How interesting is this about the poisoned Russian dissident?

Rossy · Dec 1, 2006

How interesting is this about the poisoned Russian dissident?

The plot just keeps thickening and the downplay is unreal.

The following is very interesting for anyone who wants to read it. Very long and sorry if I repost articles as replicating from elsewhere.

Rossy · Dec 1, 2006

The condition of a former Russian spy believed to be poisoned in Britain has deteriorated overnight, as it is reported that X-rays on Alexander Litvinenko have shown up unusual objects in his intenstines.

A source at the University College Hospital where the former KGB agent is being treated, has said there were three objects of dense matter in Mr Litvinenko's intestines, the BBC reports today.

The X-ray revealed a round object - possibly a package - about the size of a two pence piece in his left abdomen and similar sized objects in his colon and small bowel, according to the BBC report. One of the objects may have ruptured.

The position of the objects implies that they were ingested but it is not clear what they are, how or when they entered his body, or whether they are connected to his illness, the report says.

It is not clear whether the objects are the cause of Mr Litvinenko's illness. In a statement the hospital said its investigations were continuing and it was not willing to make further comment until it had more information.

The Metropolitan Police said it had no knowledge of the items and the results of toxicology tests were still pending.

The former's spy's condition is now said to be "very serious" and he is in intensive care.

Mr Litvinenko, 43, who sought asylum in Britain 2000 and has been a critic of the Kremlin and the Russian security services, believes he is suffering from the effects of a poison given to him November 1. His hair has fallen out, his throat is swollen and his immune and nervous systems have been damaged. Doctors originally suspected the toxic metal thallium, but have now said it is more likely it was something else, possibly a radioactive substance.

Scotland Yard’s anti terrorist branch is investigating the poisoning that friends and dissidents allege was carried out at the behest of the Russian government.

On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, issued its strongest denial yet that it was involved in any assassination attempt. "Litvinenko is not the kind of person for whose sake we would spoil bilateral relations," Sergei Ivanov, an SVR spokesman said, according to the Interfax news agency. "It is absolutely not in our interests to be engaged in such activity."
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2467522,00.html

Poisoned Russian spy on ventilator after suffering heart failure, friend says
By TARIQ PANJA
Associated Press Writer
23 November 2006
Associated Press Newswires
(c) 2006. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

LONDON (AP) - Poisoned Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko suffered heart failure overnight and was on life support Thursday morning, a friend said after the hospital reported the patient's condition had deteriorated.

Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, is suffering from the effects of an unknown poison he believes was given to him Nov. 1. His hair has fallen out, his throat is swollen and his immune and nervous systems have been damaged.

"He went into a cardiac failure overnight and the hospital put him on artificial heart support," said Alex Goldfarb, a friend of the former KGB spy.

"He's on the ventilator, he's getting artificial resuscitation," Goldfarb told The Associated Press.

A statement released by the University College Hospital said Litvinenko's condition had deteriorated overnight. It refused to comment on Goldfarb's statement, citing a policy of patient confidentiality.

"He is now in a very serious condition and remains in intensive care," the hospital said. It did not give any details of his treatment or on the report of heart failure.

Goldfarb, who had joined Litvinenko's wife Marina and the former agent's father by his bedside, said the 43-year-old's condition had been deteriorating over the last few days. "His heart has been generally weak of the past few weeks, he had low blood pressure yesterday, and his heart had stopped. He was in intensive care for that reason."

Anti-terrorist police were investigating the poisoning, which friends and dissidents allege was carried out at the behest of the Russian government. Litvinenko sought asylum in Britain in 2000, and has been a relentless critic of the Kremlin and the Russian security services.

On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, issued its strongest denial yet that it was involved in any assassination attempt. "Litvinenko is not the kind of person for whose sake we would spoil bilateral relations," SVR spokesman Sergei Ivanov said, according to the Interfax news agency. "It is absolutely not in our interests to be engaged in such activity."

The British Broadcasting Corp., quoting an unidentified hospital source, reported that X-rays had shown that Litvinenko had swallowed three objects of dense matter, which had lodged in his intestine.

The BBC said it was unclear whether the objects were related to Litvinenko's illness, and the hospital declined to comment.

Goldfarb said a doctor had told him the X-rays were not a cause for concern.

"They saw three shadows on the X-ray. It's not for concern, it may be totally benign. It's not an issue for the medical team. There's no object, no rupture, just three shadows on the X-ray and they are not concerned about this," Goldfarb said.

