Full statement by Alexander Litvinenko

[Neil D]

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A former KGB spy, in a statement read after his death, accused President Vladimir Putin of orchestrating his killing.

Here is the full text of the statement dictated by Alexander Litvinenko:

I would like to thank many people. My doctors, nurses and hospital staff who are doing all they can for me; the British Police who are pursuing my case with vigor and professionalism and are watching over me and my family.

I would like to thank the British Government for taking me under their care. I am honored to be a British citizen. I would like to thank the British public for their messages of support and for the interest they have shown in my plight.

I thank my wife, Marina, who has stood by me. My love for her and our son knows no bounds.

But as I lie here I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death. I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like.

I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition.

You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.

You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women.

You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.

May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.

[Neil D]

27 November 2006 07:43

Britain's strained relations with Russia worsened on Sunday when a Cabinet minister questioned whether Vladimir Putin's government may have been connected with the death of Alexander Litvinenko.

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Hain, also said British relations with Russia were at a very tricky stage. "The promise that President Putin had brought to Russia when he came to power has obviously been clouded by what's happened since and including some extremely murky murders." He referred to the death of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a friend of Litvinenko.

Under Putin "there have been huge attacks on individual liberty and on democracy. And it's important that he retakes the democratic road, in my view."

His remarks came as the Conservatives sought a Commons statement on Monday from the Home Secretary, John Reid, on the safety of Russian citizens in the UK following the death of Litvinenko weeks after he was poisoned by radioactive polonium 210.

Although police are resisting calling their investigation a murder inquiry, senior MPs are openly using the term. The shadow defence secretary, Liam Fox, said it was unacceptable for any UK citizen to be murdered inside their own country, while the Foreign Office minister Kim Howells has reportedly spoken of a naturalised British citizen "murdered on British streets by foreign nationals".

The Liberal Democrat leader, Menzies Campbell, said the government should have been "much tougher" on Putin and relations would have to be considered carefully if Litvinenko's death was found to be the result of "state terrorism".

The government is trying to avoid making a Commons statement on Monday, saying the issue is best left as a police matter. Reid said the police have said they regard the death as suspicious and are keeping all options open.

But, speaking on the BBC AM programme, Hain said the recent events were "casting a cloud over President Putin's success in binding Russia together and in achieving economic stability out of chaos that he inherited".

Hain's remarks were unusual in voicing widely held private concerns in government. Senior Foreign Office ministers have been warning for a week that they dreaded the death of Litvinenko because it was likely to lead to an inquest and a police investigation that may find Russian secret services were implicated.

Anglo-Russian relations, and EU-Russian relations, have been in long-term decline, leading to a standoff over plans to negotiate a new comprehensive treaty between Russian and the EU to replace the one due to expire at the end of 2007.

The EU has also been pressing for years for the liberalisation of access to Russian gas pipelines and greater opportunities for European oil companies to invest in the country. Russia, aware that its energy superpower status is the way back to a wider world role after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has been increasingly hostile to calls for liberalisation and feels it has been barred from buying into energy distribution companies in the West.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for a new generation of nuclear power stations, and signing of energy deals with Norway are in large part prompted by concerns over British energy security and becoming over-dependent on Russian oil and gas. A recent bulletin from the Centre for European Reform think tank noted: "While energy experts are less concerned about Russia's willingness to sell energy to Europe, they worry greatly about its ability to do so. Oil output growth in Russia has dropped off sharply at a time of record oil prices. Similarly, Russia's gas output has been flat for years."

At the beginning of the year, the dominant view inside Number 10 was that Putin could be readily managed so long as he was shown respect. There is now a feeling that something more sinister may be happening in Russia, and Putin is taking the country on irreversible course away from democracy.

A Chechen separatist leader claimed on Sunday that Litvinenko's death was a "form of terrorism" in the same vein as the July 7 bombings, and urged the British government to speak out. Ahmed Zakayev, a former actor who became the righthand man of the elected Chechen president, claimed that Litvinenko was a victim of state-sponsored assassination, who had died fighting the Russian president. - Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006

[Neil D]

This keeps getting more interesting....A clandestine group seeks to kill a soviet spy and has done a sloppy job of it...Alexander Litvinenko wife has been found with traces of poison in her system...Now the Italian contact has been found to contain the poison....Where is this going to stop????

Oh the intrege...the drama.... [sorry for being so melodramatic...it's an old habit! :-]

LONDON: The Italian contact whom the dead former Russian secret services agent Alexander Litvinenko said to have met at a sushi restaurant in London before he fell grievously ill, too has been found to have poisoned with the same radioactive material, polonium 210, according to scientists investigating into the case.

Mario Scaramella, the Italian contact, whom Litvinenko met at the London restaurant, has been admitted to University College Hospital London after tests detected polonium 210 in his body. He is said to be in stable condition.

A hospital spokesperson confirmed in a statement that Scaramella has been in the hospital and added tests have detected polonium 210 in his body, but at a considerably lower level than Litvinenko.

A spokesperson for the Health Protection Agency too confirmed that one more person, who was in direct contact with Litvinenko, has been found to have a significant quantity of polonium 210 in his body. This is being investigated further in hospital, he added.

Police have said Litvinenko had met two Russians in another London hotel on the same day.

According sources, the poison has been found in low levels in Scaramella's urine, but the doctors are worried.

Traces of the radioactive material have also been found on Litvinenko's wife, according to sources, but she has not been hospitalized.

The controversy has created a major scare in Britain and health authorities are finding it difficult to convince people, especially after three British Airways aircraft were grounded on reports of traces of radioactive elements present in these aircraft and radioactive element in little traces were detected in some localities in London. The grounded aircraft had carried several thousands of people between London and Moscow.

British government authorities have alerted Italian health and foreign ministries and the Italian government is expected to order a check of possible radiation in aircraft.

Scaramella is said to have traveled from Naples to London by easyJet on 31 October and returned by the same airliner on 3 November. He claims to be a security expert and said he had met Litvinenko on 1 November to show him e-mails from a mutual source warning both their lives could be in danger.

There are speculative reports that scientists at the U.K.'s Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) had traced the source of the polonium to a nuclear power plant in Russia. There was, however, no official confirmation on the report.

Scaramella is being described in media circles as a nuclear security expert, but with clandestine links. His name is associated with an investigation into the KGB links of Italian prime minister Romano Prodi.

Meanwhile, the British Airways jet, grounded in Moscow for radiation tests, has left for London, according to airport officials in Moscow Friday.