Sasha the gander killed 8 Chechens. Dorenko handed over a cassette with Litvinenko’s revelations to the foreign press

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In addition, Gusak said that one of the agents, who was betrayed by ex-officer Litvinenko, came to him with a proposal to “finish off” his curator. Litvinenko himself former boss characterizes him as a “typical traitor”
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Gusak was Litvinenko’s boss in the FSB’s Organized Crime Department. He left the service in 1998, the same year Litvinenko said he had uncovered an FSB plot to kill billionaire oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

Alexander Litvinenko's former FSB chief Alexander Gusak gave a sensational interview to the British BBC television channel, in which he stated that plans to kill businessman Boris Berezovsky were indeed discussed, but it was “around the bush” and “not serious.”

In addition, Gusak said that one of the Russian agents in Britain, whose name was allegedly given to British counterintelligence by Litvinenko, came to him with an offer to kill former officer FSB and his curator. Litvinenko himself is described by his former boss as a “typical traitor.”

Gusak was the head of the 7th department of the department for the development of criminal organizations of the FSB of Russia. He left the service in 1998, the same year Litvinenko said he had uncovered an FSB plan to kill billionaire oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

Who was nothing...

Let us note that previously no charges were brought against Litvinenko in the Russian Federation under the article of treason. Moreover, Russian officials repeatedly emphasized Litvinenko's ignorance of the secrets of the FSB and Russian intelligence services in general, and also pointed to his dubious personal qualities.

In particular, at a recent press conference in the Kremlin, President Putin, speaking about Litvinenko, noted that “he did not have any secrets, he was involved in criminal liability in the Russian Federation for abuse of official position and beating citizens during arrest, when he was a security officer, as well as for theft of explosives."

“He was given only three years of probation, and there was no need for him to run away anywhere. He was not the bearer of any secrets at all. Everything he could say negatively regarding his service, he had already said, and there could no longer be any novelty in his actions What happened there must be answered by the investigation,” the president added.

In December, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that Alexander Litvinenko “never knew anything that was of any value to (foreign intelligence) services.” According to Ivanov, when Litvinenko was fired, he knew that he had been accused of breaking the law more than once. "For us, Litvinenko was nothing," Ivanov said.

An ex-FSB employee told the site who and why could have started a wave of evacuations throughout Russia.

How, a wave of mass evacuations swept across Russia after anonymous calls about alleged bombs. From September 10th from public places Thousands of people were evacuated in dozens of cities. Official bodies do not give clear comments about what is happening. There are two versions: large-scale exercises and an attack by “telephone terrorists”.

The former head of the anti-terrorist unit of the FSB, Alexander Gusak, citing his sources among the security forces, told the site that large-scale anti-terrorism exercises are taking place in Russia:

I asked some employees from law enforcement agencies what was going on here,” said Gusak. - They say that this is happening on the orders of the President of the Russian Federation. Mobilization preparation activities are being carried out. This check applies to both the Ministry of Emergency Situations and all law enforcement agencies.

I have mixed opinions on this matter. I think people need to be warned about the upcoming drill. It's always been like this. But we see that now both foreign and Russian media causing psychosis. This [check] should take place in a calm environment, and not as it is now. Conducting such a seemingly spontaneous check is not only unsightly, it is wrong. Both the Minister of Emergency Situations and the Director of the FSB had to officially come forward with an explanation on this matter.

The heads of law enforcement agencies must explain everything so that there is no psychosis. The situation in Russia is already electrified, there is a militarized frenzy. The exercises should be carried out calmly, and not in such a way that the population is shocked. It is not normal to conduct such events in secret.

We do have a threat of terrorist attacks - I think a little above average. And where, as the media write, they are achieving some success with terrorists, we must wait for some kind of “response.” We still have 30% of the Muslim population, and not everyone has love for the current regime.

- Why was the inspection organized right now? What are we preparing for?

I also asked the following question: “And what does he [Vladimir Putin] want?” This question would be more appropriate to ask Vladimir Vladimirovich. I don't know what's going on in his head.

I think that systematic training of the population in civil defense is necessary. But not this way. Not against such a background - surrounded by seemingly hostile states, during an armed conflict [in Syria] and with a militarizing economy.

Alexander Gusak // Photo: YouTube

- Can we talk about some kind of responsibility for what happened, since Putin decided to conduct an inspection?

Putin is just a senior official, he is the chosen one of the people, he must act in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, he must take care of his people. So everyone should be held accountable, including the president. He told us something about the dictatorship of the law. Everyone should be equal before the law, especially if you are responsible for the entire country.

Or maybe there was a “damaged phone.” Putin said one thing, and some leader decided to bend over backwards and show how well-trained his population is. Here you have to ask, of course.

- That is, after this anti-terrorism check, it is necessary to check those who carried out this check?

There are people responsible for holding this event. We need to calculate the losses. They are all self-supporting. We must consider: if there is a loss, then we must ask.

