The KGB-style assassination of a former Russian spy in the UK, who was poisoned with a rare radioactive element, has no doubt revived memories of the Cold War, but investigators are yet to pin down the killers.
The death of Alexander Litvinenko, 42, remains a mystery, as Britain's intelligence services continue to grapple for clues. The focus of the investigation has turned to tracing the origin of Polonium-210, a highly toxic radioactive element believed to be the cause of the former spy's death.
Kremlin Behind the Murder?
Polonium is extremely rare and can only be obtained in significant amounts in specialized laboratories or from a nuclear reactor. It is known to have been used in Soviet weapons and space program machinery, but with low-penetration alpha radiation, it is hard to detect and can easily be smuggled across borders.
Such a high level of sophistication has aroused suspicion that the assassination was a carefully planned operation, requiring serious state-level backing.
"This is not the kind of weapon that any kind of amateur could construct," Andrea Sella, a lecturer in inorganic chemistry at London's University College told the New York Times. "It would require real resources to do it."
Immediate claims pointed to the Russian FSB security services, the successor of the highly secretive KGB intelligence. And then, of course, came the open allegations from Litvinenko himself, who accused his former KGB colleague-turned-President of the murder.
"You may succeed in silencing one man. But a howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life," he said in a statement that was recorded by family members three days before his death.
At first glance, the clues appear to fit – Litvinenko was known to be a harsh critic of President Putin and his administration. He has been a thorn in Putin's side for years, accusing the FSB agency and the President himself of wide-spread corruption.
He also wrote a book, in which he linked a series of 1999 apartment block bombings in Moscow to state-sanctioned operations, and not to Chechen terrorists, as was reported at the time. The bombings helped Putin justify his unpopular campaign in the break-away Muslim republic, as he waged the second Chechnya war in 2000.
Recently Litvinenko blamed Putin for ordering the killing of another Kremlin critic – journalist Anna Politkovskaya – and became personally involved in investigating her case.
Any proof of Putin's involvement in such murky backstage politics would be a heavy blow to the man who, despite his KGB past, has tried to establish his legitimacy in the international arena.
Why the Publicity?
But what remains unclear is why any secret agency would choose Polonium as their weapon, in an attempt to silence even the most outspoken critic.
If Litvinenko really did unearth something seriously damaging, warranting his assassination, why not use more discrete methods like a car accident or other widely available poisons that are impossible to trace?
This is what UK security analyst Glenmore Trenear-Harvey, who met the Russian defector several times, told the BBC.
"There was no benefit to Putin or Russian intelligence services to have a highly publicized operation like this," he said.
Immediate Death Not on the Agenda
It is clear that whoever ordered the killing, Litvinenko's immediate death was not the aim. Although it has a very short half-life, Polonium-210 still acts gradually to release large dozes of radiation into the body, slowly disabling vital organs.
That is why it took three weeks for the former Russian spy to suffer total organ failure, giving him ample time to reveal any information he might have discovered in relation to Putin's government or the controversial death of Anna Polikovskaya.
But instead, the only public statements he made came just days before his death, accusing President Putin of this "violent" murder.
One would think that if he truly wanted to discredit his former KGB colleague this would be the time to reveal all the evidence he had.
One theory currently explored is that Litvinenko handled the toxic substance himself, before accidentally ingesting it. This might explain why there were Polonium traces found in the three places he visited the day he fell ill – his own house, a Sushi bar, where he met an Italian expert to discuss new evidence of the Politkovskaya case and a café, where he drank tea with two Russian friends, also former spy agents. "They are not ruling out anything," one British police official told The Times. "Our police are good and they will follow it wherever it goes. But they are not going to be affected by political pressure to go in only one direction".
As conspiracy theories flood the media, it is clear that Litvinenko's death has played into the hands of someone who on the surface wished to undermine Putin's regime, while at the same time creating a distraction. But a distraction from what?
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