Comments on: British police complete Litvinenko investigation

By: La Russophobe

La Russophobe — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 02:52:03 +0000

ABC News has reported confirmation from a high-ranking British official that Scotland Yard has proof the Kremlin ordered Litvinenko killed in a KGB hit.

http://russophobe.blogspot.com/2007/02/source-tells-abc-kremlin-killed.html

So these questions are now no longer hypothetical.

By: La Russophobe

La Russophobe — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:57:44 +0000

SERGEJ:

You mean Russia would simply disregard the law, even the Constitution, if it felt it was in its interests to do so? How shocking! I thought Russia was a country governed by a “dictatorship of law,” as “President” Putin has said. Guess not.

Are you seriously saying that the Kremlin would allow the trial of a person in Britain which would lead to the revelation that the Kremlin ordered a hit on a Kremlin critic in Britain, thereby exposing thousands of Britons to radiation poisoning, just so it can get its hands on Berezovsky? In other words, that Russia is willing to destroy itself, just so long as it can destroy Berezovsky in the process? My goodness, that seems rather extreme.

Given the precedent the Kremlin has established with Litvinenko, I would think the answer is obvious. Once we’ve conclusively identified the killers, we just liquidate them no matter where they are. Preferably, by means of Polonium.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 12:52:55 +0000

I agree that there is virtually no chance that a Russian citizen will be extradited to stand trial for this in a British court.

However, I think there is plenty of opportunity for a creative solution to be found to the problem, if there is willing on the part of both the British and Russian governments.

I think that, if a trial does take place, it is most likely to happen because the suspect – whoever he or she is – agrees to be tried ‘voluntarily’. This would quite neatly circumvent any need for extradition laws to be brought into play.

As you say, things would look very different if Berezovsky was ‘traded’, although I think the chances of that are extremely slim.

By: Nuno

Nuno — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:54:18 +0000

Maybe I’ve seen too many Bond movies but I believe Berezovsky and also Zakayev (who lived across the street from Litivenko in London!?) are the real objectives of this “message” since Litivenko was intimate with them but with a much lower public profile.

By: Sergej Varsjinskij

Sergej Varsjinskij — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 08:32:43 +0000

#3 “If a Russian citizen is prosecuted, is there any way in which he can be extradited, or in which he can be persuaded to voluntarily stand trial in a British court?”

Russian law does not permit to extradite a Russian national abroad to stand trial in a foreign country. But things would probably look different if Britain would consider to ‘trade in’ Berezovsky for the person she is interested in.

By: Nuno

Nuno — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:45:03 +0000

I don’t believe the current investigation will produce a credible suspect or a very good case on whatever scapegoat is put on the cadafalse (I’m 90% sure it will be Georgian or Tchechen) since the whole case is from the beggining just a way to appease foreign opinion. When the Polonium story came out Gazprom’s (Putin’s) NTV happily made fun of “British Panic” as if a terrorist nuclear attack, even individual, on one’s soil was something not worth thinking twice- since the Russian Media is completely reliable source of governement policy and not information I think it translated very well Putin’s regime view on the whole subject. Former KGB Kalugin also said that killing someone in a way that could only be done by russians (polonium is almost only made in one russian town) was too obvious.
Well, I think obvious but not traceable is exactly the effect that was intended.Anyone who has seen the Godfather trilogy knows what “sending a message” means.