British Police Identify Killer in Radiation Case

reporter writes "According to a front-page story by The Guardian, British authorities have identified Andrei Lugovoi to be the murderer who used radioactive pollonium-210 to kill Andrei Litvinenko. The British government will ask Moscow to extradite Lugovoi. The Guardian states: 'Associates of the dead man have repeatedly accused President Vladimir Putin's government of being behind his murder, a claim the Kremlin rejects. While it is known that detectives believe they have uncovered evidence pointing to Mr Lugovoi's involvement, it is not clear whether they have established a motive for the murder'"

Re:ya right

[mastershake_phd]

Actually I was trying to suggest the Russians would kill him.

Re:Tracked by his radioactive trail

[EnglishTim]

The UK may have to hand over a scummy billionaire who profited immensely off of the rush to privatize Russia, which would be cool: two scumbags busted for the price of one.

Actually, the courts have already ruled that Boris Berezovsky cannot be returned to Russia, so even if there was the political will to return him, it seems unlikely that they could do anything about it.

Billionaire

[Morosoph]

The UK may have to hand over a scummy billionaire who profited immensely off of the rush to privatize Russia, which would be cool: two scumbags busted for the price of one.

This billionaire might indeed be scummy, but he wouldn't receive a fair trial, according to English Courts, so extradition is off. As the article says, the Russians will, most likely, not accept this as an excuse.

In fact, this is the whole problem: to Russia, the concept of an independent judiciary is not credible.

Re:We should be defending the Plutonium killer

[ccarson]

You think the rest of the United States is a drain on your state(s)? Try succession into Canada and you'll see a socialist parasitic, blood sucking effect on resources like you could never imagine.

Will Berezovsky be extradited?

[Anonymous Coward]

Antiwar has an interesting article [antiwar.com] about the case:

Berezovsky, who employed Litvinenko while he was alive and is using him in death as the symbol of Putin's malignity, is the key figure in all this: the man slain Forbes journalist Paul Klebnikov called Russia's "godfather." The real Mafia could learn a thing or two from Berezovsky, who, Klebnikov averred, assassinated his business rivals - one with an obscure nerve toxin - while the authorities stood by and let it happen on account of the oligarch's connections with top Kremlin officials. When Putin rose to power, however, and turned against Berezovsky - his former supporter and patron - the rule of the oligarchs was over. Berezovsky, Nevzlin, and the others fled Russia, and haven't stopped plotting to discredit and ultimately overthrow their nemesis ever since.

I guess Berezovsky will be extradited from UK to Russia any day now, eh?

Re:Uh, postage costs for radioactive items?

[tbo]

Disclaimer: IAAP (I Am A Physicist)

Just think - if you could buy as much polonium 210 as what was used against Litvinenko, do you really think that any postage service would want to deliver a radioactive package?

Actually, Polonium 210 is an alpha emitter, which means it's quite safe unless you ingest or inhale it (at which point even small amounts become deadly). Just putting it in a paper bag would shield you from much of the radiation. As long as it was securely packaged, I don't think it would be unsafe to mail.

Re:Tracked by his radioactive trail

[Cyberax]

What??

He openly provided funds to Chechen terrorists. He openly declared his plans to violently overthrow Russian government. If both of these are legal, then I'm Santa Claus.

Re:wtf is pollonium?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, why not.

I'd like to see the talkorigin flimsy responses enter into something peer review, but they know better.

Gentry, R.V. 1968. "Fossil Alpha-Recoil Analysis of Certain Variant Radioactive Halos." Science 160, 1228. HTML [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1970. "Giant Radioactive Halos: Indicators of Unknown Alpha-Radioactivity?" Science 169, 670. HTML [halos.com]
PDF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1971. "Radiohalos: Some Unique Pb Isotope Ratios and Unknown Alpha Radioactivity." Science 173, 727. PDF [halos.com]

