Russia was tracking the assassins of dissident spy Alexander Litvinenko before he was poisoned but was warned off by Britain, which said the situation was “under control,” according to claims made in a leaked US diplomatic cable.
The secret memo, recording a 2006 meeting between an ex-CIA bureau chief and a former KGB officer, was set to reignite the diplomatic row surrounding Litvinenko’s unsolved murder that year, which many espionage experts have linked directly to the Kremlin.
The latest WikiLeaks release comes after relations between Moscow and London soured as a result of Britain’s decision to expel a Russian parliamentary researcher suspected of being a spy.
The memo, written by staff at the US embassy in Paris, records “an amicable December 7 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 manhunt for his killers and spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories.
During the dinner, Crumpton, who ran the CIA’s Afghanistan operations before becoming the US ambassador for counterterrorism, and Safonov, an ex-KGB colonel-general, discussed ways the two countries could work together to tackle terrorism.
The memo records that “Safonov opened the meeting by expressing his appreciation for US/Russian cooperative efforts thus far. He cited the recent events in London — specifically the murder of a former Russian spy by exposure to radioactive agents — as evidence of how great the threat remained and how much more there was to do on the cooperative front.”
The memo contains an observation from US embassy officials that Safonov’s comments suggested that Russia “was not involved in the killing, although Safonov did not offer any further explanation.”
Later the memo records that Safonov claimed that “Russian authorities in London had known about and followed individuals moving radioactive substances into the city but were told by the British that they were under control before the poisoning took place.”
The claim will be rejected in many quarters as a clumsy attempt by Moscow to deflect accusations that its agents were complicit in the assassination.
Although Russia has consistently maintained it had nothing to do with the murder, many espionage experts claim the killing would not have been possible without Kremlin backing.
Shortly before he died, Litvinenko said he had met two former KGB agents, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, on the day he fell ill. Both men deny wrongdoing, but Britain has made a formal request for Lugovoi’s extradition following a recommendation by the director of public prosecutions.
New evidence linking Russia with the death of Litvinenko was recently produced by Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, who procured documents allegedly showing the country’s FSB security service seized a container of polonium in the weeks before the poisoning. Moscow disputes the claims.
The allegation that British authorities were monitoring the assassins’ progress through London is likely to raise questions about whether Litvinenko was warned his life may have been at risk in the days before he was murdered.
Several people familiar with the affair said they thought Safonov’s claims implausible, with one saying he had never heard it aired within London intelligence circles before.
Nevertheless Safonov’s remarks — effectively questioning the competence of Britain’s security services and made in private to one of its closest allies — will do little to heal the fractious relationship between London and Moscow.
The claims come after Britain announced that Katia Zatuliveter, a 25-year-old researcher Russian working for Member of Parliament Mike Hancock, is to be deported amid suspicions she was spying for the Kremlin, a charge she plans to contest.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in