Alexander Gusak, former head of the 7th department of the URPO FSB of the Russian Federation, reserve lieutenant colonel, sentenced in 2001 to three years of suspended imprisonment, and now a practicing lawyer, is an interesting person. The appearance is the spitting image of extreme intimidation. But, as it turned out, he is not without internal fluctuations. At first, he fought organized crime without fear or reproach and could not get enough of his best operative Litvinenko. Then, in front of a television camera, he exposed the criminal essence of the special service, together with Litvinenko he talked about the generals who were inciting them to kill Berezovsky. But soon he again became the faithful son of the Office and was already exposing the vile essence of the traitor Litvinenko.

And Mr. Husak is the same person who was contacted by “the people whom Litvinenko handed over to the British intelligence services.” Devoted, but apparently not yet in the clutches of the sinister counterintelligence MI5, they asked Husak what they should do. For what former wrestler with banditry, and now the lawyer was giving them professional and, hopefully, free advice. Like, so and so, guys, Litvinenko’s actions fall under such and such an article. Now the sentence for this is 20 years, but in Soviet times would have been strangled. So think for yourself. In other words, he gave his colleagues ideas about how to deal with the political emigrant.

Why did the exposed spies seek help from Mr. Husak? Difficult question. Let's assume it's out of desperation. However, be that as it may, Mr. Husak's revelation can be added to the Litvinenko murder case as a confession of incitement.

The retired security officer is, however, rescued by President Putin, who recently announced to the whole world that Litvinenko, being an operator in the fight against native crime, did not possess any secrets. So there was no point in killing him. So Alexander Gusak’s version is within Russian Federation automatically becomes a heresy and has no official circulation.

Still, Alexander Ivanovich’s statement deserves some interest. Of course, from his 7th department of the URPO FSB, Lieutenant Colonel Gusak could not discern the secrets of the SVR or the GRU, much less sniff out anything about the residency in Britain (this also applies to Litvinenko). But although the FSB is officially focused only on work within the country, some of its divisions, for example, the department for combating international terrorism, may, in accordance with the law, operate abroad. So both Gusak and Litvinenko, in principle, could obtain relevant information from their subcontractors. There would be interest. Therefore, there is no point in giggling too much about the knowledge of the FSB lieutenant colonel. Whether intelligence officers devoted to Litvinenko exist in nature or whether we are dealing with another legend is another matter.

But the legend arose for a reason. She works to further the FSB's reputation as an all-powerful secret service with long, deft arms. And let the former employees take revenge on the traitor - as you know, there are no former security officers. What Vladimir Putin once reminded us of.

Vladimir Dark

Who killed Litvinenko and why. Hour X, which provoked the start of the operation to eliminate former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, was the resignation of prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov. By removing Ustinov from the post of Prosecutor General on June 6, 2006, and then resuming the investigation into the “Three Whales” case (furniture smuggling), President Vladimir Putin made it clear: the security forces group had crossed the red line, becoming too influential a force in Russian politics.

Ilya Barabanov,
Vladimir Voronov

From a conversation with the Kremlin
- insider -

What was the reason for such a lightning-fast resignation of (Prosecutor General) Ustinov?
- Ustinov was involved... I would not like to use the word “conspiracy”... Putin was informed that in the spring-summer (2006) different places(Igor) Sechin, (Yuri) Luzhkov and (Vladimir) Ustinov met. The frequency of the meetings made one think that these were no ordinary gatherings...

Interclan
- confrontation -

The first results of the confrontation between the clans of Igor Sechin and Viktor Ivanov followed even before Ustinov left, in May last year. Then the formal reason for the personnel purge among Sechin’s supporters was a trivial criminal case about the smuggling of Chinese consumer goods. The investigation itself began in February, when more than 150 railway cars with consumer goods arrived in Nakhodka from China. Far Eastern customs officers signed declarations that sharply underestimated the quantity and value of the cargo. The forgery was immediately discovered and a criminal case was opened, but at first it was investigated slowly and did not receive any resonance.

Three months later, the situation changed dramatically. A series of searches were carried out in several regions at once, new smuggling cases emerged involving dozens of people.

At the same time, high-profile resignations of high-ranking security officials who controlled the supply of goods from abroad followed. In particular, the deputy head of the service lost their positions economic security- Head of the Department for Combating Smuggling and Illegal Drug Trafficking of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Sergei Fomenko, 1st Deputy Head of the Operational Investigation Directorate for Protection constitutional order FSB Major General Evgeny Kolesnikov, deputy head of the same department, Major General Alexander Plotnikov.

