Oh well I'll be the first to sneak a comment in. The rumour mill thickens with an apparently baseless report from the UK's Daily Express of 3 December that:

"...the revelation that KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko had converted to Islam before he died.

"Scotland Yard detectives are now trying to discover if he had any secret links with Islamic extremist terror groups"

"...The shock admission came from his next-door neighbour, moderate Muslim and Chechen dissident Akhmed Zakayev, who revealed: “He was read to from the Koran the day before he died and told his wife that he wanted to be buried in accordance with Muslim tradition.”

The rest is at http://www.express.co.uk/news_detail.html?sku=814

Islam? Terrorism? Radiation?

I find this really disturbing. About him being Muslim....that is 100% bs (scapegoat anyone?). What concerns me is that the deadly radiation was carried through civilian areas.

Steel

Yeah. The potential that the Polonium radiation affected, or at least frightened, thousands people may be the lasting legacy of this whole affair.

British Airways has grounded 3 airliners and various UK authorities have tried to get in contact with 33,000 people possibly affected.

A tragi-comic story is at http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1964597,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Lawsuits may last for years.

As expected Putin's men are only cooperating on their own defensive terms with the team of British investigators now in Moscow.

From the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1964967,00.html

"But even as those face-to-face talks were taking place a team of Scotland Yard detectives in Moscow were forced to watch as Russian officials seized control of a key part of their inquiry.

The officers were told that not only would Russian suspects never be extradited to the UK, but that witnesses would be questioned by Russian police, rather than by British officers.In issuing his warning, Yuri Chaika, the Russian prosecutor general, also appeared to pre-empt the Yard's attempts to investigate fully the source of the radioactive isotope which claimed the life of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent, in London 13 days ago, by insisting that it could not have come from Russia."

Another update for those interested...

Meanwhile back in old Moskva life is getting rougher for British diplomats and non-government workers.

The London Times, 9 Dec reported "Russian authorities yesterday stood accused of orchestrating a campaign of intimidation against British interests in Moscow, where the ambassador has been harassed and the BBC Russian Service mysteriously taken off air [during the controversial days immediately after Litvinenko died]."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2495179,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=Britain

Putin's people seem a little sensitive...

The continuing story:

With German efficiency the Hamburg Police are using the Polonium radiation trial that Kovtun (flagged in Mr Coates article) created in that city to prove that he had Polonium on him BEFORE he met Litvinenko in at the Millenium Hotel, London, December 1. See these 2 Russian articles:

http://kommersant.com/p729518/Investigators_Finally_Question_Lugovoi/

and

http://kommersant.com/p729847/Alexander_Litvinenko_Vyacheslav_Sokolenko/

So Kovtun now looks like the Polonium courier.

Questions remain as to whether he administered the Polonium to Litvinenko and if so why?

Pete