From HSLEADER.com, by John Taylor
Washington - Marina Litvinenko, the widow of Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko, gave a long overdue talk to the attendees of GovSec on Thursday on behalf of her late husband. Mr. Litvinenko was scheduled to address GovSec in 2007, when he was assassinated in November 2006 with tea poisoned with polonium-210.
Mrs. Litvinenko gave an emotional account of her husband’s legacy as an FSB whistle-blower, who exposed conspiracies and corruption at the highest levels of the Kremlin, and the terrible circumstances surrounding his murder. She also said she is frustrated with the Russian government’s stonewalling of England’s extradition request for the suspected assassin.
The assassination, which took place during a meeting in London, left a radioactive trail that British investigators said traced back to Andrei Lugovoi, a Russian businessman and former KGB officer. In July 2007, Russia formally denied a British extradition request for Lugovoi and in December 2007 he was elected to the Russian Parliament.
Mrs. Litvinenko was joined by a panel of outspoken critics of President Putin’s Kremlin that included: Oleg Kalugin (a former KGB Major General who now lives in the US), Paul Joyal (an expert on Russia who was shot in Maryland four days after claiming the Kremlin was involved in the Litvinenko assassination) and Alex Goldfarb (the Chairman of the Litvinenko Justice Foundation).
Comparing the WMD-like lethality of polonium-210 to that of anthrax, the panel said the hubris of what they called a “nuclear attack in a Western country” being executed in such a brazen manner was meant to send a clear signal that corrupt elements within Russia’s leadership will do anything to protect their power.
Mrs. Litvinenko said, “If they went to such lengths to get rid of my husband, imagine what they would do if their larger interests are at stake.”
During her presentation, Mrs. Litvinenko said that despite warnings to temper his criticisms, her husband continued to publish hard hitting investigative reports based on information he developed from his personal intelligence network.
Mrs. Litvinenko said she will continue her husband’s work and seek justice in his murder through the Litvinenko Justice Foundation (http://www.litvinenko.org.uk/). She said that as he was dying, Mr. Litvinenko had predicted that she would travel the world to carry on his work.
Finally, the panel expressed disappointment that as the trail of the investigation was leading right to the doorsteps of the Kremlin that President Bush continued to meet with Putin and praise his presidency. They also praised the U.S. House of Representatives for recently passing a resolution calling for justice in the Litvinenko case. A similar resolution is making its way through the Senate.
In closing, Mrs. Litvinenko said that despite her personal loss and the politics involved, she wishes only the best for the people of Russia and hopes recently elected President Medvedev will distance himself from Putin’s legacy of repression.