The next wave of resignations followed in the fall. On September 13, the Prosecutor General's Office reported that the president signed a decree on the resignation of a number of generals from the leadership of the FSB. In particular, the head of the FSB's own security department, Lieutenant General Alexander Kupryazkin, and the head of the FSB support service, Colonel General Sergei Shishin. However, soon there was a leak of information: the generals never left their offices.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs was not spared the personnel purges. In early November, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the resignation of Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Andrei Novikov. Over the past few months, it was he who was invariably named as the most likely successor to Rashid Nurgaliev as head of the ministry. And not only because Novikov oversaw the criminal police service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and according to a long-standing tradition, the minister always came from a criminal background (unless, of course, we were talking about a Varangian from another department). The point is also that, according to a source in the central office of the ministry, Novikov’s candidacy was promoted by Igor Sechin.

As they say in the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself, two weeks after the resignation of General Novikov, Sechin almost regained his influence in the ministry: there were reports in the press that his protégé Mikhail Sukhodolsky (supervises home front issues at the Ministry of Internal Affairs) replaced Alexander Chekalin in the post of First Deputy Minister. However, according to sources The New Times in the ministry, the reshuffle was rejected by the president at the last moment. Moreover, the criminal police service was headed by the former state auditor of the Accounts Chamber Oleg Safonov. 1 It is interesting that Safonov’s colleagues in the Accounts Chamber say: he used to like to keep a photograph of Presidential Assistant Viktor Ivanov on his desk.

- Reconciliation -

Meanwhile, immediately after Ustinov’s resignation, security forces from Igor Sechin’s team began planning an operation to restore their influence over the president. It was during this period that Sechin’s reconciliation with presidential aide Viktor Ivanov, who from 1977 to 2000 worked in the structures of first the KGB and then the FSB, dates back. It became clear that the contradictions in the division of spheres of influence and assets were receding into the background. The main goal The whole event was to impose on the president his own scenario for Operation Successor.

The idea was simple - to carry out a demonstrative action aimed at finally undermining the authority of the Russian leadership abroad and the subsequent change of course, relying only on the security forces.

A source from the FSB claims that people from the department’s top management participated in the development of the plan. And FSB director Nikolai Patrushev allegedly knew about him. And the curator of the operation, according to the same source, was allegedly appointed his deputy, head of the FSB economic security department, Lieutenant General Alexander Bortnikov. The target of the operation was FSB Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Litvinenko, who went to the West in 2000 and was considered a traitor by the FSB.

- Why Litvinenko -

The name of Alexander Litvinenko became known general public November 17, 1998. On this day, together with three other FSB officers, he took part in a press conference at the office of the Interfax agency, at which the security officers made a sensational statement. According to them, the Directorate for the Development and Suppression of the Activities of Criminal Associations (URPO) of the FSB, which was then headed by General Yevgeny Khokholkov, in addition to its main activities, was engaged in contract killings and kidnappings. In particular, according to the participants of the press conference, the leadership of the FSB instructed them to eliminate Boris Berezovsky. The officers not only did not comply with the order, but also notified the oligarch about it.

Before this scandalous press conference, Litvinenko’s biography was quite ordinary for an FSB operative. Born in 1962 into the family of a military doctor (his father served in the correctional labor system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), Alexander graduated from the Ordzhonikidze Higher Military Command Red Banner School of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then served as a platoon commander of the 4th company of the Dzerzhinsky Division. According to the recollections of Litvinenko himself, his battalion was engaged in convoying various cargoes, and the fourth company was the only unit in internal troops who traveled abroad. There, according to Litvinenko, he was recruited as an agent-informant by employees special department(military counterintelligence) KGB. In 1988, Litvinenko was officially transferred from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the KGB of the USSR. After completing the courses, he served for some time in military counterintelligence agencies. In 1991 he was transferred to central office to Lubyanka, worked as an employee of operational units involved in the development of organized criminal groups.

Participated in hostilities in hot spots, including the first Chechen campaign. He was transferred to URPO in 1997 and rose to the rank of deputy department head and lieutenant colonel.

Litvinenko met Berezovsky in 1994 during an investigation into the assassination attempt on the owner of Logovaz. A year later, after the murder of Vladislav Listyev, the head of the Moscow FSB Directorate, Anatoly Trofimov, ordered Litvinenko to take Berezovsky under protection.

Almost immediately after the famous press conference, Litvinenko was forced to leave the FSB; for some time he worked in the executive secretariat of the CIS. Soon a criminal case was opened against him on charges of illegal storage explosives and abuse of power. According to investigators, the operative forcibly extracted testimony from suspects in one of the cases he was investigating, and also planted explosives on them as evidence. On March 25, 1999, Litvinenko was arrested and imprisoned in Lefortovo. That same year, a military court acquitted the lieutenant colonel, but right in the courtroom he was detained again, this time on a new charge.

A month later he was released on his own recognizance. Litvinenko disappeared from sight for almost a year, and on November 1, 2000, he suddenly appeared at a press conference at London Heathrow Airport. As it turned out, the officer escaped from Russia with his family using forged documents through Turkey. Soon the British authorities granted him political asylum.

Russian law enforcement agencies made several attempts to achieve his extradition, but British legislation actually did not provide a chance to get hold of the former lieutenant colonel. In June 2002, in Russia, Litvinenko was sentenced in absentia to 3.5 years of suspended imprisonment (with a one-year probation period) for abuse of official position, theft of explosives, illegal acquisition and storage firearms and ammunition.

In Great Britain, a former lieutenant colonel developed a violent social activities, choosing as its goal Russian authorities and FSB. In particular, he stated that he had secret information about the involvement of Russian special services in the bombings of residential buildings in Moscow in September 1999. In collaboration with Yuri Felshtinsky, he even published the book “The FSB is Exploding Russia,” but the edition imported into our country was confiscated and did not reach the shelves. Another book by Litvinenko, LPG, turned out to be more accessible. Lubyanka Criminal Group."

First stage.
- Anna Politkovskaya -

To implement the operation, its organizers needed at least Putin’s tacit consent. For this purpose, a simple combination was invented - to associate Litvinenko’s name with a crime that would cause particular irritation to the president. This is how the journalist’s name appeared in the operation plan “ Novaya Gazeta» Anna Politkovskaya. As you know, she was killed in October 2006 in the entrance own home(Lesnaya, building 8) in Moscow.

From an interview with a recently retired senior FSB officer for Moscow and the Moscow region (on condition of anonymity)

Politkovskaya’s work in Chechnya was the reason why the security forces chose her as a victim. In addition, she was one of the most authoritative critics of the Putin regime in the West. Her murder on October 7, the president’s birthday, could only be regarded as a slap in the face to the head of state. Although Putin did not comment on this murder for several days, already on October 8, before flying to Dresden, where his negotiations with (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel were to take place, he gathered the heads of law enforcement agencies. Putin was informed that the crime was planned by Boris Berezovsky, who entrusted the case to former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko, as follows from that report, using old connections, reached Chechen militants who organized the murder.

Arriving in Dresden for a meeting with Merkel, the president publicly stated: “It (the murder - The New Times) is directed against Russia and the current government in Russia... no matter who committed it and no matter what their motivation, this crime should not go unpunished "

It is interesting that an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, who is part of the group investigating the murder of the Novaya Gazeta journalist, in a personal conversation with a correspondent of The New Times confirmed that the version of the connection between the murders of Politkovskaya and Litvinenko is being considered among others.

Polonium as a weapon
- retribution -

The perpetrators chose polonium as the murder weapon for Litvinenko. Most likely for several reasons. First of all, the radioactive metal leaves marks, so with its help it is easy to monitor the movement of the perpetrator of the crime, the target of the murder, and also, while the latter is alive, his contacts. The effectiveness of using this metal, by the way, is confirmed by the experience of the Soviet intelligence services, which in the 70s of the last century more than once resorted to polonium tags or bookmarks for various purposes.

It should also be taken into account that polonium can be recognized by a short time very hard. Accordingly, the perpetrator has time not only to hide, but also to have time to carry out a kind of cover-up operation - to leave a large number of false marks that can confuse investigators. The perpetrators of Litvinenko’s murder also resorted to this technique. Having visited Hamburg on the way to London at the same time as a large group of Russian football fans, they left a lot of polonium traces there, which for some time led Scotland Yard detectives along a false German trail. Perhaps the organizers of the operation also wanted to spoil relations between Russia and Germany, as well as to encourage the Western press to remember the service of intelligence officer Vladimir Putin in the GDR.

One of the central themes of the investigation into the murder of Litvinenko was the identification of the origin of polonium and the route by which it got to London. There were even versions that this metal could be easily obtained in Western Europe that it is available even to private individuals (especially any special services). Statements about the excessive cost of polonium and the uneconomical use of it to eliminate the disgraced FSB lieutenant colonel sounded dissonant. As Boris Zhuikov, head of the laboratory of the radioisotope complex at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained to The New Times, a special license is required to work with polonium. Without it, it is impossible to purchase this substance.

Polonium-210, which was used to poison Litvinenko, was most likely manufactured at the closed nuclear center in Sarov, at the Avangard plant. This version is supported by The New Times' sources in the scientific community. In particular, an employee of the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, who wished to remain anonymous, told us that the Sarov Center remains the only officially declared institution in Russia that continues to work with polonium. Rostekhnadzor also provided indirect evidence of this version. The press service of the department told The New Times that the Research Institute of Experimental Physics in Sarov - the only place in Russia, possessing the appropriate license and working with polonium.

However, according to Zhuikov, it is virtually impossible to determine where exactly polonium was produced.

According to one version, the substance was delivered from Sarov to Moscow, where polonium was stored in the Research Institute-2 of the FSB 2 on Academician Varga Street. According to official information, NII-2 is now conducting experiments on identifying faces by speech, handwriting, and fingerprint data. The institute’s specialists took part in the investigation of residential building explosions in Moscow. Unofficial sources claim that NII-2 is also involved in other programs, in particular, they work with nuclear materials, including polonium. At the institute, polonium, as FSB sources suggest, was packaged in a sealed flask, through which alpha radiation does not penetrate, and a bookmark was left on the flask itself. At the same time, microscopic particles of polonium that fell on the hands did not cause harm to health.

