Russian Poisonings: The Case of Alexander Litvinenko (PART 1)

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In October 2006, a murder shocked the streets of London. What followed was a radioactive trail all the way to the Kremlin. Alexander Litvinenko astonished the world with his bizarre tale of spies, KGB and assassination by one of the deadliest toxins in the world. The poison of choice by the two Russian killers who were sent to terminate Litvinenko, polonium 210. 

Alexander Litvinenko in hospital after being poisoned

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was born on 4 December 1962. He was born in the city of Voronezh, Russia. His parents, Walter and Nina Litvinenko, divorced when he was a baby. His father was absent during his childhood, and Alexander mostly grew up with his grandparents in the city of Nalchik, in the North Caucasus region. Sometimes, he would live with his mother in Moscow and an aunt in a town called Morozovsk. 

Litvinenko enrolled in the army a month before he was due to be called up for national service, at the age of 17 years old. From 1981, for 4 years he attended the Soviet military academy, Kirov Higher Command School, in the city of Vladikavkaz, which was called Ordzhonikidze at that time. In 1988, he got transferred to a special division belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs based in Moscow. Here is were the KGB hired him for work in military counter-intelligence. In 1991, he became part of the department that fought against organised crime, corruption and terrorism. In December 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and KGB came to an end.  Litvinenko's unit became part of the newly named FSK, which changed to the name FSB in 1993. 

Litvinenko in his youth

While still at the military school, Alexander met a young lady, Natalia. They were married and had two children, Sonya and Alexander. The relationship wasn't a success, and in 1993 the couple decided to separate ways. In the same summer, on 16 June to be precise, he met the elegant Marina, who was working as a ballroom dancing teacher at the time. They met at her birthday party. He was invited to the event because he helped two of Marina's closest friends with offering personal protection when they were being threatened by former business partners. Alexander and Marina moved in together in the autumn of 1993, and in June 1994 their son was born. The couple were married in October 1994.

Alexander Litvinenko with his first wife Natalia and son, Alexander

THE RISE OF PUTIN AND POLITICS AFTER USSR COLLAPSE 

We can't go ahead in our story without first talking a bit about the general feeling of politics in Russia around the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

After the USSR's downfall, Russia underwent a rapid economical change. The nation's industries were starting to be privatized, as such it created opportunities for deceit, lies and corruption. A lot of the officials involved in politics of all levels, and even those that have worked in the previous KGB, were becoming billionaires thanks to smart, and often illegal and corrupt, investments. Litvinenko's unit was tasked to try to find such crimes and bribes. 

Litvinenko on a military mission

On 25 July 1998, Vladimir Putin was promoted to be Head of FSB. He was awarded that position with the help of Boris Berezovsky, who was also an associate of Litvinenko. Berezovksy and Litvinenko met in 1994, when Litvinenko was tasked with the assassination of the oligarch. Litvinenko refused to do it and went straight to Berezovsky and reported the plot. Berezovsky responded, in turn, to hiring Litvinenko to be in charge of his security detail. 

During his tenure at the FSB, Litvinenko uncovered links between the Russian mafia and top officials in the Russia law enforcement agencies. This worried him, so he compiled a memorandum to Boris Yeltsin outlining his findings. In this time, Berezovsky arranged for Litvinenko to meet the FSB director, Mikhail Barsukov and the Deputy of Internal Affairs, Nikolai Ovchinnikov, to talk about the corruption issues, but soon he realised that this did absolutely nothing. 

Boris Berezovsky

So, when Vladimir Putin came to power, Boris Berezovsky suggested to Litvinenko to go to speak with the new Head of the FSB. He organised a meeting, which was held in August, and reported to Putin everything that he knew about the corruption that was happening inside the organisation. Putin listened, silently, nodding a few times, but not saying much. Litvinenko later said that he could see by his eyes that he was not impressed. The meeting only lasted 10 minutes. Putin told to Litvinenko that he would take his phone number and contact him if he needed more information. 

Vladimir Putin 

Later, when he was telling this to his friends, they laughed at him and teased that nothing came out of the meeting, except for Putin to ask for his home phone number to pretend he is interested. Litvinenko also accused Putin of sandboxing a current investigation he was doing, on Uzbek drug barons, so that he could save his own face. 

