Putin’s steady march back to the days of of authoritarian rule continues with and attempt on the life of yet another anti-Putin dissident, this time in London! It seems that the reach of the KGB still spreads far and wide.
And remember… Bush describes Putin as “The more I get to know President Putin” he said, “the more I get to see his heart and soul …the more I know we can work together in a positive way”.
Makes you kind of even more worried about the world Bush is trying to make…
A former Russian KGB colonel living in Britain and poisoned by the toxic chemical thallium remains in a serious condition in hospital.
Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB colonel and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, fell ill on 1 November after a meeting at a London sushi bar.
A clinical toxicologist said Mr Litvinenko, 43, had been poisoned with a potentially lethal dose of the metal.
He is in a serious but stable condition in University College Hospital, London.
He is reported to be under armed guard.
Mr Litvinenko’s friend Alex Goldfarb, who has been visiting him in hospital, said doctors told him he had a 50/50 chance of surviving the next three to four weeks.
“Alexander is a very, very strong man and we all hope that he will get through this,” he said.
“He’s a very fit man, he never smoked, he never drank, he would run five miles a day, but now he has lost all his hair, he has inflammation in the throat, so he cannot swallow, he has to be fed intravenously, he is very weak, and has not eaten properly for many days.”
Dr Andres Virchis, a doctor from Barnet Hospital who earlier treated Mr Litvinenko, said his bone marrow had failed and he was not producing any normal immune cells.
That was “presumably as the effect of the thallium or even potentially some other unknown substances that we’re not aware of”, he said.
Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who also lives in Britain, said thallium was a “special” poison, that “you couldn’t just get over the counter”.
“You could say it is only available to secret services,” he said.
There has been no comment from the Kremlin and the Russian media is reportedly keeping quiet on the incident.