Kremlin gave order to kill dissident and former spy, claims top defector

The Times ^ | November 20th, 2006 | Michael Binyon

[M. Espinola]

[AmericaUnited]

Here's a recent thread about thallium poisoning.

Slow-acting killer that was Saddam's favourite instrument of vengeance

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

So, Putin has the KGB out in force knocking off his critics and rivals. So what else is new, especially since he was the former head of said-Spook agency back in the bad old days?

[sgtbono2002]

Its pretty easy to believe Putin is into knocking off his enemies, however this statement is not proof. Mere speculation.

[M. Espinola]

Thanks for posting that thallium poisoning link. It's seems as though it one of Putin's favourite methods of disposing of critics - while Western leaders remain silent. Incredible!

[M. Espinola]

Energy czar Putin has dragged Russia back to the USSR era.

[M. Espinola]

The body count of prominent Putin critics continues mounting, so it's not as though the current Kremlin boss is about to clear up the speculation he is responsible, but the direct opposite, by remaining mute on the subject, as other critics are murdered.

[GarySpFc]

Its pretty easy to believe Putin is into knocking off his enemies, however this statement is not proof. Mere speculation.

Correct! Everyone on Free Republic was saying Putin had Anna Polikovskaya killed, but in Russia they were saying it was either Colonel Movladi Baisarov or Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov. Polikovskaya's final article exposed Baisarov as having murdered a Chechen family. Baisarov was shot by Kadyrov's security services Saturday on a Moscow street.

[docbnj]

Proof comes in all levels. It is in real life almost never like a mathematical proof, but instead is a preponderance of evidence. Remember that "proof" means test, not an absolute certainty.

Can anyone really belief that Putin is not behind this? This is the KGB-man whom we are constantly acting to help us out, and he always does his best to encourage our enemies and to pull the rug out from under any substantive controls on rogue states like Iran and North Korea.

You cannot trust Putin. You can, however, rely on him as an enemy: that is a sure thing.

[GarySpFc]

Proof comes in all levels. It is in real life almost never like a mathematical proof, but instead is a preponderance of evidence. Remember that "proof" means test, not an absolute certainty.

Absolutely correct! However, speculations and silly caricatures are not proof. Indeed, they are not even evidence, and childish at best. Everyone on Free Republic was ready to play jury and execute Putin for Polikovskaya's murder based on hearsay at best, however, Russians who are much closer to the case saw it differently. Now it appears Freepers were wrong. Let the evidence come out, and if Putin or the FSB are guilty of these crimes then so be it.

[sgtbono2002]

I agree with you completely. I wouldnt trust Putin as far as I could throw a Bulldozer. I am only stating that this is conjecture. We will probably never know the truth.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the links. BTTT.

[Iris7]

Personally I find the anti-Putin hysteria foolish. The Polikovskaya shooting, looked at through the lens of "who benefited?" does not point to Vladimir Putin. The FSB would have been much more discreet. Pulling such an obvious stunt that is clearly intended to reinforce the idea that Putin is blood thirsty and cruel is likely the work of Putin's enemies.

The thallium business is easily done, the material is a common rodentcide, the toxicology is all over the net, is essentially tasteless in lethal doses, and is used by casual murders world wide and used in the USA to murder some hundreds of people a year. The hair falling out is a dead giveaway that Thallium has been used. Really a very obvious poison. Rather unlikely agent to use surreptitiously in such a public case, eh?

.

[GarySpFc]

The FSB would have been much more discreet. Pulling such an obvious stunt that is clearly intended to reinforce the idea that Putin is blood thirsty and cruel is likely the work of Putin's enemies.

The FSB agents are professionals, and they would not have allowed their picture to be taken by a security camera as we saw with Polikovskaya's murderer.


"Investigators found images of the killer on video recordings made by the camera in the entrance to Politkovskaya's building and in Ramstore. The recordings, which were transmitted to the server of a private security company, show that the assumed murderer was a thin young man about 180 cm. tall dressed in dark clothes. He enters the building before her murder and leaves afterward. His facial features are barely distinguishable on the recordings, but salespeople in the pharmacy near the building's entrance helped create a sketch of him. The same person was spotted by surveillance cameras in the Ramstor where Politkovskaya had done her shopping. Investigators concluded from the Ramstor footage that the killer was aided by a woman of about 30 who followed Politkovskaya in the store. Law enforcement agencies are now searching for both of those people."

Now pray the killer(s)are found and wait for the evidence to come out or jump to conclusions. One Russian on another site wrote,

"Indeed. If it was the FSB there wouldn't be an implication.

On the otherhand if an exiled oligarch, with tons of cash, were trying to overthrow the Russian government (After publically stating he would do just that), this is exactly the sort of high profile slander he (as a former media mogul) would employ.

Seems we've found the rat and his name is Berezovsky."

[GarySpFc]

The last section of my previous post where I referenced a Russain referred to the murderer of Litvinenko.

[GarySpFc]

BTW, for all those who believe the nonsense regarding Russia not having a free media the Litvinenko case is first page news throughout Russia. This one paper has 3 articles devoted to the case on the front page, and the articles are critical.

[RusIvan]

So, Putin has the KGB out in force knocking off his critics and rivals. So what else is new, especially since he was the former head of said-Spook agency back in the bad old days?==

You believe that Putin was the head of KGB? How stupid:)))

[RusIvan]

Thanks for posting that thallium poisoning link. It's seems as though it one of Putin's favourite methods of disposing of critics - while Western leaders remain silent. Incredible!==

Where is the proves? Gossips and slanders do not count in.

You accept any lie about Putin if it is negative:)).

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

O.K., correction: Putin was the former head of the FSB from July 1998 to August 1999. Same difference. In fact Putin once said that "there was no such thing as a former KGB man."

http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/articles/V_Putin_eng.shtml

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11081430/site/newsweek/

[GarySpFc]

O.K., correction: Putin was the former head of the FSB from July 1998 to August 1999. Same difference. In fact Putin once said that "there was no such thing as a former KGB man."

Well, that is like saying once a Marine, always a Marine, or once Special Forces, always Special Forces. Obviously, that means little once you have been out for some time.

Putin "ran" the FSB for a little over a year after Yeltsin brought him in from St. Petersburg. He resigned from the KGB during the 1991 coup. Yeltsin put him in charge of the FSB to make some changes. Why? Because Putin belonged to the part of the KGB that later became the SVR. Therefore, he would have less qualms firing or forcing into retirement FSB guys since they did not come from the foreign intel branch like Putin. It was not a popular move with FSB types to say the least.