Quote:The memo, written by staff at the US embassy in Paris, records "an amicable 7 December dinner meeting with ambassador-at-large Henry Crumpton [and] Russian special presidential representative Anatoliy Safonov", two weeks after Litvinenko's death from polonium poisoning had triggered an international hunt for his killers.

During the dinner, Crumpton, who ran the CIA's Afghanistan operations before becoming the US ambassador for counter-terrorism, and Safonov, an ex-KGB colonel-general, discussed ways the two countries could work together to tackle terrorism.

(snip)

The Paris embassy memo also shines new light on relations between Washington and Moscow. Henry Crumpton reportedly gained almost mythical status after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He has been identified in the US media as a CIA agent quoted in the 11 September commission report as unsuccessfully pressing the agency to do more in Afghanistan to combat Osama bin Laden.

Safonov was once tipped to take the top job at the federal security service after the then Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, dismissed its incumbent.

Albert Doyle Wrote:It's amazing how gas and oil contracts can make an investigation disappear. I guess that's what the Orwells call "diplomacy". When Litvinenko's ghost haunts Parliament it will have it's own eerie radioactive glow...

Quote:Germany investigates 'poisoning' of Russian dissidents


Viktor and Marina Kalashnikov believe Moscow is behind a poisoning bid

German prosecutors are investigating whether two Russian dissidents living in Berlin have been poisoned.

Earlier this month, the German weekly Focus reported that doctors had detected high levels of mercury in the blood of Viktor and Marina Kalashnikov.

He was a former colonel in the KGB while she is a historian and both have been critical of the Kremlin.

In 2006, former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko was murdered by radioactive poisoning in London.

British investigators suspect former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi is behind his murder.

A spokesman for the public prosecutors' office in Berlin confirmed that an investigation had been opened into whether the Kalashnikovs have been deliberately poisoned.

"It is being carried out by a department dealing with politically motivated crimes," the spokesman told AFP news agency.

Health problems
Viktor Kalashnikov is reported to have worked for the KGB in Brussels and Vienna before joining Boris Yeltsin's research staff.

Since the late 1990s both he and his wife have worked as freelance journalists and commentators.

In recent years they have been moving around Europe, including Ukraine, Poland and Estonia.

The Times reported that they started experiencing strange health problems - their skin burnt and they would be seized by bouts of restlessness, blinding headaches and sudden pains in the spine.

In October this year, in a Berlin hotel room "we went sort of crazy," Marina Kalashnikov told the newspaper, "wandering feverishly around all night, unable to concentrate".

The couple then had tests at Berlin's Charite hospital. These reportedly revealed 53.7 microgrammes of mercury per litre in Viktor's blood, and 56 in Marina's.

The usual level is around one to three microgrammes per litre.

Mr Kalashnikov has lost a lot of weight in recent months and medical experts have reportedly recommended that the couple undergo further tests and be watched closely.

Quote:Former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko was working for the British secret service when he was poisoned in November 2006, a legal review has heard.
The court was told that Mr Litvinenko was paid by MI6 and was working alongside Spanish spies in the days before his death.
British government documents which implied that Russia was behind the 43-year old's murder were also revealed.

Carsten Wiethoff Wrote:From the Beep:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20715187

Quote:Former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko was working for the British secret service when he was poisoned in November 2006, a legal review has heard.
The court was told that Mr Litvinenko was paid by MI6 and was working alongside Spanish spies in the days before his death.
British government documents which implied that Russia was behind the 43-year old's murder were also revealed.

Not heard for the first time, but first official confirmation, as far as I know.

Quote:Litvinenko inquest: newspapers launch challenge over withholding of evidence

Media groups including Guardian will challenge government over attempt to conceal sensitive documents

Luke Harding
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 February 2013 14.27 GMT

Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko pictured shortly before his death in 2006. Photograph: Natasja Weitsz/Getty Images

Media groups will on Tuesday challenge what they describe as a "deeply troubling" attempt by the government to withhold evidence from the inquest into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.

The Guardian, the BBC, the Financial Times and other newspapers are challenging a submission by the foreign secretary, William Hague, to conceal sensitive documents. Hague argues the material could harm "national security", as well as the UK's "international relations".

