Litvinenko Dies
The BBC reports that former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko died last night in a London hospital after apparently being poisoned at the beginning of November. According to the report, Litvinenko was investigating last month’s murder of Anna Politkovskaya and dictated a letter in his final hours accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind his imminent death.
Protest from around the world “will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life,” he said.
The Kremlin has dismissed allegations it was involved as “sheer nonsense”.
Scotland Yard said officers were now investigating “an unexplained death”.
Friends say the former KGB agent was poisoned because of his criticism of Russia.
Interestingly, Litvinenko has also been no stranger to controversy regarding Armenia as well. Last year, for example, he alleged that the Russian Secret Service was behind the 27 October 1999 terrorist attack that left the then Prime Minister, Vazgen Sarkisyan, and Speaker of Parliament, Karen Demirchyan, among the dead.
Today, A1 Plus reports the news of Litvinenko’s death and makes reference to those allegations.
Litvinenko received political refuge in Great Britain in 2002. During the last few weeks he took measures to reveal the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya; he was sure that Kremlin had a finger in it.
The residents of Armenia learned the name of Litvinenko in 1999 after the October 27 crime in the Parliament when he announced that “It was all organized by Russia”. Litvinenko announced that the RF special services, particularly, the Chief Investigation Administration, have planned the murder of the Armenian politicians.
Previous posts I’ve made on Litvinenko’s poisoning and allegations regarding 27 October 1999 can be found here and here.
The BBC now has an update on Litvinenko’s death and probable murder.
The full story is here
Comment by Onnik — November 25, 2006 @ 12:22 am