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LONDON (AP) - Poisoned Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died Thursday in an intensive-care unit of a London hospital but doctors said they were unable to determine the cause of his death. Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, suffered heart failure and was heavily sedated as medical staff struggled to pinpoint what had made the 43-year-old critically ill, London's University College Hospital said in a statement. "The matter is being investigated as an unexplained death," London's Metropolitan police said in a statement. The former spy said he believed he had been poisoned Nov. 1, while investigating the slaying of another Kremlin detractor - investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Litvinenko's hair fell out, his throat became swollen and his immune and nervous systems were severely damaged, he said. Doctors said tests virtually ruled out poisoning by thallium and radiation - toxins once considered possible culprits behind the poisoning. "The medical team at the hospital did everything possible to save his life," hospital spokesman Jim Down said, confirming the Russian died Thursday. "Every avenue was explored to establish the cause of his condition and the matter is now an ongoing investigation being dealt with by detectives," he said. ... The former spy worked both for the KGB and for a successor, the Federal Security Service. In 1998, he publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky - now exiled in Britain - and a year later spent nine months in jail on charges of abuse of office, for which he was later acquitted and which prompted his move to London. On the day he first felt ill, Litvinenko said he had two meetings. In the morning, he met at a London hotel with an unnamed Russian and Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB colleague and bodyguard to one-time Russian prime minster Yegor Gaidar. Later, he dined with Italian security expert Mario Scaramella to discuss the October murder of Politkovskaya. Scaramella said in Rome on Tuesday he travelled to meet Litvinenko to discuss an e-mail he received from a source naming the killers of Politkovskaya, who was gunned down Oct. 7 at her Moscow apartment building, and outlining that he and Litvinenko were on a hit list. Goldfarb said he had a photocopy of the four-page e-mail and confirmed it read like the hit list described by Scaramella. "What's in there confirms what Scaramella said. It lists several targets for assassination, among them are Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, Scaramella, Berezovsky and others," he said. But he refused to say who compiled the document, saying that could jeopardize the police investigation into the poisoning. Police declined comment about whether they had the e-mail. After visiting the hospital Thursday, Berezovsky said British police have yet to speak to him but he hoped they would be in contact over the next two days. Goldfarb said Wednesday there was nothing out of the ordinary in Litvinenko's meeting with Lugovoy, who also worked as bodyguard to Berezovsky, the most high-profile Russian exile in London. Litvinenko refused to implicate any of the people he met on the day he believed he was poisoned.
LONDON (Reuters) - Polonium 210, the highly toxic radioactive isotope found in the body of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is a very rare, exotic material that is difficult to obtain, scientists said on Friday. Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) said Litvinenko, who died on Thursday in a London hospital, had a significant amount of the radioactive isotope in his body. But how it got there and where it came from is a mystery. Although the by-product of uranium that was discovered by Polish chemist Marie Sklodowska Curie in 1898 is found in small amounts in the environment, most of it is made synthetically. Radiation and chemistry experts say large-scale equipment, such as a nuclear reactor, would be needed to produce sufficient amounts to cause death.
Sweden can protect herself. We have...hm..thirtysix naval cannons to protect us from the Russians. Those naïve and cowardly idiots, who rule this country, disarmed, when the Soviet Union collapsed.
Probably the Russian president, or some of his friends from the old KGB to be more precise.
I'm pretty sure he ordered it. That's the way they do things in Russia, especially since he came to power.