The government has refused to say what evidence it wants to hide. But it is likely to deal with revelations made at a hearing in December that at the time of his poisoning in November 2006 Litvinenko was actively working for the British secret services.

Litvinenko was also a "paid agent" of the Spanish security services. MI6 encouraged him to supply information to the Spanish about Russian mafia activities, and alleged links between top organised criminals and the Kremlin, the hearing was told.

Litvinenko travelled to Spain in 2006 and met his MI6 handler, "Martin", shortly before his fateful encounter with Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the two men accused of killing him. The inquest scheduled to begin in May will hear claims that the pair were part of a "Russian state" plot to murder Litvinenko using radioactive polonium.

The fact that Litvinenko a former Russian spy was working for MI6 raises embarrassing questions as to whether British intelligence should have done more to protect him. Litvinenko had a dedicated phone to contact "Martin" and received regular payments to his bank account from MI6 and Madrid, it emerged in December.

In making their submission to the coroner, Sir Robert Owen, on Tuesday, the media groups will seek to argue that Hague's attempt to withhold evidence could undermine public confidence in the inquest. Currently the media as well as Litvinenko's widow, Marina, and son, Anatoly, are "completely in the dark" over what material the FCO seeks to exclude.

The media groups will seek to persuade the coroner that the government has also failed to explain what "harm" the release of the information might cause. Nor has it properly considered "lesser measures", such as redaction, which would allow some disclosure of sensitive documents, or the possibility of closed sessions.

Alex Bailin QC, the lawyer acting for the Guardian, will argue that "the public and media are faced with a situation where a public inquest into a death … may have large amounts of highly relevant evidence excluded from consideration by the inquest. Such a prospect is deeply troubling."

There are grave public concerns that allegations of "state-sponsored assassination" on the streets of London require "maximum openness". Additionally, the inquest is likely to be the only judicial forum where evidence will be heard, since the Kremlin has refused to extradite Lugovoi and Kovtun.

Speaking on Monday, Litvinenko's friend Alex Goldfarb said the foreign secretary appeared unwilling to offend Russia's "vindictive" president. Goldfarb told the Guardian: "I recognise that Mr Hague has a well-founded interest not to rock the boat with [Vladimir] Putin. He's afraid. He's afraid Putin will not vote the way he wants in the UN or squeeze Britain's interests."

He added: "The inquest is a balance between the interests of international relations and justice. The bottom line is how far do you compromise with your own justice and decency, and the benefits from doing business with arrogant, murderous and dictatorial foreign states?"

Goldfarb said forensic evidence and reports from Scotland Yard had already been disclosed to interested parties. But he said he was worried the government wanted to keep secret highly sensitive documents showing links between Russian mobsters in Spain and "Putin's inner circle". "That's what Sasha [Litvinenko] was up to," Goldfarb said.

An FCO spokesperson said: "The government has made an application to the court for public interest immunity in line with its duty to protect national security and the coroner is responsible for deciding that application based on the overall public interest."

Owen is due to hear submissions from the media at a hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday. He has previously indicated that he wants the inquest to be as open and broad as possible.

Quote:Alexander Litvinenko: William Hague wins secrecy fight over inquest





High Court judges counter coroner's call to reveal details of protected documents

JOHN ASTON

Wednesday 27 November 2013

The Government has won a High Court order to prevent the partial lifting of a secrecy order affecting the proposed inquest into the death of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Foreign Secretary William Hague succeeded in overturning coroner Sir Robert Owen's decision to reveal documents currently kept confidential by a public interest immunity (PII) certificate.
The coroner argued that disclosure was necessary for a "fair and meaningful" inquest.
Government lawyers contended the documents are "sensitive to the highest degree" and public disclosure would damage the national interest.
Today Lord Justice Goldring, sitting with two other judges, quashed Sir Robert's decision, saying: "I am driven to the conclusion that the weight the coroner gave to the views of the Secretary of State was insufficient and amounted to an error of law."
Mr Litvinenko, 43, a Russian dissident and former KGB agent, was poisoned in 2006 by radioactive polonium-210 while drinking tea during a meeting with former security colleagues at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London. He died three weeks later.