"On the Health Protection Agency's website the agency says that polonium-210 is "not a radiological hazard as long as it remains outside the body" and that "most traces can be eliminated through hand-washing, washing machines and dishwasher cycles for clothes, plates, etc".
However, the only contact one of the contaminated detectives had with the poison was when he removed items such as clothing from Litvinenko's home. Evidence of the substance was reportedly found in a tea cup at the Millennium Hotel more than a month after Litvinenko was killed and countless washes. Seven bar staff who had minimal contact with Litvinenko all show evidence of exposure." - really bad advice!
The confirmation that traces of polonium 210, a radioactive isotope, were found in Hamburg as early as Oct. 28 is critical because the British police have so far found no evidence of polonium contamination in London earlier than Nov. 1...
To refresh your memory, Kovtun is the Russian "businessman" who accompanied Lugovoy to the hotel bar on November 1. The fact that he had the stuff on him days before it made its way into Litvinenko's system is obviously hugely incriminating. But I think the NYT is wrong about there having been no polonium found in London before 11/1. According to the Times of London, there's good reason to think it was present in and around the city in mid-October:
Traces of polonium-210 has been found at Parkes Hotel, Mayfair, it was confirmed last night. It means that radiation has been found at all three hotels where Mr Lugovoy had stayed since flying to London on October 16. The Parkes was the first he stayed at.
The radioactive isotope has also been found at Risc Management, a security firm in Cavendish Place, visited by Litvinenko with Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun on October 17.
Assuming ToL is right, Kovtun had already been exposed to the substance long before he got to Hamburg. Back to the NYT:
Police in Hamburg have assembled a detailed picture of Mr. Kovtun's movements after he arrived from Moscow on an Aeroflot flight on Oct. 28. He appears to have begun spreading polonium soon after he stepped off the plane. Traces were found on the seat of a car that met him at the airport...
Ms. Sweden said the traces found in the car, a BMW, are intriguing because they suggest that Mr. Kovtun could have been carrying polonium 210 outside his body, rather than leaving traces from his own body.
"If you're sitting in the passenger seat of a car, you're not likely to be sweating enough to leave traces of it that way," Ms. Sweden said. "It's possible he got poisoned by handling the stuff."
The other traces of contamination — at the apartment of Mr. Kovtun's ex-wife, the house of her mother and in the immigration office — could have been deposited through sweat or saliva, Ms. Sweden said.
This gets us back to the question I asked last night: how resilient is this stuff? British cops discovered today that two of their own have radiation poisoning, one of them from the barest contact:
On the Health Protection Agency's website the agency says that polonium-210 is "not a radiological hazard as long as it remains outside the body" and that "most traces can be eliminated through hand-washing, washing machines and dishwasher cycles for clothes, plates, etc".
However, the only contact one of the contaminated detectives had with the poison was when he removed items such as clothing from Litvinenko's home. Evidence of the substance was reportedly found in a tea cup at the Millennium Hotel more than a month after Litvinenko was killed and countless washes. Seven bar staff who had minimal contact with Litvinenko all show evidence of exposure.
British police are now hastily updating their protocols for dealing with what's quickly becoming a nightmare scenario — a terrorist dirty bomb in the heart of London.
The likelihood of an attack this Christmas? According to Home Secretary John Reid, "very high indeed."
Update: Pretty resilient.
SCOTLAND YARD HAS HAD ONE BIG BREAK IN the case: polonium, once released, is like a persistent, invisible dye that marks whatever it touches. Someone who ingests even small amounts will leave an unmistakable trail through sweat and even fingerprints.
![](/img/extlink.gif)
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
intriguing
24.12.2006 00:47
It's too Le Carre for me. I have zero experience in these matters but if I was a Russian oligarch or Putin I would try the following methods first -
1. Lean on blair to have him extradited for some reason then 'disapear' him in mother russia.
2. bribe the press to blacken him with some 'crime', school massacre etc. and extradite him.
3. pay someone in london to put a bullet in him, drown him whatever.
The use of nuclear material is plain stupid. it was bound to create an international incident. check.
reminder of the cold war. check. quo bono. check.
from your post it seems that the culprits left traces all over the planes but did not get picked up at the airports. hmmm
Ravon
awfully convenient...
24.12.2006 11:11
I'm not saying that berezovsky is not involved, as these people are as bad as each other, but i'd prefer to see the hard evidence rather than the executive summary that we've been spoonfed.
------------------------
Sig. Measure Twice
Anonymous
Who dun it?
25.12.2006 09:41
Why is his credible testimony getting lost amidst far-fetched espionage plots?
Muddy Waters
Berezovsky is te key to this affair
26.12.2006 20:59
Berezovsky has a grudge against Putin and wants to carve out a niche as a great East/West power player, as do many people who have so much money they don't know what to do with. IMHO The New World Order Megacorp forces in the West have been mightily pissed off by Putin's independent mindedness - particularly with regard to the Middle East.They have been looking for a stick with which to beat Putin. Now it looks to me like Berezovsky has provided it.
I had a chat last week to a politically switched on and personable Russian film crew in London and they also thought Berezovsky should be the prime suspect in this case.
Tony Gosling
Homepage:
http://www.bilderberg.org
Only one snag ...
27.12.2006 00:14
sceptic