OUTING THE FSB's DIRTY LAUNDRY TO THE PUBLIC

Four months later, on 13 November 1998, Berezovsky wrote an open letter to Putin in the Kommersant daily, accusing senior FSB officers to have organised the assassination plot on him. The very same ones that Litvinenko was asked to carry out. The names of the accused officers were Major-General Yevgeny Khokholkov, N. Stepanov, Aleksandr Kamyshnikov and Colonel N. V. Yenin. Berezovsky also accused them of being involved in ''the commission of terrorist acts, murders, kidnappings, and the extortion of large sums of money.'' 

A few days after the explosive letter, on November 17 1998, there was organised a life-defining press conference where Litvinenko, and his colleagues from URPO, sat at the the Interfax news agency in Moscow, and publicly accused their superiors of horrendous crimes. Litvinenko was the main guy, he sat in the middle and did most of the talking. He didn't try to hide his identity. 

The conference with Litvinenko, Shebalin, Ponkin, Scheglov,
Latyshonok and Trepashkin 

His cohorts were a little more shy. Viktor Shebalin wore a sky mask. The others, Ponkin, Shcheglov and Latyshonok, had dark sunglasses. They all looked like bank robbers. Only one other member was unmasked, Trepashkin, who also raised his own displeasures against the agency. He was also one of the members that Litvinenko was ordered to beat up. 

Litvinenko told the journalists who were at the press conference that he was there to showcase to the Russian political leaders and parliament the abuses that were happening inside the FSB. He said that he was ordered, along with his underlings, illegal instructions to kidnap, kill and extort money from people. Insead of protecting the country, the senior officials of the FSB were just interested to make as much money as they could. 

The press conference caused a lot of furore in Russia. Putin himself made an interview with journalist Elena Tregubova at his offices in Lubyanka. He slammed Litvinenko's actions and is quoted as saying. ''FSB officers should not stage press conferences and should not expose internal scandals to the public.''

Lefortovo Prison

In January 1999, Putin signed an order to kick Litvinenko out of the FSB and disbanded his unit. After that, on 25 March 1999, he was arrested by the FSB. He was interrogated and then thrown in Lefortovo Prison. He was charged with abusing his position and beating up a suspect. However, it was suspected by his wife that the real reason he was arrested was that he went public with the allegations against the FSB and now he had to pay the price. 

The man in charge of the case, military persecutor Vladimir Barsukov, already bragged to Litvinenko that if he was acquitted of the charge, that he vehemently denied, the FSB would just try to charge him with a slew of crimes until something would stick. The main goal was just to get rid of him, and have him rot in jail. 

Vladimir Barsukov

After he was acquitted of the first charge, when a judge found him not guilty, in November 1999, a group of masked FSB officers burst in the courtroom and re-arrested him. This time he was charged with stealing vegetables from a warehouse and transferred to Butyrka Prison. He was held there for one whole day and night without water, food, or a toilet in a small and dark solitary confinement cell. This charge was also let go, but in April 2000, a more serious one was thrown at him. It was for stealing explosives and ammunition. 

Litvinenko was growing desperate by this time. It was clear that the FSB would not give up, and what Vladimir Barsukov said was true. His current case would be ruled at a town 270 kms outside of Moscow, called Yaroslav. This court hearing would be remote, outside of the public eye and with a verdict already decided. He was to spend 8 years at a labour camp situated in the Urals, in the city of Nizhny Tagil. 

At the same time that Litvinenko was in hot water with the latest FSB arrest, the political landscape was also rapidly changing. Just one week before, the current President, Boris Yeltsin, stepped down from the position. And the new candidate for presidency was none other than Litvinenko's latest enemy, Vladimir Putin. Litvinenko knew that he only had one choice, he had to flee Russia and seek refuge in the West. If he remained in Russia, his family would be in danger and he would go to jail for a very long time, and probably die there. 

ESCAPE TO LONDON 

The escape to London would be daring and dangerous one. Litvinenko planned it all out with his friend, Yuri Felshtinsky. The esteemed historian, and author, agreed to help his friend escape, with the financial backing of the wealthy Berezovsky. 

Litvinenko left his Moscow apartment and made his way to the Sheremetyevo Airport, where he took a plane towards Sochi. Then, quickly and making sure he wasn't followed, he went to board a steamer bound for Batumi, Georgia. On the boat, he had to bribe the customs officer with a 10$ bill so that he wouldn't notice the list of people forbidden to leave Russia. From Batumi, Litvinenko made a beeline to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The first part of the plan went smoothly, but he knew it was a matter of time before the FSB realised he was gone and a manhunt would be called on him. 