Gentry, R.V. 1973. "Radioactive Halos." Annual Review of Nuclear Science 23, 347. PDF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1974. "Radiohalos in Radiochronological and Cosmological Perspective." Science 184, 62. HTML [halos.com]
PDF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1975. Response to J.H. Fremlin's Comments on "Spectacle Halos." Nature 258, 269.
Gentry, R.V. 1977. "Mystery of the Radiohalos." Research Communications NETWORK, Breakthrough Report,
February 10, 1977. HTML [halos.com] PDF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1978a. "Are Any Unusual Radiohalos Evidence for SHE?" International Symposium on Superheavy Elements, Lubbock, Texas. New York: Pergamon Press. PDF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1978b. "Implications on Unknown Radioactivity of Giant and Dwarf Haloes in Scandinavian Rocks." Nature 274, 457. HTML [halos.com]
PDF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1978c. "Reinvestigation of the Activity of Conway Granite." Nature 273, 217. HTML [halos.com]
PDF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1979. "Time: Measured Responses." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union60, 474. PDF [halos.com]
RTF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1980. "Polonium Halos." EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 61, 514. HTML [halos.com]
PDF [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1982. Letters. Physics Today 35, No. 10, 13.
Gentry, R.V. 1983a. Letters. Physics Today 36, No. 4, 3.
Gentry, R.V. 1983b. Letters. Physics Today 36, No. 11, 124.
Gentry, R.V. 1984a. "Radioactive Halos in a Radiochronological and Cosmological Perspective." Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Pacific Division, American Association for the Advancement of Science 1, 38. HTML [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1984c. Letters. Physics Today 37, No. 4, 108.
Gentry, R.V. 1984d. Letters. Physics Today 37, No. 12, 92.
Gentry, R.V. 1987a. "Radioactive Halos: Implications for Creation." Proceedings of the First International Conference on Creationism, Vol. II, 89.HTML [halos.com]
Gentry, R.V. 1998. "Fingerprints

Re:Summary From A Former Soviet Citizen

[ezh]

Here are the poll results [virtualireland.ru] of exUSSR citizens that live abroad (mostly in Ireland). Lots of them think it was FSB that killed Litvinenko, but majority actually think it was an accident (Lugovoi and Litvinenko were smuggling radioactive materials from Russia). Poll options one by one:

1. Federal Security Bureau
2. Russian Mafia that Litvinenko tried to blackmail
3. Suicide to blame Putin
4. Americans or other enemies of Russia
5. Accident when smuggling radioactive materials

Option #5 seems to be the most popular one. I know this poll is not very representative, but it certainly beats your coworker's opinion... Tschuss...

Re:Implications for British Power

[alshithead]

I'm not real sure how this applies but Russia did allow a diplomat with diplomatic immunity to be tried in Washington DC after he killed someone while drunk driving. He was tried, convicted, and spent time in a US prison. Eventually, he was allowed to return to Russia before his sentence ended and then served time there. If I remember correctly, he didn't end up serving the entire sentence handed down by the US court but, US citizens usually don't either. If they can suspend his diplomatic immunity can they suspend this guy's constitutional rights? It seems the Russians, in general, do whatever the hell they want to their citizens regardless of what their rights "should" be.

Re:Implications for British Power

[JourneyExpertApe]

Have you been at the Gaffer's homebrew again? I think the status of the UK as a nation state is pretty much universally recognized (for a few centuries now). And besides, extradition is governed by international law; if a state has no extradition treaty with another country, they're perfectly within their rights to refuse an extradition request. What this case gets at is the status of Russia as a fair, open, democratic state.

"Andrei Litvinenko"?

[Anonymous Coward]

According to a front-page story by The Guardian, British authorities have identified Andrei Lugovoi to be the murderer who used radioactive pollonium-210 to kill Andrei Litvinenko.

The guy's name is Alexander Litvinenko [wikipedia.org]

Re:We should be defending the Plutonium killer

[Bob_Sheep]

You know, i could have sworn it was polonium he was killed with.

Re:Tracked by his radioactive trail

[Cyberax]

No problem.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/1101/6411090a.ht ml [forbes.com] (print version: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/1101/6411090a_pr int.html [forbes.com] )

When pressed, Maskhadov names the man he sees as the prime villain in the affair: tycoon Boris Berezovsky. For the past several years Berezovsky has been channeling ransom payments to terrorists in Chechnya who have kidnapped visitors. Berezovsky boasts of his rescue efforts, but, says Maskhadov, the ransom money has dark consequences: It finances the Islamic militias, which are now attacking Russia.

In a recent interview with Le Figaro, Berezovsky admits to the payment. "I gave him this money ... to begin the reconstruction of the republic," he says, adding that his money does not go to support war against Russia.

And this is just the result of 5 minutes of Internet search. I'm sure you can find more such examples, that's why the Russian Office of Public Prosecutor still wants him.

Re:Tracked by his radioactive trail

[Cyberax]

Dear ignorant idiot. First of all, I live in Russia, fairly close to Chechnya (its border is about 250 km from my home).

Second, there ARE Chechen terrorists, just come close to Chechnya (preferably, to mountainous region) and see it yourself.

Chechens fully deserve the beating, because during early 90-s they forced about 500000 Russians to move out of Chechnya (talk about displaced ordinary guys), including some of my distant relatives.

And how about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budyonnovsk_hostage_c risis [wikipedia.org] ? But I guess that killing pregnant women is not terrorism if Chechen 'fighters' do it.

After Budenovsk crisis Chechnya was given de-facto independence (they had even Sharia laws and public executions!), but in 1999 they invaded Dagestan. So Chechens can't even claim that they were not given a chance to live in their own independent state.