Former Spy Accuses Russia of Assassination
KING: There are new developments tonight in a story tinged with Cold War intrigue. British officials now say a former Russian spy was poisoned with a heavy dose of radiation. On his deathbed, the former spy blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now Russia is responding with rare candor. CNN's Ryan Chilcote is in Moscow with the latest.</s>RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This fall, Russia's president was forced to deny accusations that he ordered the assassination of a critic.</s>VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I hope the British authorities won't fuel any groundless political scandals that have nothing to do with reality.</s>CHILCOTE: The Kremlin freely admits to killing its opponents abroad in Soviet days. One of the more notable hits: Leon Trotsky, who broke with Stalin, got a pickax in the head in Mexico in 1940 -- the last one acknowledged by the Kremlin, Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist sprayed with poisoned in Germany in 1959. A spokesman for Russia's spy agency, granting a rare interview, tells me, the Kremlin's agents abandoned that practice half-a-century ago, and wouldn't even consider such a move for someone as insignificant as Alexander Litvinenko.</s>SERGEI IVANOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE: We had nothing to do, because we have no reason to do it. That's simple.</s>CHILCOTE (on camera): And no reason because he was a nobody?</s>IVANOV: He was a nobody.</s>CHILCOTE (voice-over): Litvinenko was among a growing number of Kremlin critics to wind up dead, disfigured, or otherwise disposed of. Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist and fierce Putin critic, was shot dead in Moscow last month. Russian agents were convicted of blowing up Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar three years ago, and claimed responsibility for the recent poisoning death of an Arab militant in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya. Add to these a long list of Kremlin opponents who have ended up behind bars or fled the country, and the mysterious poisoning of disfigured Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, all of this has given Russia an image problem. And this, says former long-time KGB spy Stanislav Lekarev, makes the Kremlin an unlikely suspect in this latest killing. Lekarev says it's more likely Russia is being set up.</s>STANISLAV LEKAREV, KGB VETERAN: I'm, first, 80 percent sure that this was planned by the people who don't like Russia, who hate Russia, who want to change the regime in Russia.</s>CHILCOTE: When Litvinenko fled Moscow six years ago, people here simply stopped talking about him and his fierce criticism of the Russian president. Now, perhaps ironically, with these allegations that the Kremlin may be behind his death, Russian government officials fully expect to hear a lot more talk about him -- John.</s>KING: Ryan Chilcote in Moscow. And the death of this former Soviet spy is just the latest chapter in a long and complex Russian saga.</s>KING: Want to bring in CNN's resident Kremlinologist, correspondent Jill Dougherty. Jill spent eight years as our Moscow bureau chief and has unique insight into this spy drama. Jill, it is great to see you. I want to begin with the deathbed statement of Mr. Litvinenko. He said this: "You may succeed in silencing one man, but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me, but to the beloved Russia and its people." He clearly blamed President Putin. President Putin says, not him. Jill Dougherty, what do you think?</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I will tell you, this has more layers than a John LeCarre novel, so trying to penetrate those is pretty difficult. But let's begin with that sensational accusation of President Putin. Now, obviously, Mr. Litvinenko believed that, or wanted to believe it, and is attacking the president. And you could say, on some level, that's his view. It might be the viewpoint of other people. But it's much more complicated, as well, because you have, with Litvinenko, a long history of involvement of anti-Kremlin action. I mean, he was -- back in 1998 -- just to begin the story -- he said that he was told by the Kremlin -- by, I should say, the KGB, which is now called the FSB, to murder the tycoon Boris Berezovsky. But he didn't do it. But he blew the plot wide open. And then fast forward. In 1999 -- and I was there in Moscow, covering these buildings being blown up, apartment buildings, if you remember, where innocent people were asleep, blown up. They were killed, 300 people in Russia. And Litvinenko said the Kremlin -- actually, the KGB -- had been behind that, too. And to what purpose? To get Russia into a second Chechen war, that the government would blow up its own people to get into a war. And, then, the most recent allegation is Politkovskaya, the journalist, and Litvinenko, at this point, now investigating that from his home -- he's living -- he was living in London -- and also surmising that there was some type of perhaps KGB/FSB involvement. Now, I have to say, this has all been denied. And, actually, as you can see from the tone of the Kremlin, they're saying, this is so ridiculous, it doesn't even really merit comment. So, they're denying it. But there's no question that it's very sensational and very, very complex to come to the bottom of all of this, John.</s>KING: Well, so, Jill, it is possible -- Mr. Putin is a former KGB man. He certainly has clamped down on press and other democratic freedoms within Russia. It is possible that some of those in what is now the FSB, the former KGB, think that they have a green light to go after his critics...</s>DOUGHERTY: Well...</s>KING: ... even though Mr. Putin himself may have nothing to do with this?</s>DOUGHERTY: That also probably entirely possible, but look at some of the former KGB, the FSB officers. You know, when the Soviet Union broke up, they went a lot of different places. Many of them are very smart people. Many of them had the goods, black information, as it's called, on a lot of people. They had a lot of nasty information on a lot of people. That can be very, very valuable. So, some of them went off into business. Some of them went off into government. But some of them went into the Russian mafia. And that's where the plot thickens, so to speak, because you don't know. I mean, there could be people, former KGB -- this is complete surmisal, John -- but could be people like that who were uncomfortable, didn't like, hated Litvinenko for getting some information on this, and wanted to get him for another reason. And, then, if you want to flip the whole thing on its head -- I was just listening to Russian radio on the Internet -- and they're saying, this is an attempt -- the Russian government saying: This is an attempt just to blacken the image of -- of Russia. So, who's doing this? We don't know. But it is an amazing thing. And to -- to get into the substance that was used, it's very rare -- polonium 210, very rare substance. And you have to wonder where somebody could get that in London.</s>KING: Jill Dougherty -- why we love Jill Dougherty, because she's listening to Russian radio on the Internet. Jill Dougherty, thanks for sharing your thoughts. And maybe you could write a spy novel of your own.</s>KING: Still to come: surging sectarian violence in Iraq, with U.S. forces caught in the middle. What are their options? I will ask our military analyst, retired Army General "Spider" Marks. Plus: It's difficult and dangerous and could take up to seven months. Will man eventually land on Mars? We will hear from the experts in our "Welcome to the Future" report. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.