British anti-terrorist detectives are poised to fly to Russia and Italy in an effort to solve the fatal poisoning of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
But as John Reid, the home secretary, said the police inquiry had been upgraded from an "unexplained" to a "suspicious" death, experts voiced doubt at the theory that anyone acting alone could have possibly used the isotope polonium 210 to kill Litvinenko.
One scientist said polonium 210 would only kill so quickly if combined into a "designer toxin" with another isotope, beryllium, in a complicated process that would require state sponsorship. Such a process was used by Britain in early atomic weapons in the 1950s.
"No individual could do this," said John Large, an independent nuclear consultant.
"What you are talking about is the creation of a very clever little device, a designer poison pill, possibly created by nanotechnology. Without nanotechnology you would be talking about a fairly big pill, a pea-sized pill. Either way you are looking at intricate technology which is beyond the means and designs of a hired assassin without a state sponsor," he said.
He said the likely poison pill that killed Litvinenko would have to have been manufactured in a special laboratory over two or three weeks and then used very quickly -- possibly within 28 days -- because the half-life of the isotope polonium is only 138 days.
Senior police officers are drawing in experts from the International Atomic Energy Authority, and from the Atomic Weapons establishment at Aldermaston in the UK.
Every option is being considered, from Kremlin involvement to the theory that Litvinenko's work in the anti-corruption unit of the FSB, Russia's FBI, created enemies with the means and knowledge to assassinate him.
The government's emergency planning group, COBRA, has met at least six times in the last few days. Police are studying hours of CCTV tapes to trace Litvinenko's movements on and before Nov. 1, when it is likely he received the dose of radiation that killed him.
Officers may travel to Russia to interview Andrei Lugovoi and Dimitri Kovtoun, who met Litvinenko in the Millennium Hotel, London, on Nov. 1, and to Italy to speak to Mario Scaramella, who met him at the Itsu restaurant in Piccadilly, London.
"If we need to go to Russia and Italy we will do that at the appropriate time," one police source said yesterday.
Kovtoun, who denies involvement, said he was going for radiation tests, because of concerns over his own contamination. One man police may speak to is a former KGB general with links to the Dignity and Honor group of retired KGB officers.
The man is named in a document passed by Scaramella to Litvinenko as the ringleader of a group which could be planning to kill both men. He is understood to have left Moscow on Friday for an unknown destination.
The home secretary refused to be drawn on the police investigation yesterday.
Litvinenko's home in north London, where traces of alpha radiation from polonium 210 have been found, was still being examined on Sunday.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese