Both Guzzanti and Scaramella have declared that the list was sent by Euvgenij Limarev. Limarev has categorically denied the charge. Further Limarev details in an interview that it was Scaramella who had asked him about a Russian security agency called "Pride and Dignity" that allegedly had Guzzanti and Scaramella on its hit list. Limarev looked into Scaramella's story, found that "Pride and Dignity" existed and wrote back that Scaramella's hypothesis was plausible. Scaramella then turned it around, making Limarev the source of the tip off- and threw in the names of Anna Politovskaja and Litvinenko as icing. Limarev had never mentioned the two. It's fairly easy to uncover one's very own assassination list.
Here's the interesting bit...The papers ... name a group called Dignity and Honour as a potential threat. A man closely connected to it, Mr. Litvinenko knew, was his mortal enemy. The organisation, which operates out of Moscow, is made up of ex-KGB spies who offer themselves for hire.So, the papers don't actually bear the "name" of who wanted Litvinenko dead, or do they? And is this how the probe "leads back to Moscow", which on the front page was insiuated as Moscow = Kremlin = Putin?"They are old-fashioned spies who couldn't give up the game", a Moscow security source said. "Technically, they are all retired. But most people see them as an extension of Putin's secret service." Mr. Litvinenko's friends believe rogue elements in Dignity and Honour may have been involved in the decision to assassinate him.Notice the rogue.The group has close links to Russia's [...] Federal Security Service, the renamed KGB, and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) [...] The organisation was instrumental in freeing a Dutch doctor, Arjan Erkel, who was kidnapped in Daguestan in 2004. ... This contributed to a suspicion in security circles that the old spies were being used by the FSB and SVR to do their dirty work. The Moscow source said: "If it's dodgy and it goes wrong, the government can say 'it wasn't our guys'..." Vladimir Putin, a former head of the FSB, is said to be an admirer of Dignity and Honour. One of its leading members is believed to have been Putin's station commander in Dresden...Interesting, but I can't help but notice the unnamed sources, and the interveaving of (much) hearsay and (few) facts. Here comes the interesting bit (linking up to the "rogue elements within D&H" aboveIf the murder of Mr. Litvinenko was not directly ordered by the Kremlin, or overseen by its security apparatus, it would explain why it took place at an embarrassing time for Mr. Putin. He was at the Asian summit agreeing the terms of Russia's entry to the World Trade Organisation with President Bush. A rogue hitman would not be directly answerable."An embarrassing time", just like Politkovskaya was murdered on Putin's birthday.The documents Prof. Scaramella showed Mr. Litvinenko also linked Dignity and Honour to the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya...And then the piece turns to the internal struggle among Russian expats, and within Russia
The papers ... name a group called Dignity and Honour as a potential threat. A man closely connected to it, Mr. Litvinenko knew, was his mortal enemy. The organisation, which operates out of Moscow, is made up of ex-KGB spies who offer themselves for hire.
The organisation, which operates out of Moscow, is made up of ex-KGB spies who offer themselves for hire.
"They are old-fashioned spies who couldn't give up the game", a Moscow security source said. "Technically, they are all retired. But most people see them as an extension of Putin's secret service." Mr. Litvinenko's friends believe rogue elements in Dignity and Honour may have been involved in the decision to assassinate him.
Mr. Litvinenko's friends believe rogue elements in Dignity and Honour may have been involved in the decision to assassinate him.
The group has close links to Russia's [...] Federal Security Service, the renamed KGB, and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) [...] The organisation was instrumental in freeing a Dutch doctor, Arjan Erkel, who was kidnapped in Daguestan in 2004. ... This contributed to a suspicion in security circles that the old spies were being used by the FSB and SVR to do their dirty work. The Moscow source said: "If it's dodgy and it goes wrong, the government can say 'it wasn't our guys'..." Vladimir Putin, a former head of the FSB, is said to be an admirer of Dignity and Honour. One of its leading members is believed to have been Putin's station commander in Dresden...
The organisation was instrumental in freeing a Dutch doctor, Arjan Erkel, who was kidnapped in Daguestan in 2004. ...
