Eating Their Own

The poisoning death of ex-Soviet KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko.

"Litvinenko, 43, a Kremlin critic, died Thursday night of heart failure from what doctors said was poisoning from polonium-210 — a radioactive element usually produced in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator. Litvinenko had told friends and family he was poisoned because he was investigating the killing in Moscow last month of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a vocal Kremlin critic.

In the 1990s, he alleged that the FSB was involved in executing businessmen and other public officials opposed by the government. After a nine-month stint in prison in 1999 for abuse of office, he moved to Britain."

--- Polonium-210 is also seen in the urine and blood of heavy tobacco users. And what exactly is meant by "abuse of office"?

Falling Out With the Kremlin
"Like a plot straight out of the Cold War, the poisoning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko has put a murky spotlight on Vladimir Putin. Fiercely critical of the Kremlin, Litvinenko had said publicly that he once refused orders to assassinate business tycoon Boris Berezovsky."

--- Berezovsky is alive and well with a 30 million dollar home in the south of France and offices in London. According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta "The killing of Litvinenko could have been orchestrated by his associate Boris Berezovsky in order to discredit Russian authorities."

Is that any way to treat someone who refused to kill you?

But, we know oligarchs eat their own when need be. Litvinenko was little more than a gnat on Putin's porkchop, and his death much more useful to the Russian Euro-exiles who wannabe ruling.

Cui bono?