The version of the Russian origin of polonium is also supported by the fact that polonium began its journey from Domodedovo airport. At least according to British press, Scotland Yard considers this fact established.

From an interview with a recently retired senior official of the FSB department for Moscow and the Moscow region

How was polonium transported from Moscow to London? Polonium left for Europe through Domodedovo airport, which was confirmed by the investigation. There are two versions. First: the material was delivered by diplomatic mail. In this case, the radioactive background should have been preserved in the Russian embassy in London. Second option: through a special channel of the special services. According to my information, it was the second option that was used. Domodedovo has its own security department. The so-called 31st room. Several Zhiguli cars are assigned to the department. The cars are registered as FSB officers. After checking their documents, the passengers of these cars, without any personal search, are taken directly to the plane, carrying in their hand luggage everything that the service ordered them to do.

It seems that the diplomatic version of the polonium delivery will remain untested. Scotland Yard investigators did not officially comment on it in any way and did not even say whether the Russian embassy was on the list of objects that they intended to examine for traces of radioactive metal.

- Two attempts -

The first attempt to poison Litvinenko using polonium-210 was made on October 16, exactly two weeks before the second. As on November 1, traces of polonium were found where Alexander Litvinenko met with Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun. In the first case, this happened in a sushi bar, in the second, in the Millennium Hotel. One gets the impression that the second poisoning was carried out as a safety net, since the effect of the first attempt was estimated time did not appear explicitly. As it turned out later, polonium was planted in the kettle.

On November 10, the press reported for the first time that Litvinenko was hospitalized with suspected poisoning.

On November 18, British doctors suggested that Litvinenko was poisoned with thallium: the patient exhibited classic symptoms of thallium poisoning - within a week he was completely bald, he had bone marrow damage, nervous system, liver and kidneys. At the same time, it was reported that the thallium content in Litvinenko’s blood was three times higher than the permissible limit.

On November 21, it was suggested for the first time that Litvinenko could have been poisoned by some kind of radioactive isotope; he had all the signs of radiation sickness, his bone marrow was so severely affected that his body was almost deprived of white blood cells. At the same time, Litvinenko’s case was transferred to the anti-terrorist unit of Scotland Yard.

Already on the day of Litvinenko’s death, November 23, British doctors said: possible reason the death of a former FSB officer - polonium-210, a significant dose of which was found in his urine. At the same time, traces of polonium were found in a sushi bar in his home at the Millennium Hotel. Based on a preliminary autopsy, experts determined that Litvinenko actually died due to polonium-210 poisoning.

It has not yet been fully clarified how polonium was planted in the teapot from which Alexander Litvinenko drank. Various suggestions have been made, including the use of an aerosol spray. Scientist Boris Zhuikov does not agree with this version. “This is too dirty a procedure,” he says. - It was much easier to transport polonium in a soluble ampoule. For example, gelatin. The ampoule, quite small in size, could also be made of sugar or salt. It is possible that there were even several of them...” All these shells also do not allow alpha radiation to pass through.

- Results of the operation -

Alexander Litvinenko was killed. In the criminal case being investigated in the UK, two names so far officially appear - Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, whose meetings with the disgraced lieutenant colonel coincided with the alleged poisoning. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office is also conducting an investigation, but it is in no hurry to announce its version.

Meanwhile, the plan of the organizers of Litvinenko's murder is becoming more and more obvious. And even officials from outside the security bloc are increasingly talking about this out loud.

“The deadly Politkovskaya-Litvinenko-Gaidar construction, which miraculously did not end, would be extremely attractive to supporters of unconstitutional forceful options for changing power in Russia,” believes Anatoly Chubais. Consonant with these words is the opinion of presidential aide Igor Shuvalov: “Polony, Litvinenko, Politkovskaya - these are all interconnected. There are strong groups that have united with each other to constantly wage an offensive against the course of the president and against him. All these killings are what is least beneficial to us.”

What forces threaten today? political course, no need to guess. Vladislav Surkov named them in his textbook for university students. On the one hand, this is “oligarchic revenge”. “Having gained power, the champions of this idea will take the country back to the early 90s, to a place where again there will be no place for sovereignty and democracy,” says the deputy head of the presidential administration.

But this, as they say, is from the previous repertoire. Here's something new.

“The second danger is isolationism. The word “patriot”, which they apply to themselves, does not apply to them. They exaggerate the cheap thesis “Russia for Russians.” It is likely that if national isolationists come to power in our country, a deteriorated copy of the Soviet, sub-Soviet, bureaucratic state will arise, even without Soviet greatness,” Surkov warns.

Litvinenko died on November 23. According to sources in the FSB, on December 20, 2006, FSB Lieutenant General Alexander Bortnikov was promoted to rank. A representative of the FSB Public Relations Center said: “He is absolutely a general, it seems, a colonel general.” According to a New Times source, Bortnikov became an army general.

The most notorious murders of special services

Lieutenant General Alexander Bortnikov began working in the security agencies, in the counterintelligence of the KGB of the USSR in 1975, when the KGB was headed by Yuri Andropov. Before being transferred to the central department of the FSB, he briefly (2003) headed the FSB Directorate for St. Petersburg And Leningrad region. Since March 2004, Deputy Director and Head of the Economic Security Department of the FSB.

Since the initiation of a criminal case into furniture smuggling in 2000, the investigation into the Three Whales case has been resumed and then suspended. They seriously remembered him after the change of power in the Prosecutor General’s Office itself, namely after the resignation of Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov and the arrival of ex-head of the Ministry of Justice Yuri Chaika to this post. In June 2006, the prosecutor's office even reported that the court had already issued an arrest warrant for the detainees. There were no arrests, however, but on September 13, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported that it had managed to achieve a number of high-profile resignations in the leadership of the FSB. The corresponding order, as reported by Chaika’s department, was signed by Vladimir Putin.

Note that it is not difficult to determine the amount of polonium-210 needed for a murder. According to Boris Zhuikov, when calculating the lethal dose, they are based on the person’s weight. In the 1960s, they worked a lot with polonium at the Institute of Biophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, experimenting on animals. “Based on the approximate weight of 80 kilograms,” says Zhuikov, “with an intra-abdominal hit, two millicuries (half a microgram) would be enough. In this case we're talking about about oral entry, that is, through food. With this option, a certain percentage of polonium is not absorbed, so two millicuries should be enough to kill a person within 10-30 days (as in the case of Litvinenko). Lethal dose maybe less. For example, 0.2 millicuries would be enough, but in this case death would occur within 6-12 months. It remains to add that such doses are inexpensive - their price is measured in thousands of dollars.

The preparation for use containing polonium-210 is prepared in three stages. The first is operating time at an accelerator or reactor. Bismuth is irradiated with slow neutrons, a sample of bismuth is obtained, which contains polonium inside. At the second stage, polonium is isolated from bismuth. At the third stage, the radiation source is prepared for use. In principle, all these operations can be performed in one organization. But usually this is done in different ones. It is possible that bismuth was irradiated at the closed Mayak enterprise in the city of Ozersk Chelyabinsk region. Further work was carried out in the Sarov center. According to candidate of chemical sciences Zhuikov, it is possible to find out where polonium is produced only by analyzing the bismuth used in the production process. But for it to give any results, very dirty bismuth had to be used.

Radioactive materials were used by the KGB of the USSR and its units in the countries of Eastern Europe(in particular the Stasi of the GDR) as a means of tracking dissidents and foreigners: clothing, documents, and banknotes were marked with special tags. A variety of radionuclides were used, among which scandium-46 was especially popular. The East German Stasi, according to a special investigation, radioactively tagged at least 1,000 people until 1989, when the GDR ceased to exist. It became publicly known in the USSR one case of using a radioactive tag - in relation to dissident and activist of the refusenik movement Anatoly (Natan) Sharansky. This was reported by USSR KGB captain Viktor Orekhov (arrested in 1977 and sentenced to eight years), who warned Sharansky that he was wearing a similar mark.

____________________

1 In the early 1990s, he worked together with Vladimir Putin in the mayor's office of St. Petersburg.
2 A top-secret institute under the KGB of the USSR, was founded back in 1977.

Former FSB officer Mikhail Trepashkin gave a letter from the colony to a correspondent of The New Times in which he reported that the FSB had offered him to participate in an operation directed against Alexander Litvinenko.

The original letter is at the disposal of the editors, its style has not been changed

What exactly did the British investigators want to know from you, and what were you ready to tell them?
I was ready to tell Scotland Yard investigators what I am describing to you, but in more detail, in more detail, with reference to witnesses and other evidence. I am sure that in freedom I could pick up a lot of concrete evidence not of preparation, but of the murder of A.V. Litvinenko!.. I presented to you a lot of information that has not yet been reported to anyone.

When did you warn Litvinenko about the danger of physical elimination that threatened him?
I warned Litvinenko about the danger of physical elimination that threatened him before my arrest (in 2003 - The New Times). From two sources (from the FSB), I learned back in 2002-2003 that a group had been created for the physical destruction of A.V. Litvinenko and Yu.G. Felshtinsky. (as the authors of the books “The FSB Blows Up Russia” and “Lubyanskaya criminal group"), Berezovsky B.A. and them close circle... Colonel of the FSB of the Russian Federation V.V. Shebalin, who served together with A.V. Litvinenko. in the top-secret unit of the URPO of the FSB of the Russian Federation, after Litvinenko fled to London, he stated that, through acquaintances among the leaders of the FSB of the Russian Federation, he again restored cooperation with the Internal Security Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation and began working against Litvinenko and Berezovsky in order to achieve rehabilitation for participating in a press conference at Interfax November 17, 1998 (Shebalin is a man in a mask)... This was in August 2002. At the same time, he asked me for the addresses and telephone numbers of Litvinenko’s relatives living in the Biryulyovo area. Before that, he asked me to go to London (on behalf of the FSB of the Russian Federation) and find out where Litvinenko lives, where he works, where he meets friends. I refused the offer to work against Litvinenko.
I think that they were preparing me for the role that Lugovoi, Kovtun and Sokolenko performed in 2006. I doubt that the murder was their initiative.

