Mr Gordievsky, a former KGB station head in London, who still refers to the FSB by its former name, insisted that he did not know the identity of the Russian would-be killer.

But he assumed that the man was a former associate of Boris Berezovsky, the former oligarch and Yeltsin confidant, who has been granted political asylum in Britain.

"He used to be in Mr Berezovsky's entourage and was imprisoned in Moscow. Then suddenly he was released, and soon after that he became a businessman and a millionaire. It is all very suspicious. But the KGB has recruited agents in prisons and camps since the 1930s. That is how they work."

Hmmm, Berezovsky?  Berezovsky was mentioned twice here on ET in connection with the murder of Politkovskaya, whom we are told was an associate of Litvinenko.

As for cuo bono, theories seem to be, in order of significance:

• Kadyrov (last Politkovskaya's investigation was into where Chechnya reconstruction money are going);
  
• enemies of Kadyrov (as he is the one most likely to benefit);
  
• Nevzlyn or Berezovsky (provocation and misguided attempt to create Gongadze-II);
  
• "concerned" citizen (Politkovskaya was not an exactly popular journalist);
  

Putin does not come up, primarily because he personally is not threatened at all by Politkovskaya.

And also

The political theory has it that Politkovskaya's murder was ordered from abroad. We were the first to draw attention to this theory. A similar assumption was expressed by President Putin at a press conference in Dresden on October 10. Developments of this theory have mentioned the names of Boris Berezovsky and Leonid Nevzlin - the most prominent of the individuals Russia is trying to extradite. Both Berezovsky and Nevzlin will probably face extradition attempts for a long time to come, having to prove in foreign courts why they should not be returned to Russia. One of their primary objectives is to portray Russia as a state where people can get shot in the head for their pro-democracy convictions.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides