From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 5/22/2007 11:39 AM
Who's who in the Litvinenko case

Associated Press

May 22, 2007 at 12:48 PM EDT

Key figures in the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko:

* ALEXANDER LITVINENKO: A former KGB agent and Kremlin critic who died of poisoning on Nov. 23, 2006, in a London hospital at age 43. It was determined he had ingested the radioactive isotope polonium-210. On his deathbed, Mr. Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind his killing.

* ANDREI LUGOVOY : Moscow-based former KGB agent wanted by Britain for Mr. Litvinenko's murder — a charge he denies. Met Mr. Litvinenko at the Pine Bar of London's Millennium Hotel on Nov. 1, 2006; Mr. Litvinenko fell ill later that day. Mr. Lugovoy told British police in Moscow that he had known Mr. Litvinenko for a decade. They had lost touch, but Mr. Litvinenko contacted Lugovoy in 2005 to offer him business contacts in London. Also worked as head of security for Russian broadcaster ORT when it was owned by Boris Berezovsky. Mr. Litvinenko Justice Foundation says Mr. Lugovoy was born in 1965.

* DMITRY KOVTUN: Former Soviet army officer who accompanied Mr. Lugovoy to the Nov. 1 meeting. He later underwent treatment in Moscow for radiation poisoning.

* MARIO SCARAMELLA: Expert on KGB activities in Italy who met Mr. Litvinenko at a sushi restaurant on the day he fell ill. He said they discussed an e-mail the Italian obtained identifying investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya's killers and a list of potential assassination targets — which included himself and Mr. Litvinenko.

* ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA: Journalist whose shooting death Oct. 7, 2006, Litvinenko was investigating. She chronicled Russia's human rights abuses in Chechnya. At a journalists' meeting in London on Oct. 19, 2006, Mr. Litvinenko publicly accused Mr. Putin of being behind her killing.

* BORIS BEREZOVSKY: Billionaire who was granted political asylum in Britain after falling out with the Putin regime. He amassed a fortune in privatization deals in the 1990s and became an influential Kremlin insider under Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin. In 1998, Mr. Litvinenko publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill Mr. Berezovsky. Mr. Litvinenko was fired, arrested, and charged with corruption. Mr. Berezovsky fled to Britain in 2000 to avoid a money-laundering probe, which he said was politically motivated. Some Russian media have suggested Mr. Litvinenko was killed after a falling out with Mr. Berezovsky.

* AKHMED ZAKAYEV: Former actor-turned-Chechen separatist who commanded rebels in the war with Russian forces. He said he grew to know Mr. Litvinenko “like a brother” in London after Britain granted the Chechen political asylum. Mr. Zakayev said Mr. Litvinenko was so moved by Chechens' suffering that he converted to Islam.

* VLADIMIR PUTIN: Former KGB officer who was elected president of Russia in 2000. Has brought order and economic stability, but human rights and press freedoms have suffered under his rule. Russia's parliament last year passed a law authorizing him to use security forces against terrorists abroad — a move that was interpreted by some as sanctioning state-sponsored assassinations.

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