The former Russian spy poisoned in a London hotel was an MI6 agent, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Alexander Litvinenko was receiving a retainer of around £2,000 a month from the British security services at the time he was murdered.
The disclosure, by diplomatic and intelligence sources, is the latest twist in the Litvinenko affair, which has plunged relations between London and Moscow to their lowest point since the Cold War.
On the day of the poisoning, November 1, former KGB agent Mr Litvinenko met prime suspect Andrei Lugovoy at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London.
Mr Lugovoy claims that Mr Litvinenko tried to recruit him to supply information to MI6.
The businessman, another former KGB agent, also alleged that his ex-colleague asked him to find candidates for political asylum here. He left Britain for Russia soon after, and has never returned.
Mr Litvinenko had defected to Britain in 2000 and was granted political asylum the following year with his wife Marina, 44, and son Anatoly, 12.
It is understood that Sir John Scarlett, now the head of MI6 and once based in Moscow, was involved in recruiting him to the Secret Intelligence Service.
The fact that the 43-year-old ex-Russian spy was actually working for Britain when he died could provide the key to his extraordinary killing.
After an exhaustive Scotland Yard investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service announced earlier this year that there was sufficient evidence to charge Mr Lugovoy with 'deliberate poisoning'.
Britain has called for his extradition so he can stand trial at the Old Bailey, but the Kremlin refused the request in July.
http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2007/10/27/8997.shtml
3 comments:
Now we have a suspect and a crime motive. But we all knew it was a deliberate poisoning.
Not so fast, that came from the Kavkaz Center and I have warned folks about that Web site. Until there are more confirmed reports, that information could be coming from:
A. Anti-Russian separatists/terrorists (choose your own word)
or
B. Russian FSB propaganda done in a Web site made to look like the former real site run by separatists. They were struggling with making it look legitimately fake, so perhaps they gave up?
No matter what, I do not trust that Web site. Who benefits from this 'new' information?
The cat is back. The story is legit but the Web site is not! The story is all over the co.uk (except for the BBC, who are asleep at the wheel again) so the Russians cannot hide it. The Web site is the fake one based in Sweden that the FSB took over for its use.
The BBC totally lost its edge, probably from spending too much time with Tony the Lapdog.
Post a Comment