[NukeNet] Scotland: THE BRITISH CONNECTION

[The Roy Process]

Printer Friendly Format - Sunday Heraldhttp://www.sundayherald.com/news/specialreports/display.var.1054801.0.the_british_connection.php

      THE BRITISH CONNECTION
      A sushi restaurant in Piccadilly is as unlikely a place as any to start a murder trail. Doubtless the now boarded-up Itsu will one day become a stopping point on one of those themed London walks, part of a tour of Russian London.

      A trail already exists, a glowing radioactive one, criss-crossing London from Itsu, where Alexander Litvinenko dined with Mario Scaramella, to other locations the poisoned former KGB agent and his assassins probably visited.

      Itsu is where one month ago the lawless world of Putin's Russia collided with western democracy. Public assassinations over business or politics are common in Russia, but now appear to have seeped into the streets of London.

      Scaramella, who was yesterday declared "well" despite being contaminated with the same radioactive polonium-210 as Litvinenko, did not actually eat at the restaurant. The Italian terrorism expert had dined earlier, only sipping water as he passed Litvinenko a death list on which both their names appeared.

      Polonium-210 has left permanent fingerprints across London, a radiation trail that left a mark on everyone who came in close contact with it.

      Scaramella, already in protective police custody, was rushed to hospital on Friday after it was confirmed his body contained "significant amounts" of the deadly isotope, but a "considerably lower level" than Litvinenko's. Marina Litvinenko, the former spy's widow, was also contaminated with small amounts. The longer-term effects are unclear.

      From Piccadilly, the hospital and Litvinenko's Muswell Hill home the trail leads to several other London locations as well as to Moscow. Traces have been detected at 12 sites, including three British Airways planes which have flown between the UK and Russia. Anti-terrorist officers at Scotland Yard believe the polonium-210 was brought into London on a BA flight from Moscow a week before Litvinenko fell ill. Police are particularly interested in a flight from Moscow to London on October 25, carrying a number of football fans to a match at Arsenal's Emirates stadium. A section of the stadium has been checked and given the all-clear.

      Scientists at Aldermaston are reported to have identified the nuclear plant which manufactured the poison. This could prove embarrassing for the Russian government, which has denied any involvement and dismissed suggestions that it has lost any radioactive material.

      Yesterday the government's Cobra national security committee convened for the third time in a week. Twice, the home secretary has briefed the Commons. John Reid said Russian authorities at "the highest levels" had given assurances of cooperation.

      Traces of the radiation, so strong police believe them to be from the primary source, have been found in the Millennium Hotel in London, where he met Andrei Lugovoy, another former KGB spy, and another Russian contact, Dmitri Kovtun, on November 1, the day he fell ill. Lugovoy has since said people have been trying to frame him. Lugovoy was for two years the bodyguard of former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, currently being treated in Moscow after falling ill in Ireland.

      During six years in Britain Litvinenko had made enemies, and not only former colleagues in Russian intelligence. He was a putative businessman who tried to muscle in on Russian deals in London. There is speculation that he fell out with his protector Boris Berezovsky.

      The inquest into Litvinenko's death was formally opened and adjourned on Thursday. But the radiation trail has not gone cold yet.

      9:51pm Saturday 2nd December 2006



      By Torcuil Crichton

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