Yuri Felshtinsky

In Tbilisi he met up with his friend Felshtinsky, who flew in from Boston, USA. Litvinenko send word to his wife with instructions to buy a new phone. On the new phone number, they discussed plans that she would book a package holiday to somewhere in Western Europe and take their son with her. The destination was Costa del Sol, in Spain.

Now, Litvinenko was lost and a bit confused on what to do. He walked the streets at night, wandering aimlessly around town. He even almost got arrested once by the local militia. With Felshtinsky, they both agreed that it was best that he would try to claim political asylum from the United States. Feeling hopeful, the two men made contact with the US embassy, who showed no interest in Litvinenko. So now, that avenue was lost. 

As the FSB took Litvinenko's passport, and all he had was his internal travel document, the two men were able to arrange a Georgian passport made by a business partner of Berezovsky's, Patarkatsishvili. He was extremely connected, wealthy and even purported to be friends with Georgia's then current president, Eduard Shevardnadze. The passport issued to Litvinenko was real but the information inside was false. It had a different name, Mr Chernishev. 

Badri Patarkatsishvili, the Georgian billionaire 

The next step was to board the private jet of Berezovsky's, at his behest, and go to Turkey. The two men made their way to Antalya, Turkey. Litvinenko did not have any trouble getting through customs as Mr Cerishev, with his Georgian passport. 

While Litvinenko was making his great escape, in Moscow the alarm bell rang that he had fled. The FSB were desperately trying to get a hold of all of Litvinenko's contacts, in case one of them knew something. A former colleague of Litvinenko's, Andrei Ponkin, called to Felshtinsky and asked if he knew something as he was worried about Litvinenko. Felshtinsky lied and said that he was in Boston, and didn't know anything. Ponkin kept calling and calling, but Felshtinsky was ignoring him at this point. 

Litvinenko made contact with his wife and explained that now they were fugitives and had no options to go back to Russia anymore. Marina was of the opinion that after some time in jail, Alexander would get out and they would be free. He was of the opinion that he would only leave jail in a body bag. They both agreed that the best course of action was to meet in Turkey. So, Marina and their son boarded a flight head to Antalya. 

The Litvinenko family: Alexander, Marina and their son Anatoly

In Antalya, the family was happy to be reunited. However, now Marina and Alexander were both worried what to do. They were not familiar with the countries in the West, and did not know how to speak any foreign languages. And Litvinenko was getting increasingly scared that the FSB was closing in on him. Berezovsky jumped to the rescue again, and made contact with a long-time aide, Alex Goldfarb. 

Goldfarb wasted no time to fly to Antalya. He packed the Litvinenkos in a car and made their way to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. There he used contacts in the US embassy to get Litvinenko an audience with US embassy officials. The US agents interviewed Litvinenko alone for 3 hours. When they released him, they refused to provide escort and Goldfarb had to sneak the Litvinenko family away in the darkness. 

Alex Goldfarb

At this time, in the US, the president was Bill Clinton. The Clinton administration and the new president of Russia were sharing warm relations. The US was weary that giving Litvinenko asylum would mean a throwback to the Cold War and a thorn in the side of fostering better relationship with Russia. Litvinenko was told a simple, ''Thanks, but no thanks!'' response and rejected from political asylum in the US. 

At this point, hope seemed a lost glimmer in the darkness. The situation was desperate. Their Georgian associate, Patarkatsishvili, offered to send his yacht whereby the Litvinenkos could hide out for a few months off the coast of Istanbul. The plan was that Patarkatsishvili would arrange more fake passports.  Berezovsky was of the idea that Litvinenko should go on the ground in Turkey. 

Goldfarb was exploring several options: Barbados, France, Britain came in questions. Their research showed that London did not require a transit visa. So, the next day, Goldfarb and the fugitive family boarded a flight heading to Tbilisi with a transit stop in Heathrow Airport in London. 

On 1 November 2000, the four Russians arrived in London. Goldfarb was very familiar with London, but for the Litvinenkos it was another world. In the airport, the strange group seeked someone of authority. They saw a uniformed police officer and approached him. Litvinenko uttered in English a sentence that stuck in the mind of that police officer for ever: ''I am a KGB officer. I am asking for political asylum.''

In PART 2 we will find out whether England was more welcoming that the USA and explore the events that lead up to the fatal poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. In PART 3, we will look at what was the reaction on the global stage from the British government and the Western world at Russia's actions on foreign soil. 

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