Israeli linked to spy’s murder

Russia’s Prosecutor-General said on Wednesday that Israeli resident Leonid Nevzlin, former manager of the bankrupt YUKOS oil firm, could have ordered the poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Nevzlin’s spokesman Amir Dan told Ynet, “Everyone knows the KGB and the Kremlin’s method of killing journalists and opposition members; these allegations are ridiculous and not worthy of our comment.” 

In late November, Nevzlin’s spokesman said that Litvinenko had been investigating alleged wrongdoing by the Russian authorities in connection with YUKOS before his death.

At the height of the affair, it was revealed that Nevzlin met with Litvinenko in Herzliyah a few months before he was murdered. According to the reports, Litvinenko said during his last interrogation before his death, that the FSB asked to return to the treasury of Russia millions of dollars located in the bank accounts of executives of the Yukos oil company who fled to Europe.

Yukos was worth USD 10 billion who was sold during the Yeltsin era to a number of Jewish businessmen headed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Nevzlin.

It was also said that Litvinenko began warning the people of Yukos from those very Russian agents who planned to conduct an intimidation campaign in order to make them return the money. It was also said that Litvinenko came to Herzliyah to warn Nevzlin. Nevzlin claimed that he passed the information to the investigators of the Scotland Yard.

Bankruptcy by massive back tax claims

The managers of Yukos had suffered from a series of harassments. The Kremlin harassed them and charged them with criminal charges. Khordokovski was incarcerated in Siberia after he was convicted of tax evasion. His associates claim that it is a political witch hunt because they supported the opposition against President Putin.

Nevzlin, one of the owners of Yukos escaped to Israel aftyer being occused of murder and attempted murder. Russia asked for his extradition, but Israel refused. There are other Israelis who are incarcerated in Russia, and the Russians are refusing to let them serve their sentences in Israel as long as Nevzlin is not handed over.

Litvinenko, who died in London on Nov. 23, made a deathbed statement accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of his murder. The Kremlin has dismissed Litvinenko’s allegations as “Nonsense”.

YUKOS has been driven into bankruptcy by massive back tax claims.

Named Beth Hatefutsoth chairman

The Times reported last month that a dossier drawn up by Litvinenko on the Kremlin’s takeover of YUKOS, the world’s richest energy giant, will be given to Scotland Yard as police investigate the former KGB spy’s secret dealings with some of Russia’s richest men.

The report revealed that Litvinenko traveled to Israel just weeks before he died to hand Nevzlin evidence of how agents working for President Putin dealt with his enemies running the oil company.

Nevzlin, who made aliyah three years ago, conducts his international business operations from Israel and is a member of a group of Russian businessmen known as the “oligarchs,” who made their fortune with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Last year Nevzlin was named chairman of Beth Hatefutsoth, the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora.

“As someone who served as president of the Jewish Congress in Russia, the issue of Israel’s connection to the Diaspora is close to my heart,” he said at the time.

Two years ago a Moscow court issued an arrest warrant against Nevzlin for suspicion of murdering a couple in 2002. His spokesman denied the allegations.

Tani Goldstein contributed to the report