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Photo: AFP
FSB behind his death? Litvinenko (archive photo)
Photo: AFP

Report: Russia security service poisoned agent

The Times says British intelligence officials convinced poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko was authorized by Russian Federal Security Service; police source: Method used to kill ex-agent was intended to send a message to his friends, allies

The Times reported on Tuesday that Intelligence services in Britain are convinced that the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko was authorized by the Russian Federal Security Service.

 

The Times quoted security sources as saying that the FSB orchestrated a “highly sophisticated plot” and was likely to have used some of its former agents to carry out the operation on the streets of London.

 

“We know how the FSB operates abroad and, based on the circumstances behind the death of Litvinenko, the FSB has to be the prime suspect,” a source told The Times.

 

'Such a bad way to die'

According to the report, the involvement of a former FSB officer made it easier to lure Litvinenko to meetings at various locations and to distance its bosses in the Kremlin from being directly implicated in the plot.

 

Intelligence officials told The Times that only officials such as FSB agents would have been able to obtain sufficient amounts of polonium-210, the radioactive substance used to fatally poison Litvinenko only weeks after he was given British citizenship.

 

A senior police source told The Times that the method used to kill the 43-year-old dissident was intended to send a message to his friends and allies.

 

“It’s such a bad way to die, they must have known,” the source was quoted by The Times as saying. “The sheer organization involved could only have been managed by professionals adept at operating internationally.”

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.05.06, 10:56
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