Who were the people you warned Alexander Litvinenko about?
As I understand from the words of V.V. Shebalin, this was some other group of the FSB of the Russian Federation, the creation of which was sanctioned by the actual high level. It included both current and former intelligence officers.

Why, in your opinion (as a professional counterintelligence officer), was such a complex elimination scheme chosen, which left traces almost throughout Europe?
I think that this is negligence in the work of the performer and the intention of the organizer to kill the performers together with Litvinenko, as well as his family, Berezovsky and Zakayev (until they come to their senses). It is possible that the performers were not aware of the possible consequences for the environment and themselves. I think that there was an expectation that the cause of death from polonium would not be established. You can draw your own conclusions. But I will add the following. Back in 2001, when I first called Litvinenko in London at the request of Shebalin (on behalf of the FSB of the Russian Federation, as he explained) and asked if he would write new book, where and by whom he works, and he replied that he supposedly delivers mail in the mornings, then after some time Shebalin said that it would be good to send him (Litvinenko) a letter with powder. At that time they wrote a lot about similar letters in the USA.

Russian journalist Sergei Dorenko handed over to the Associated Press and the influential Wall Street Journal a video recording made in 1998 in the Moscow region, in which FSB officers Alexander Litvinenko, Alexander Gusak and Andrei Ponkin talk about the preparation of assassination attempts on businessmen Boris Berezovsky and Umar Dzhabrailov, writes agency NEWSru.com.

Fragments of this video recording were published earlier, but Dorenko only now transmitted full version for publication in Western media.

The publication reports that during that meeting with the television journalist, the officers stated that they received the order to liquidate Berezovsky from their immediate superior, Colonel Alexander Kamyshnikov, in the presence of three other FSB officers. Kamyshnikov himself denied the accusations against him back in 1998.

The officers said they urgently needed to videotape their statements in case they were killed. Eight years later, one of these people was killed in London: last November, Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope - polonium-210.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Sergei Dorenko says that Russian President Vladimir Putin was involved in the liquidation of Alexander Litvinenko, although, apparently, he did not give a direct order: “kill the traitor.”

President Vladimir Putin previously said that Russia had no reason to kill Litvinenko: he was not a spy, but a mid-level FSB agent, meaning he was about the same level as a local FBI agent. According to Putin, Litvinenko had no secrets. However, this tape and interview with him former colleagues reveal a more complex picture, the publication believes. The tape shows how Litvinenko's bosses and colleagues turned into his enemies when he decided to speak out about what he believed were crimes and involvement in dubious political conflicts. The screening of the film caused a scandal around the working methods of the FSB, which at that moment was headed by Putin, writes NEWSru.com.

In the tape, agents talk for nearly two hours about how they were sent by their superiors to engage in illegal activities, including extortion and violence. They said they attempted to evade an order to kidnap a local businessman, killing the police officers guarding him if necessary.

When giving that interview, the agents feared that they would be punished for disloyalty. They said that in the morning they were supposed to meet with the director of the FSB, and therefore they wanted to record and hide the videotape in order to protect themselves in case of disappearance.

Litvinenko, he said, also feared for his life. In the same year, he made a decision that predetermined his departure from the special services, his escape from Russia and his death in London. Promising to keep the videotape secret, he instead gave it to one of famous businessmen- Boris Berezovsky, who later showed excerpts from the recording on national television. Litvinenko then held a press conference at which he spoke out against the FSB. Then he and a number of his comrades were dismissed from their positions and ended up in prison on criminal charges.

Husak and his colleagues, also fired, were furious over Litvinenko's actions. They stopped trusting Litvinenko because of his close ties to Boris Berezovsky, the same oligarch who aired the tape. Berezovsky sought to increase his influence in the FSB by discrediting a number of high-ranking officers. However, a conflict with intelligence officers turned out unsuccessfully for him, and two years after the recording was broadcast, he left for London to avoid persecution. Litvinenko soon followed.

According to the FSB officers, they were supposed to kidnap the brother of a famous Chechen businessman in Moscow and receive a ransom of $2 million to ransom two FSB officers kidnapped in Chechnya. They found a dacha in the Moscow region where they could hide the kidnapped person. However, then, as Alexander Gusak says, they learned that the said businessman was being guarded by Moscow police. “Naturally, the question arose that we would have to kill one of our colleagues,” Gusak says on the tape.

The officers repeatedly delayed the abduction while attending to less important matters. However, shortly before the new year, their boss, Alexander Kamyshnikov, called them. On the tape, Litvinenko says that Kamyshnikov wanted to know whether they would agree to carry out the order to kill Berezovsky. When Litvinenko began to doubt, Kamyshnikov approached him and began shouting right in his face: “You will kill Berezovsky!”

On the recording, Gusak says that he was told the same thing, but he took it as a question and a test of loyalty, and not an order. According to him, there was no real plan to kill Berezovsky. However, Berezovsky turned to the director of the FSB and demanded an investigation. Not satisfied with the results, he then referred the agents' interview about the incident to a senior Kremlin official, prompting an official investigation. By the summer of 1998, FSB director Nikolai Kovalev was fired.

The site writes that the place of the removed head of the FSB was replaced by Vladimir Putin, at that time a little-known official from the Kremlin administration. As Boris Berezovsky stated in an interview, he had a good relationship with Putin, whom he knew from his days working in St. Petersburg. According to Berezovsky, hoping to provoke a purge of the FSB, he arranged a personal meeting between Litvinenko and Putin.

As Litvinenko told friends, the meeting lasted about 10 minutes. In a book he later wrote, Litvinenko describes how he provided Putin with a diagram explaining how various parts of the FSB were controlled by criminals. He also provided Putin with a list of supposedly honest officers. Putin thanked him and said he would consider this information. As Litvinenko's friends say, they never met again. The Kremlin spokesman said he could neither confirm nor deny these words.

Not seeing any results, Berezovsky decided to publicly attack the FSB. In November 1998, he published an open letter in one of the Moscow newspapers, where he demanded that Putin investigate the possible preparation by the FSB of an attempt on his life. That same month, Litvinenko and several of his colleagues held a press conference. Main actor Litvinenko spoke at it and said that he was involved in murders and extortion in the FSB. He demanded that the FSB be cleared of high-ranking officers who "give illegal orders to commit terrorist acts, murders, hostage-taking and extortion." Together with them, FSB officer Mikhail Trepashkin, about whose fate the "Caucasian Knot" has written more than once, appeared at the press conference as a victim of abuses in the FSB.

At the press conference, Litvinenko showed his face. His colleagues tried to hide their names - some were in sunglasses, others are wearing masks. Gusak, who was not present in Moscow at that moment, did not take part in the conference. However, a few days after the press conference, the ORT television channel (current Channel One), controlled by Berezovsky, began broadcasting excerpts from a videotape in which officers, without masks or glasses, told details about the activities of their secret unit.

According to Husak, he did not give permission to broadcast this recording. Journalist Sergei Dorenko, who showed it on air, said that he decided to show the recording because inner work In any case, the FSB became known after the press conference. Gradually, the identities of all the officers who participated in the conference and were captured on the tape became known.

Putin called the accusations a propaganda stunt and threatened to sue the officers for libel. The investigation concluded that there was no conspiracy to kill Berezovsky, although some of Litvinenko's superiors may have joked that they would like to see Berezovsky dead. “The story with the press conference... testifies to the internal ill health of our system,” Putin later told one Russian journalist. According to him, the agents were clearly trying to contact Berezovsky. According to the publication, he never filed a lawsuit.

Litvinenko was then fired from the FSB. His colleagues who participated in the press conference were also fired. Some of them retracted their statements and said that Berezovsky paid them or forced them through pressure to voice these accusations. They accused Litvinenko of dragging them into a conflict in which they did not want to participate.

Gusak was also fired from the FSB. He was accused of extortion, kidnapping and abuse of power against a suspect who later died. Most of the charges were rejected, and after spending a month in prison, he was given a suspended sentence.

Litvinenko was also arrested in 1999 on charges of abuse committed the year before. These charges were dropped, but Litvinenko was arrested again on other charges and then released again. Litvinenko went to work for Berezovsky as a security consultant.

As the "Caucasian Knot" has already reported, on May 22, the British Royal Prosecutor's Office filed charges Russian entrepreneur Andrei Lugovoy in poisoning former colonel FSB Alexander Litvinenko.

However, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office excludes the possibility of extraditing businessman Andrei Lugovoy and states that - if his guilt is proven - Lugovoy can be prosecuted only on Russian territory.

The widow of former Russian FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was killed in London, Marina Litvinenko, announced that she wants the trial for the murder of her husband to take place in the UK - where it was committed. In addition, as the "Caucasian Knot" has already reported, on May 21, the widow of Alexander Litvinenko filed a complaint against Russia's actions with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This fact was confirmed on Tuesday, May 22, by an employee of the Strasbourg court.

Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy strongly denies his involvement in Litvinenko's murder, saying that the charge brought against him by Britain's Crown Prosecution Service "is certainly politically motivated."