Brits Seek Arrest Of Former KGB Agents

From the Evening Standard:

Scotland Yard detectives are to issue arrest warrants against three former KGB officers suspected of poisoning ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Police have told sources close to Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina that they intend to lay charges of murder and poisoning against the men, who met the victim three weeks before his death in London.

There is former and then again there is "former." I wonder how much former these men were and I wonder where they all got the notion to murder Alexander Litvinenko. Undoubtably some strange coincidence linked to the phase of the moon.

Police have told sources close to Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina that they intend to where they got the notion to murder lay charges of murder and poisoning against the men, who met the victim three weeks before his death in London.

The move will damage the already strained relationship between Downing Street and the Kremlin, which is almost certain to block any request for the men's arrest and extradition.

It is disappointing that the paper infers that the Brits are straining relations; after all, it is the Russians that murdered a man on British soil.

Warrants are expected to be issued against Andrei Lugovoy, Dmitri Kovtun and Vyacheslav Sokolenko within the next few weeks.

All three former agents have vehemently protested their innocence of any involvement in the murder plot. They all claim that they, too, were contaminated with the deadly radioactive material polonium-210 which poisoned Mr Litvinenko, a strong critic of President Vladimir Putin's regime.

Interestingly enough, these men are all wealthy budinessman based in Moscow who met with Litvinenko in the Millenium Hotel last year. Litvinenko died last November.

In December, nine Scotland Yard detectives flew to Moscow as part of their investigation. They were not allowed to interview Mr Lugovoy or Mr Kovtun directly, although they were present when Russian police officers interviewed them. They were not granted any access to Mr Sokolenko.

Sounds like innocence personified to me.