Litvinenko worked both for the KGB and for a successor, the Federal Security Service. In 1998, he publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky -- now exiled in Britain -- and a year later spent nine months in jail on charges of abuse of office, for which he was later acquitted, and which prompted his move to London.

On the day he first felt ill, Litvinenko said he had two meetings. In the morning, he met with an unnamed Russian and Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB colleague and bodyguard to one-time Russian Prime Minster Yegor Gaidar at a London hotel. Later, he dined with Italian security expert Mario Scaramella to discuss the October murder of another Kremlin critic -- investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Scaramella told reporters in Rome on Tuesday that he had traveled to meet Litvinenko to discuss an e-mail he received from a source naming the killers of Politkovskaya, who was gunned down Oct. 7 at her Moscow apartment building, and outlining that he and Litvinenko were on a hit list.

Goldfarb said that he had a photocopy of the four-page e-mail and confirmed that it did read like the hit list described by Scaramella.

"What's in there confirms what Scaramella said. It lists several targets for assassination, among them are Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, Scaramella, Berezovsky and others," he said. But he refused to say who compiled the document, saying that it could jeopardize the police investigation into the poisoning.

After visiting the hospital on Thursday, Berezovsky told the AP that British police have yet to speak to him, but hoped they would be in contact over the next two days. The police declined to comment about whether they had the e-mail.

Goldfarb said Wednesday that there was nothing out of the ordinary in Litvinenko's meeting with Lugovoy, who also worked as bodyguard to Berezovsky, the most high profile Russian exile in London.

Litvinenko has refused to implicate any of the people he met on the day he believes he was poisoned.

"He said there were two encounters held, but he is not accusing anybody. It could have happened then or it could have happened elsewhere," Goldfarb said
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http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/061123/w112311A.html

There is confusion over what has poisoned the ex-spy
Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has died in hospital three weeks after apparently being poisoned in London.

University College Hospital, London, said Mr Litvinenko had died at 2121 GMT on Thursday and the cause of his condition was still being investigated.

Friends have said the 43-year-old was poisoned because of his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin - Russia has denied any involvement.

Scotland Yard said they were now investigating "an unexplained death".

Defector

A hospital spokesman said: "Every avenue was explored to establish the cause of [Mr Litvinenko's] condition and the matter is now an ongoing investigation being dealt with by detectives from New Scotland Yard.

"Because of this we will not be commenting any further on this matter. Our thoughts are with Mr Litvinenko's family."

Mr Litvinenko, who defected to the UK in 2000 and was later granted asylum and citizenship, was apparently poisoned on November 1.

Thallium theory

He was admitted to University College Hospital on 17 November. His condition deteriorated after he suffered a heart attack overnight on Wednesday.

Initial reports from the hospital said Mr Litvinenko had been poisoned with the heavy metal thallium, but later it was suggested that some form of radioactive material may have been used.

Head of critical care at the hospital, Dr Geoff Bellingan, has subsequently dismissed both of these explanations.

Reports of three objects found on X-rays of the patient were "misleading" and were almost certainly shadows caused by Prussian Blue, used to treat thallium or caesium poisoning, he said.

Asylum

Before Mr Litvinenko's death, police said they suspected "deliberate poisoning".

Investigations are examining two meetings, one at a London hotel with a former KGB agent and another man, and a later rendezvous with Italian security consultant Mario Scaramella at a sushi restaurant in London's West End.

Mr Litvinenko fled to the UK in 2000, claiming persecution in Russia, and was granted asylum. He is understood to have taken British citizenship this year.

He had been investigating the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Both the Kremlin and Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, have denied any part in poisoning Mr Litvinenko, who is a former security agent with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6178890.stm

Rossy · Dec 1, 2006

Radiation tests after spy death

BBC news
24 November 2006

Police and health experts probing the death of the Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko are searching various locations for radioactive material.

Mr Litvinenko's death, in a London hospital on Thursday, has been linked to the presence of a "major dose" of radioactive polonium-210 in his body.

Tests have been carried out at two hospitals, a sushi bar and a hotel, but the risk to others is said to be low.

The Kremlin has denied Mr Litvinenko's claims that it was involved.

Police have confirmed above normal traces of radiation have been found at the sushi bar.

Professor Pat Troop from the Health Protection Agency told a news conference Mr Litvinenko would have had to either eaten, inhaled or been given the dose of polonium-210 through a wound.

She said the type of death was an "unprecedented event in the UK".

Dr Troop said the HPA investigation would initially look at the number of people who had come into contact with Mr Litvinenko during his stay in hospital.

"We are working with staff to draw up a list, we are working through that," she said.

"There will be a minimum of tens of people. He was in hospital for several weeks and a number of staff looked after him."

As the conference drew to a close, a heckler interrupted saying he was from Ukraine and had also been the victim of poisoning.

A post mortem examination on Mr Litvinenko has not been held yet.

The delay is believed to be over concerns about the health implications for those present at the examination.

Medical experts had previously expressed differing opinions over substances that could have possibly led to his death.

Initial reports that he was given the heavy metal thallium gave way to other theories including radiation poisoning.

Meanwhile, the government's civil contingencies committee Cobra has met to discuss the case.

The Home Office said anybody concerned should contact NHS Direct on 0845 4647, who have been briefed about this issue.

'Sheer nonsense'

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

Police searches are taking place at Mr Litvinenko's house in north London and other places he has been.

In a statement dictated before he died, 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".

Meetings probed

Police have been examining two meetings Mr Litvinenko had on 1 November - one at a London hotel with a former KGB agent and another man, and a rendezvous with Italian security consultant Mario Scaramella, at a sushi restaurant in London's West End.

Mr Litvinenko, who was granted asylum in the UK in 2000 after complaining of persecution in Russia, fell ill later that day.

In an interview with Friday's Telegraph newspaper, former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi said he had met Mr Litvinenko at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square but vigorously denied any involvement in the poisoning.

Mr Scaramella, who is involved in an Italian parliamentary inquiry into Russian secret service activity, said they met because he wanted to discuss an e-mail he had received.

POLONIUM-210

* A highly radioactive and toxic element present in foods in low doses

* Small amounts created naturally in the body can be manufactured using the bombardment of neutrons

* Has industrial uses such as in anti-static devices

* Very dangerous if significant dose ingested

LITVINENKO TIMELINE

* 1 Nov - Alexander Litvinenko meets two Russian men at a London hotel and then meets Italian academic Mario Scaramella at a sushi bar in Piccadilly. Hours later he falls ill and is admitted to Barnet General Hospital

* 17 Nov - Mr Litvinenko is transferred to UCH

* 19 Nov - Reports say Mr Litvinenko is poisoned with thallium

* 21 Nov - A toxicologist says he may have been poisoned with "radioactive thallium"

* 22 Nov - Mr Litvinenko's condition deteriorates overnight. Thallium and radiation ruled out

* 23 Nov - The ex-spy dies in intensive care
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6180682.stm

Russian Lawmakers Blame Tycoon Berezovsky in Spy's Death

Mos News
Saturday, November 25, 2006

Poisoned former spy Alexander Litvinenko’s deathbed message may have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin, but pro-Kremlin lawmakers and state-controlled television networks pointed the finger at a prominent Putin enemy in Britain — tycoon Boris Berezovsky, the Associated Press reports.

Legislators seconded a top Putin aide’s suggestion that Litvinenko’s death in a London hospital Thursday was part of a plot against Russia and claimed that Berezovsky, a major critic whose asylum in Britain has enraged the Kremlin, was involved in the killing.

“The death of Litvinenko — for Russia, for the security services — means nothing,” Valery Dyatlenko, a deputy head of the security committee in the lower parliament house, said on state-run Channel One television Friday, contending that neither the Kremlin nor Russia’s intelligence agencies would have reason to kill him. “I think this is another game of some kind by Berezovsky.”

Berezovsky amassed a fortune in dubious privatization deals after the 1991 Soviet collapse and became an influential Kremlin insider under President Boris Yeltsin, but fell out of favor with Putin and fled for Britain in 2000 to avoid a money laundering probe which he said was politically motivated.

He has been a thorn in Putin’s side for years, assailing him for backtracking on democracy and accusing Russian security services of organizing the 1999 apartment-building bombings that helped stoke support for the Chechen war.

That claim can be seen as aimed personally against Putin, a former Federal Security Service chief who ascended to the presidency in part on the strength of the popularity of his hard-line stance on Chechnya as prime minister at the time.

Berezovsky provided financing for a book Litvinenko co-authored detailing the alleged bombing conspiracy, but their names have been linked since 1998, when Litvinenko publicly accused his superiors at the Federal Security Service, known by its Russian acronym FSB, of ordering him to kill Berezovsky.

Both men lived in Britain and Berezovsky, who spent time by Litvinenko’s hospital bedside, has said he suspected Russia’s intelligence services were behind the alleged assassination attempt. But in Russia on Friday, pro-Kremlin lawmakers suggested Berezovsky was behind the poisoning.