This contributed to a suspicion in security circles that the old spies were being used by the FSB and SVR to do their dirty work. The Moscow source said: "If it's dodgy and it goes wrong, the government can say 'it wasn't our guys'..."
Vladimir Putin, a former head of the FSB, is said to be an admirer of Dignity and Honour. One of its leading members is believed to have been Putin's station commander in Dresden...
If the murder of Mr. Litvinenko was not directly ordered by the Kremlin, or overseen by its security apparatus, it would explain why it took place at an embarrassing time for Mr. Putin. He was at the Asian summit agreeing the terms of Russia's entry to the World Trade Organisation with President Bush. A rogue hitman would not be directly answerable.
The documents Prof. Scaramella showed Mr. Litvinenko also linked Dignity and Honour to the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya...
There is no such list. And I never gave one. I told Mario how things work. There's no official meeting in the Kremlin where it's decided to assign to Intelligence the job of eliminating the president's enemies. Obviously the matter is a lot more nuanced. Intelligence members let their contacts in organized criminality or private agencies created by ex-officials of the KGB- Moscow and Europe are full of them- that in a very reserved way, one will receive honour and glory if he silences this guy or another. That's what I said and wrote in my email to Mario. It was Mario who had in turn asked me to control the existence and activity of an organization called "Pride and Dignity"- it's one of those private security agencies I mentioned before- and the people that gravitate around it. I don't know where he got that information. I know I wasn't the source. I know that Scaramella and Guzzanti aren't wrong when they worry about their safety. I notified them that the obstinate search for past infiltrations of the KGB in Italy very much irritated the Kremlin which doesn't want to pay the political consequences of anti-western operations during the Cold War. Over time, then, someone in Moscow concluded that Paolo Guzzanti and Mario Scaramella were operating to discredit the new political course. So I confirm what Guzzanti says and what scares Scaramella.
[...]
If we understand correctly, you work for Scaramella. In the past months, Scaramella asks you to verify the news concerning Guzzanti's and his security. On November 1st, Scaramella consigns that information to Litvinenko in a Japanese restaurant in London. When Litvinenko finds out he's been poisoned, Scaramella drags you into the story, indicating that you are the source. Is this correct?
Correct. I didn't like it when I found out Mario had told Aleksandr the contents of our recent conversations, when I realized he had manipulated it by putting in the magnate Berezovskij, Litvinenko also and the reporter Anna Politovskaja, whom I've never handled. On November 2 or 3 I wrote him a mail. I asked him why he had violated a fundamental point of our agreement: The information that I gather for him must not be shared with third parties. On that occasion, Mario apologized. But the eggs had been broken. All you had to do was read the English press.
They cite possible suspects in the poisoning.
No. They mix together bits of information that once again, Mario Scaramella had asked me to verify and that I had verified. I'll put it simply. It's true there's an organization called "Pride and Dignity." It's true that the president and the vice-president of the organization are ex-officials of the KGB. It's true that the organization was solicited to monitor Guzzanti and Scaramella. It's true that one of the men in "Pride and Dignity" limps. But what this information has to do with the death of Litvinenko nobody know. Maybe Mario knows but, I understand, he must be very scared.
A Russian intelligence services veterans association has dismissed allegations of its involvement in the death of Russian security service defector Alexander Litvinenko, a group spokesman said Thursday. There have been reports in the Western media suggesting that Honor and Dignity, a foundation of veterans of Russia's intelligence and diplomatic services, might have been involved in Litvinenko's death. The spokesman, who asked that his name not be used, dismissed assertions that foundation President Valentin Velichko, a former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, might have had a part in the Litvinenko case. "That is groundless, unsubstantiated information," he said, adding the group is pondering a lawsuit against the media outlets that made the allegations.
There have been reports in the Western media suggesting that Honor and Dignity, a foundation of veterans of Russia's intelligence and diplomatic services, might have been involved in Litvinenko's death.
The spokesman, who asked that his name not be used, dismissed assertions that foundation President Valentin Velichko, a former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, might have had a part in the Litvinenko case.
"That is groundless, unsubstantiated information," he said, adding the group is pondering a lawsuit against the media outlets that made the allegations.
