, forming radioactive bismuth-210, which decays to polonium-210. Polonium-208 and polonium-209 are also produced in reactors or particle accelerators, but are very expensive to produce.

Wikipedia describes its toxicity.

Polonium is a highly radioactive and toxic element and is dangerous to handle. Even in milligram or microgram amounts, handling polonium-210 is very dangerous and requires special equipment used with strict procedures. Direct damage occurs from energy absorption into tissues from alpha particles.

The post mortem autopsy has been delayed because of fears that handling the body would expose workers to the same radiation that killed Litvinenko.

When you consider who has access to this sort of equipment the list gets kind of short. We can rest assured that the death was an assassination that required a person with high levels of access to radioactive substances as well as knowledge of how to handle it as a weapon. Litvinenko coincidentally became ill after meeting with former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi who denies any involvement in the death.

My concern here goes well beyond the possible implications of Russian government involvement. Polonium is a highly toxic radioactive substance. Even if we ruled out the involvement of the Russian government we are left with the prospect that it was bought on the black market. In every way imaginable this implies that American’s should fear a threat that is not nearly as fashionable as that depicted in James Bond movies. This involves access to nuclear material, the weaponization of the substance and potential transportation of it from one country to another.

Others: Hot Air, Captain’s Quarters, Scottish Right, The Wide Awake Cafe