Article in the New Yorker, a quintessentially English teapot and London panic

[Alexandra Smith]

Dear colleagues,

Just to add another dimension to the article in The New Yorker  
mentioned ealier...

The article in The New Yorker on Russia published on 29.01. 2007  
mentions the Russian TV coverage of the news regards Litvinenko's  
death that dismisses all UK reports on him as London Panic.
Just as an example of this panic see a short article from The  
independent published on 28.01. 2007 -- "The poisoned teapot".


from The Independent & The Independent on Sunday


The poisoned teaplot: Polonium reading from hotel 'off the scale'
Radioactive teapot 'almost certainly used to kill Alexander Litvinenko  
was used to serve guests for several weeks after becoming contaminated'

By Andrew Johnson
Published: 28 January 2007
Detectives investigating one of the murkiest international crimes ever  
to hit Britain - the murder of the former Russian spy Alexander  
Litvinenko - believe a quintessentially English teapot is at the  
centre of the web of intrigue.

Test results from the Millennium Hotel in Piccadilly, central London,  
were said by sources yesterday to show a teapot was "off the scale" in  
readings for polonium 210, the radioactive isotope used to poison the  
Russian exile at the hotel on 1 November.

Police yesterday refused to comment on the reports, which also said  
the teapot was not tested until the second week of December, six weeks  
after the poisoning. The still-radioactive teapot would have been used  
to serve potentially hundreds of other guests.

Mr Litvinenko's widow, Marina, confirmed that when her husband arrived  
at the hotel his tea was already poured. "He later said the tea wasn't  
very tasty, 'because it was cold'." It now appears that tea had been  
poured from a pot thatthe killer had managed to contaminate.

Police, understood to be "embarrassed" by the oversight in testing the  
teapot, now believe they have enough evidence to issue an arrest  
warrant for Andrei Lugovoi, a businessman and former KGB agent. In  
Russia, he yesterday dismissed accusations as "lies, provocation and  
government propaganda by the UK." The Russian constitution does not  
allow extradition for alleged crimes committed abroad.

On his death bed, Mr Litvinenko claimed that President Vladimir Putin  
and the Kremlin had orchestrated his death because of his outspoken  
criticism of Russia's leadership.

It was initially thought Mr Litvinenko, 43, had been poisoned during a  
meeting with his Italian contact, Mario Scaramella. The Itsu Sushi bar  
did show traces of polonium 210, but not where the two men sat. He had  
met Mr Lugovoi in October at the sushi bar, where it is believed  
poisoning was first attempted.

Hotel rooms Mr Lugovoi occupied in London were contaminated with  
polonium 210; traces were also found at the Arsenal stadium where he  
had watched a matchthe day Mr Litvinenko was poisoned and on the plane  
Mr Lugovoi boarded for a flight to Moscow.

If the police have got the right man, the question is whether he acted  
out of personal antipathy or was obeying orders. Some reports  
yesterday claimed police have concluded the killing was  
"state-sponsored". A spokesman for Mr Putin, however, said: "Russia  
has not done it and it is absurd even to think about it."


============================================
Alexandra Smith (PhD, University of London)
Lecturer in Russian
School of European Languages and Cultures
The University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EX8 9JX
UK

tel. +44-(0)131-6511381
fax: +44- (0)131- 650-3604
e-mail: Alexandra.Smith at ed.ac.uk

>

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