Alexander Litvinenko 2006 poisoning final arguments UK inquiry, Putin KGB state, Polonium-210 rare radioactive isotope used, Outing of former Russian intelligence officer

Alexander Litvinenko 2006 poisoning final arguments UK inquiry, Putin KGB state, Polonium-210 rare radioactive isotope used, Outing of former Russian intelligence officer

“Why was Vladimir Putin not seen in public for 10 days”…Citizen Wells

“The U.K. inquiry into the 2006 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko begins final arguments on Monday. Most of the evidence produced in the hearings was known years ago. But seeing it meticulously laid out again now, after Russia’s semi-covert war in Ukraine and the assassination of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, it’s impossible not to notice a chilling pattern.”…Bloomberg View March 15, 2015

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″

From Bloomberg View March 15, 2015.

“Guns, Poison and Putin’s KGB State”

“The U.K. inquiry into the 2006 poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko begins final arguments on Monday. Most of the evidence produced in the hearings was known years ago. But seeing it meticulously laid out again now, after Russia’s semi-covert war in Ukraine and the assassination of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, it’s impossible not to notice a chilling pattern.

Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope. For years the U.K. sought the extradition of two Russian men — Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun — who met Litvinenko for tea on the day he was poisoned. And for years Russia has refused.

Indeed, last Sunday — a day before the inquiry was to examine Lugovoi’s single interview with British police in Moscow — President Vladimir Putin awarded him a medal “for services to the fatherland” in Russia’s parliament, where he is now a legislator. As an MP, Lugovoi — a former KGB agent, Kremlin bodyguard and protection service entrepreneur — enjoys immunity from prosecution.

The way that Russia has aided Lugovoi to deny, muddy and discredit the array of evidence that British authorities believe ties him to the murder echoes its more recent obfuscations — from its denial of any involvement in the war in Ukraine (despite the evident presence of its tanks, anti-aircraft systems and troops), to its multiple baseless theories to obscure evidence that a Russian anti-aircraft system shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine last year.”

“The reckless character of this exotic killing in a major foreign capital also feels familiar. Like Nemtsov’s shooting in the closely watched area outside the Kremlin, it shocked with its boldness. So did last year’s annexation of Crimea by Russia’s “little green men,” and Russia’s aggressive buzzing of NATO airspace since the Ukraine crisis began.

Equally striking is the predominance of former and current intelligence officers in the cast of characters involved in the Litvinenko inquiry — right up to Putin, whom Litvinenko accused from his death bed (and himself has been missing for days among rumors of a power struggle among security services). The picture that emerges is of a KGB state run by and for the intelligence services and their allies.”

Read more:

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-15/litvinenko-hearings-put-putin-s-kgb-state-on-display