Posted on 04/06/2008 9:03:14 PM PDT by nuconvert
Police probe 'new KGB poison attack' as defector Gordievsky is found unconscious in Surrey home
6th April 2008
Special Branch is investigating an alleged attempt to murder Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB double-agent who spied on Russia for British intelligence at the height of the Cold War.
The former Soviet colonel, who escaped to Britain in 1985, says he was poisoned by a Russian assassin who visited him at his secret safe-house in Surrey.
He fears he is the latest victim of revenge attacks by Russian intelligence on high-profile defectors.
Alexander Litvinenko, another former Russian spy, was murdered in London in 2006.
Gordievsky – awarded one of Britain's highest honours by the Queen last October – was rushed to hospital after collapsing at home.
He lay unconscious and "close to death" for 34 hours. He spent a further two weeks recuperating in a private clinic paid for by his former bosses in MI6.
He was initially left partially paralysed by the alleged attack and still has no feeling in his fingers.
Last night Surrey Police confirmed they were investigating a possible attempt on Gordievsky's life.
But he claimed that his former MI6 paymasters had attempted to cover it up.
He said MI6 forced Special Branch to drop its initial investigation into the case.
Officers were ordered to reopen the inquiry only after pressure by senior intelligence figures, including former MI5 chief Eliza Manningham-Buller.
Lord Butler, the head of the inquiry into intelligence failures in the run-up to the war in Iraq, is also understood to have questioned why the case was not being taken more seriously.
Gordievsky, 69, defected to the UK after more than ten years living a double life spying for British intelligence.
He told The Mail on Sunday that he was certain he was the victim of a Kremlin-inspired assassination attempt.
"I've known for some time that I am on the assassination list drawn up by rogue elements in Moscow," he said.
"They murdered my friend Alexander Litvinenko. I have no doubt my sudden illness last November was a similar attempt on my life.
"It was obvious to me I had been poisoned.
"The targets for assassination are well known. First Boris Berezovsky [the multi-millionaire oligarch living in exile in Britain], next the prime minister of Chechnya, then Litvinenko and then I was fourth. Now I remain third."
Gordievsky, who was the KGB station chief at the Soviet embassy in London in the Eighties, believes his would-be assassin used a "variant or derivative of thallium".
The fact that forensic tests have so far failed to identify the poison or any other suspicious substance in his body does not surprise him.
He said: "KGB poisoning is based on the poison being undetectable.
"All my fingers were paralysed. I have no doubt it was poison that affected my fingers."
(more at source link)
Maybe he had it coming. What do we know?
?
I didn’t think the KGB even existed anymore, at least not in name...
Oh, no, Putin is going to be *framed* for this. ;’)
Oleg Gordievsky was a Colonel in the KGB when he was assigned to London..He did valuable work for M16 while on duty in London; he was recalled by the Soviets, possibly revealed as a double agend by Aldrich Ames, but was exfiltrated out of the Soviet Union by his M16 friends..One of his actions was to possibly save the world from a retaliatory nuclear strike by the Russians who misunderstood a NATO exercise...
So did he have it coming ?...no...Did he help the UK and the West ?...yes....job done...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Gordievsky
Ping.
Putin will probably receive more honors from his KGB friends....Putin knows the political power of silencing critics and enemies of the state, even years after the deeds are done and even if they have left the country..He uses fear like a shield, whereas our shield is truth and understanding...He can silence an individual, but he cannot silence the world..
The Russians still understand and respect strength and terror..That is what has kept the masses quiet over the centuries, and has kept the inept in power for decades..Reagan understood this and he knew that beneath the gruff talk was a paper tiger..So did Pope John Paul II, especially in his words: “Be not Afraid”...
couldn't have been very secret, certainly wasn't safe to invite a Russian...what's his name?
The fact that forensic tests have so far failed to identify the poison or any other suspicious substance in his body does not surprise him.
paranoia and stress=heart attack? He's had since 1985 to worry himself to death.
(Devil's Advocate.)
I agree that its a tangled web the spymasters weave - so who knows what is really going on?
Having said that this sounds really odd. The Russians must be mad - hitting defectors (publically) after all these years? What are they trying to achieve? It certainly can’t be going to frighten others into not defecting because the cold war is over and they are trying to cozen up to the west...
They are not mad. They want to show that the KGB never forgets or forgives a traitor. They will wait for many years to carry out a death sentence, and if it is at all possible it will be carried out, no matter how long it takes.
It serves to remind potential double agents of the consequences of being a turncoat. The renaming of the KGB as the SVR does not change a thing.
It’s hard to believe that the publicity and the political fall out is justified by the moral affect...especially as the cold war has been replaced by dealing with the islamist menace. Its not as if there are going to be many likely defectors for a while.
The KGB/SVR generally believes it is worth it as a deterrent to other potential defectors. That is why they killed Litvinov, that is why they tried to kill Oleg Gordievsky, and that is why they would still love to kill Vladimir Rezun (Viktor Suvorov). It is the mentality - think of trying to leave the mafia.
As for whether there will be lots of defectors, we don't know. But the level of spying going on now is as great as at the height of the Cold War. Some is defense stuff, but most is industrial espionage. That means lots of spies, some of whom might defect. Suggest you read the book 'Comrade J.', the story of Sergei Tretyakov, who fairly recently came in from the cold. That will give you some more recent background about this stuff.
Thanks for the ping.
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