CLOAK AND CABINET

Continuing from Part 3 , and the final instalment of this series, we have a look at the challenges that Scotland Yard faced in investigating this case. They were led to over 40 sites on the polonium trail, and all the way to Moscow and the Kremlin. As you can guess, the Russians did not give them an easy time. Read on to see what happened! THE POLICE INVESTIGATION  The police investigation started with interviewing Alexander Litvinenko for a period of 3 days, 9 hours in total. Police could see that he was in pain, and suffering horrendously, but he never complained or asked to stop. The Scotland Yard Counter-Terrorism Unit was assigned to the investigation. Clive Timmons was the Detective Superintendent on the case.  Clive Timmons, Detective Superintendent from Scotland Yard As mentioned in the previous post, Timmons requested that a living post-mortem be conducted on Litvinenko so as to find more evidence like puncture wounds, scratch marks, etc. It was really befudd...

In Part 3 of the Litvinenko case, we will have a look at the events that led to Litvinenko's poisoning. Then, in Part 4 we will have a look at what the Metropolitan Police did and how the British government reacted to this unbelievable series of events.  THE KEY PLAYERS  Andrey Lugovoy was born in Baku, Azerbaijan and was a childhood friend of Dmitry Kovtun. Both of them joined the KGB at the same time, in the end of the 1980s. He provided protection for top officials and later on went into private business. He knew Litvinenko for 10 years before the dissident escaped to London. They were just acquaintances and were neither tied professionally or personally.  Dmitry Kovtun was born in 1965 and trained at the Soviet command academy in Moscow with Lugovoy. He was in East Germany at the fall of the Soviet Union and fled with his wife to claim political asylum in Hamburg. He had unfortunate luck when it came to jobs. He had worked in the hospitality industry as a dishwasher...

Helsinki, the capital of the Happiest Country on Earth, has a dark and gory past that is often overlooked. The city centre, with its beautiful Jugend and Art Deco architecture, hides a ghost in almost every place possible. Read on to find out 5 haunted places of Helsinki where you could meet with a other-wordly spectre.  1.FINNISH NATIONAL THEATRE / KANSALLISTEATTERI The Finnish National Theatre is a grey, imposing building that can be found next to the Helsinki Railway Station. The theatre company was established in 1872, and it is the oldest speaking theatre in Finland. The building was erected in 1902 and it was designed by architect Onni Tarjanne. It is built in the National Romantic style, which was quite popular at the time.  Finnish National Theatre  The theatre building is said to be haunted by three ghosts. The most prominent being the ghost of actor Urho Somersalmi. He was a very popular actor of his time. He worked in the Finnish National Theatre from ...

In PART 1 we looked at Litvinenko's early life, how his military and KGB career started, and how the changing politics in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR affected the newly formed FSB and finances of Russia's top officials.  We left off with Alexander Litvinenko's request of political asylum to an astonished police officer in Heathrow Airport. What did the police officer do next?  LIFE IN ENGLAND In London, at the airport, the befuddled policeman escorted Alexander Litvinenko and his family, along with Alex Goldfarb to the immigration officials. According to his wife, Litvinenko was interviewed at length by the immigration officials on the day of their arrival. Their main goal was to verify whether he really was who he said, a KGB dissident. It was all a bit fantastical for the British immigration, who had heard all sorts of claims in their career. At the same time, Alex Goldfarb engaged a solicitor on their behalf, George Menzies, who helped Alexander Litvinenko...

In October 2006, a murder shocked the streets of London. What followed was a radioactive trail all the way to the Kremlin. Alexander Litvinenko astonished the world with his bizarre tale of spies, KGB and assassination by one of the deadliest toxins in the world. The poison of choice by the two Russian killers who were sent to terminate Litvinenko, polonium 210.   Alexander Litvinenko in hospital after being poisoned Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was born on 4 December 1962. He was born in the city of Voronezh, Russia. His parents, Walter and Nina Litvinenko, divorced when he was a baby. His father was absent during his childhood, and Alexander mostly grew up with his grandparents in the city of Nalchik, in the North Caucasus region. Sometimes, he would live with his mother in Moscow and an aunt in a town called Morozovsk.  Litvinenko enrolled in the army a month before he was due to be called up for national service, at the age of 17 years old. From 1981, for 4 ye...