WikiLeaks cables: Russia 'was tracking killers of Alexander Litvinenko but UK warned it off'

[CHIMO]

Source: guardian.co.uk

Russia was tracking the assassins of dissident spy Alexander Litvinenko before he was poisoned but was warned off by Britain, which said the situation was "under control", according to claims made in a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The secret memo, recording a 2006 meeting between an ex-CIA bureau chief and a former KGB officer, is set to reignite the diplomatic row surrounding Litvinenko's unsolved murder that year, which many espionage experts have linked directly to the Kremlin.

The latest WikiLeaks release comes after relations between Moscow and London soured as a result of Britain's decision to expel a Russian parliamentary researcher suspected of being a spy.

The memo, written by staff at the US embassy in Paris, records "an amicable 7 December dinner meeting with ambassador-at-large Henry Crumpton Russian special presidential representative Anatoliy Safonov", two weeks after Litvinenko's death from polonium poisoning had triggered an international hunt for his killers.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/11/wilileaks-cables-litvinenko-murder

[hlthe2b]

1. That is still one of the most shocking (public) deaths I can recall

[Demeter]

2. That doesn't make any sense

but so little of what the elite does...

[The abyss]

3. This is very interesting

Many have flat out stated that Litvinenko was murdered by the Russian government, I've seen that clearly stated on many boards, DU included.

Now it appears that the Russians were actually in the process of tracking the murderers/assassination team when they were warned off by the UK host government.

Makes you wonder just who or whom the British were protecting and why they allowed the assassination to take place on their home ground.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. K & R

[defendandprotect]

5. As long as we have elites, CIA, M15/16, KGB ....

it is impossible to say who really did this -- imo.

But interesting cable, nonetheless.

And reminiscent of the other leader who was given some poison that

near destroyed his health and appearance? Though he survived .... I'm quite sure.

Right?

What we do know is that it is right wing political violence, as usual.


And was just looking at the age of the most recent spy -- 25 year old female --

and thinking how we know they have to get them young. Just how young?

Evidently, Tony Blair has now been connected to early intelligence connections --

[defendandprotect]

6. Also reminiscent of the attack on Victor Yushchenko -- with DIOXIN poisoning ....

This on attack on Yuschenko in 2004 ... the attack on Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 --

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1123026/Ukrainian-president-Victor-Yushchenkos-ugly-poison-scars-disappear.html

[armodem08]

7. Of course this could be false...

Seeding false information in a much larger amount of truth is a classic intelligence trick.

[Arrowhead2k1]

8. This.

Again, just because something appears in a diplomatic cable, doesn't mean it's gospel...

[RZM]

9. Riiiight . . . n/t