“Possibly there was a conflict,” Nikolai Kovalyov, a lawmaker and former FSB director, said on state-run Channel One television. “In untying this knot called the relationship between Berezovsky and Litvinenko, it was necessary to receive the maximum benefit — and the benefit here for Boris Abramovich (Berezovsky) is ... the accusation of Russia’s involvement in the killing.”

Litvinenko had close ties with “certain oligarchs, including Berezovsky, who in recent years have been deprived of the chance to buy corrupt power with stolen money and apparently cannot accept this,” said Konstanin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the State Duma, the lower parliament house.

“It’s clear we may be talking about a targeted action aimed against modern Russia,” Kosachev, a member of the dominant Kremlin-controlled United Russia party whose comments often reflect the governments’ stance. said on Channel One.

The remarks echoed Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Putin’s chief envoy to the European Union, who named no names but suggested to reporters in Helsinki that someone was killing government critics to discredit the Kremlin. “I am far from being a champion of conspiracy theory. But it looks like we are facing a well-orchestrated campaign or a plan to consistently discredit Russia and its leader,” he said.

Putin and other top Russian officials have repeatedly hinted of forces in the West that are out to undermine Russia. After the slaying last month of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of the war in Chechnya, Putin said that “people who are hiding from Russian law enforcement have been hatching plans to sacrifice someone and create an anti-Russian wave in the world” - a possible reference to Berezovsky.

Russian prosecutors said earlier this year that they had filed a new request for Berezovsky’s extradition from Britain after charging him with planning a violent seizure of power.
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http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/11/25/berezovskylitvinenko.shtml

Three face radiation tests after death of Russian spy
Philippe Naughton and agencies

Three people who contacted an NHS helpline after the radiation poisoning of a former Russian spy have been referred for tests at a radiological clinic, the Health Protection Agency said today.

Doctors want to make sure that the three, who have all shown some symptoms of sickness, have not been contaminated by polonium-210, the highly radioactive substance discovered in the urine of Alexander Litvinenko only hours before his death last Thursday.

Traces of polonium have since been found at Litvinenko's North London home, as well as at a London sushi bar and a Mayfair hotel that he visited on the day that he was poisoned on November 1.

A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency said that more than 450 people who could have come into contact with Litvinenko, or otherwise feared contamination, had contacted a hotline set up after his death and 18 of them had been passed on to the HPA for follow-up.

"Of those 18, three have been referred as a precaution to a special clinic for radiological assessment," she said. She would not elaborate on the symptoms they displayed, but described it as a "precautionary" move.

Meanwhile, ministers and top security officials on the so-called Cobra committee, chaired by John Reid, the Home Secretary, held another emergency meeting today to discuss case and its potentially poisonous diplomatic fallout.

In a statement dictated on his deathbed, Litvinenko accused President Vladimir Putin of being directly responsible for the poisoning - an accusation rejected by Russian officials.

The case is being investigated by Scotland Yard's counter-terrorist command, which has asked Moscow to pass on any information it has about Litvinenko's death.

Underlining the seriousness of the situation, the Commons Speaker Michael Martin ruled today that Mr Reid should make an emergency statement to MPs about the Litvinenko case in response to an urgent question by David Davis, his Tory shadow.

"I am sure that there will be an intensive police investigation into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko and it is important that there is full cooperation from anyone who may be able to help with their inquiries including, if they are asked, from the Russian authorities, " Mr Davis said.

"It is essential that other dissidents living in Britain are reassured about their safety and there are also questions about how polonium 210 came to be used in Britain."

Scotland Yard was due today to receive a dossier drawn up by Litvinenko on the Kremlin’s takeover of the world’s richest energy company, Yukos.

It emerged yesterday that Mr Litvinenko travelled to Israel just weeks before he died to hand over evidence to a Russian billionaire of how agents working for President Putin dealt with his enemies running the oil company.

He passed this information to Leonid Nevzlin, the former second-in-command of Yukos, who fled to Tel Aviv in fear for his life after the Kremlin seized and then sold off the £21 billion company.

Mr Nevzlin told The Times that it was his "duty" to pass on the file. "Alexander had information on crimes committed with the Russian Government’s direct participation," he said. "He only recently gave me and my attorneys documents that shed light on the most significant aspects of the Yukos affair."

Investigators have told The Times that Mr Litvinenko had apparently uncovered "startling" new material about the Yukos affair and what happened to those opposing the forced break-up of the company.

Several figures linked with Yukos are reported to have disappeared or died in mysterious circumstances while its head, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and others have been jailed.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2474315,00.html

Rossy · Dec 1, 2006

Polonium detected at Berezovsky's office

Sandra Laville and Tania Branigan
Tuesday November 28, 2006
The Guardian

Detectives have found traces of polonium 210 at the London offices of the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, it was revealed last night. Officers were searching 7 Down Street, Mayfair, after the discovery of the radioactive substance that killed Mr Berezovsky's friend and former employee, Alexander Litvinenko.

A uniformed officer and at least one plain clothes policeman were stationed inside the lobby of the property last night. Outside another 15 officers were on standby in two marked police vans and the area was cordoned off.

Sources confirmed that traces of polonium 210 had been found at the address. Mr Berezovsky, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, refused to comment yesterday on the revelations. "I don't want to comment anything about it," he told the Guardian. "I don't know anything about police at my office."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1958619,00.html

Chubais links ex-PM mystery ailment to journalist, ex-spy death
12:51 | 29/ 11/ 2006

ST. PETERSBURG, November 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's electricity giant head and architect of the 1990s reforms said the mystery illness of his reformer colleague was linked to the recent killings of an investigative journalist and an ex-spy.

Former acting Premier Yegor Gaidar's daughter said her 50-year-old father started vomiting and fainted at a conference in Dublin Friday and remained unconscious for three hours. Gaidar was in a grave condition, and doctors have not identified the reason yet.

"Yegor Gaidar was on the verge of death November 24," said Chubais, who was first deputy prime minister under former President Boris Yeltsin. He quoted "professionals who know the situation" as saying that it did not look like natural sickness.

The chief executive of Unified Energy System said Russian authorities were not involved in the incident.

"If it were so, Moscow would have been a far better place for it than Dublin," Chubais said.

The Kremlin's reputation has been overshadowed by two recent high-profile killings. Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist and a Kremlin critic, was gunned down in Moscow in October in an apparent contract killing. Alexander Litvinenko, a defector spy who allegedly investigated the murder, died in London last week from suspected radioactive poisoning.

Following his death, Western media circulated a statement where he blamed the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin for his "poisoning."

Both Politkovskaya and Litvinenko were linked to Russia's fugitive oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who had vast clout under Yeltsin but is now living in London with a British passport. Berezovsky is wanted in Russia on fraud charges and attempts to organize a coup.

"The deadly triangle - Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Gaidar - would have been very desirable for some people who are seeking an unconstitutional and forceful change of power in Russia," Chubais said.

Gaidar has been brought to a Moscow hospital. He is now in "a satisfactory condition and not in intensive care," Gaidar's daughter Maria said.

Along with Chubais, Gaidar was a pioneer of Russia's privatization campaign following the U.S.S.R. collapse in the 1990s. Both politicians have been criticized for the rapid pace of reforms, also referred to as "shock therapy", because they deprived many people of their long-time savings.

In the early 1990s, Gaidar was deputy prime minister, economics and finance minister, In 1992, he de facto headed the government.

In the mid-1990s, he was a member of parliament and is now head of the Institute for the Economy in Transition.
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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20061129/56157431.html

Alternative to that (she's apparently an activist against putin):

Friday, November 24, 2006. Issue 3547. Page 3.
Gaidar's Daughter Hangs Anti-State Banner
The Associated Press

The daughter of former Prime Minster Yegor Gaidar, Maria, and a second protester rappelled off a bridge near the Kremlin on Thursday and hung a banner criticizing President Vladimir Putin's government for changes to election law.

The duo unfurled a 15-meter banner reading "Return the Elections to the People, Bastards!" and hung from the Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge for more than 30 minutes before police and emergency workers hauled them up and detained them. - Moscow Times
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http://today.reuters.com/news/artic...ILLNESS-UPDATE-2-PICTURE.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

wo BA planes at Heathrow Airport are being tested in the wake of the death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, the Home Office said.

Plans were also being made to examine a third plane in Moscow, they added.

Traces of radioactive polonium-210 were discovered in Mr Litvinenko's body, when he died in London last week.

Initial results of the forensic tests showed very low traces of a radioactive substance onboard two of the three aircraft, said British Airways.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6157707.stm

Rossy · Dec 1, 2006

Gaidar Deliberately Poisoned, Aide Says
Combined Reports
Friday, December 1, 2006. Issue 3552. Page 3.

Former Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, who was hospitalized last week after a violent illness, appears to have been deliberately poisoned, Gaidar's spokesman, Valery Natarov, said late Thursday, The Associated Press reported.

"Doctors don't see a natural reason for the poisoning," Natarov said. "So obviously we're talking about poisoning, and it was not natural poisoning."

Natarov's comments backed up those of Unified Energy Systems chief Anatoly Chubais. Chubais, a close friend of Gaidar, earlier suggested that Gaidar might have been targeted for assassination, linking his illness with the recent death of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko and the Oct. 7 murder of Anna Politkovskaya.

Politkovskaya and Litvinenko were vocal critics of the Kremlin. Gaidar, known for his liberal economic policies, was widely viewed as being at odds with the government's more authoritarian approach.

Also on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that President Vladimir Putin called Gaidar on Wednesday to inquire about his health.

Gaidar became ill Friday, when he began bleeding from his nose and vomiting before fainting. He was in Dublin to promote his book, "The Death of Empire: Lessons for Contemporary Russia," and address a conference.

Gaidar was rushed to a Dublin hospital. He was discharged one day later but checked into a Moscow hospital Sunday, where he is still recuperating.

On Thursday, Natarov said Gaidar's condition was gradually improving. "He is now better than several days ago," Natarov said of Gaidar, 50, who served under President Boris Yeltsin in the early 1990s and oversaw the country's transition to a market economy. "His condition is stable and improving. Doctors say there is no threat to his life at the moment."

Gaidar's daughter, Maria, told Interfax that she did not expect doctors to arrive at a diagnosis until Friday at the earliest. She added that her father was unlikely to be released from the hospital, which has not been named, until early next week.

A team of doctors, including toxicologists, are tending to Gaidar, Natarov said.

Natarov and Chubais notwithstanding, a journalist who saw Gaidar when he fell ill voiced doubt Thursday that poisoning was to blame for his illness.

Seamus Martin, a former Moscow correspondent for The Irish Times, said in a telephone interview Thursday that sources close to Gaidar said the Russian appeared to be suffering from an acute complication caused by diabetes. Martin pointed out that Gaidar had consumed the same meal as everyone else at Friday's conference in Dublin.
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http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/12/01/011.html

There is a lot there but it's kept me entertained for the last hour or so.

Hard to aquire radioactive materials used in assination attempts on UK turf amid all the terrorist alerts that have been going on recently and massive downplay from out government. I wonder how they would respond if they did find Russia in any way responsible?

Isn't this what we've been fearing for years - radioactive traces found on UK planes for fucks sake.

It's like a hollywood blockbuster though, well interesting.

Lee · Dec 1, 2006

and you have a girlfriend HOW?

Mad4it · Dec 1, 2006

Really

Curly Watts · Dec 1, 2006

Unless any event like this is totally public (like 7/7) they will always try to downplay it. For reasons such as:

Public panic
If they came out at the start and said it was due to radioactive activity the nation would go into "panic" and they dont want to come across like they dont have everything under control.

Possibe threat of an attack
If someone (Russia) has done something like this with intent to harm the UK population, they dont want to look scared in fear of demoting their "hardman" status.

Basically unless your high up in the government, you will never know half the truth behind events like this. I agree, it is funny watching them try to downplay

andy_rocks · Dec 1, 2006

I think it is interesting, if overreported

I'm not worried about radiation though, (physics GCSE tells me that alpha particles are not a risk unless you ingest them ) but I would like to know who did it.

If it can be traced back to the russian government, I'm sure there would be a rather unseemly squabble though.

Rossy · Dec 1, 2006

Originally posted by Lee
and you have a girlfriend HOW?
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errr where did you get that one from.

(you do realise that I copy and pasted this post from another forum)

Conway · Dec 4, 2006

Originally posted by andy_rocks
I think it is interesting, if overreported

I'm not worried about radiation though, (physics GCSE tells me that alpha particles are not a risk unless you ingest them ) but I would like to know who did it.

If it can be traced back to the russian government, I'm sure there would be a rather unseemly squabble though.
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It's got to have been someone at government level thats been involved, polonium 210 occurs naturally but not in lethal quantities. In order to get that kind of amount you need access to a nuclear reactor.

It looks well shady like - whoever did it didn't want him to recover. Once he ingested it he was fucked - there was nothing they could do to cure or treat it.

Lee · Dec 4, 2006

Originally posted by Rossy
errr where did you get that one from.

(you do realise that I copy and pasted this post from another forum)
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i thought you had a bird , yeah i could tell you had copied it from somewhere but still howay

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