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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Spy death linked to nuclear thefts |
| 2006-11-26 |
| How convenient. In my mind it doesn't matter much because the Russians are still at least partialy culpable for being stupid enough to let security lapse. The US should have gone in there with an offer to secure what they could have. Did they? Isn't the half life of this stuff short enough that after a few years there wouldn't be much left? Probably enough to kill someone, but after much longer I doubt it will be useful. I'm curious what the isotope ratios were so we can find out how old this batch is. That would say a lot. An investigation was under way last night into Russia's black market trade in radioactive materials amid concern that significant quantities of polonium 210, the substance that killed former spy Alexander Litvinenko, are being stolen from poorly protected Russian nuclear sites. As British police drew up a list of witnesses for questioning over the death, experts warned that thefts from nuclear facilities in the former Soviet Union were a major problem. A senior source at the United Nations nuclear inspectorate, the International Atomic Energy Agency, told The Observer he had no doubt that the killing of Litvinenko was an 'organised operation' which bore all the hallmarks of a foreign intelligence agency. The expert in radioactive materials said the ability to obtain polonium 210 and the knowledge needed to use it to kill Litvinenko meant that the attack could not have been carried out by a 'lone assassin'. Suggestions that the death may have involved some form of state sponsorship were being investigated by MI5 and MI6 who are looking at theories that foreign agents may have been behind the death of Litvinenko. Scotland Yard has asked the Kremlin for help with its inquiries, though Russia has dismissed any involvement in the death as 'absurd'. Litvinenko received British citizenship this month. |
| Posted by:gorb |