Informed Speculation

In any other country but Russia, I would scoff at a report like this, with the feeling that such a plot couldn’t happen without the government’s blessing, but with the large power of Russian organized crime, it’s possible.  I’m referring to a report in the Guardian that British investigators increasingly blame the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko on ‘rogue security elements’:

British intelligence sources increasingly suspect that Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy killed with a radioactive poison, was the victim of a plot involving “rogue elements” within the Russian state, the Guardian has learned.

While ruling out any official involvement by Vladimir Putin’s government, investigators believe that only those with access to state nuclear laboratories could have mounted such a sophisticated plot.

Police were last night closing in on a group of men who entered the UK among a large crowd of Muscovite football fans. The group of five or more arrived shortly before Mr Litvinenko fell ill and attended the CSKA Moscow match against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium on November 1. They flew back shortly afterwards. While describing them only as witnesses, police believe their presence could hold the key to the former spy’s death.

Of course, that’s one report, and the situation remains very fluid…