Word: putin
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...Litvinenko murder investigation, in fact, may have a profound effect on the image of President Vladimir Putin in the West - much like the Chechen war of 1999 did, or the dismembering the oil company Yukos and the imprisonment of its CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, or the Beslan terror tragedy. Each time, Putin chose a course of action that benefited his regime in short term, but deeply hurt his country's interests in the long term...
...Londongrad" is abuzz with controversy in the wake of Litvinenko's ghoulish Nov. 23 demise and his deathbed accusation that his murder was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin's denial of involvement was complicated by the discovery that former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar, a Putin critic, had fallen ill in Ireland the day after Litvinenko died. Gaidar has since tested negative for radiation poisoning. But Litvinenko's wife and an Italian security analyst who met him at the sushi restaurant the day he fell ill have tested positive for radioactivity...
...powerhouse Chelsea Football Club in 2003 and has spent so heavily on top soccer players that some team bosses complain they can't compete. Boris Berezovsky, a close ally of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, made his $1.5 billion mainly in cars and oil and was instrumental in making Putin the heir to Yeltsin. But his major preoccupation now is his loathing of the Russian President--one reason he employed Litvinenko, who accused Putin of blowing up apartment buildings in Moscow to aid his presidential campaign and of ordering assassinations...
...Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Gaidar - would have been quite desirable for some people who are seeking an unconstitutional and forceful change of power of Russia," Chubais said, hastening to disclaim any state's involvement. Hence, the Russian media interpreted his statement as a hint at the oligarch Boris Berezovsky, once Putin's key ally, now an exile in London, who has been accused by Putin supporters of having Politkovskaya and Litvinenko murdered in order to compromise and weaken Putin. Stalin, we should remember, was well served by having his nemesis Trotsky in foreign exile, where even after he was killed...
...behind the killings, the effect may be more devastating than they intend. Says former KGB General and now a dissenting Duma member Alexei Kondaurov: "The Litvinenko murder landmarks the precedent of nuclear terrorism. Unless it is resolved, terrorists of any mettle will know they can get away with it." Putin's failure to help resolve that crime will also further institutionalize violence as a tool of political struggle, he believes. "Then, both the state, factions within the state, and opposition forces will habitually resort to murder as a political expediency. This will smash the country to smithereens...