As you may know, former Russian secret service (FSB) man Aleksander Litvinenko was poisoned with radioactive Polonium when he met an Italian associate in London over a month ago.
Today and yesterday, there have been spectacular new revelations about the Italian thread in the Italian press. There is a trail into the USA.
Since the English-language MSM sticks to the simple "outspoken critic probably murdered by Putin" narrative and was too lazy to research what is known about those involved, I first recap some important details.
First of all, I note that both Litvinenko and his Italian associate, Mario Scaramella are (were) shady characters. Their story is a tour into the murky netherworld of the useful idiots of the intel world.
Litvinenko: bearing witness
First of all, Litvinenko's claims of being a spy are misleading. Back in Russia, he was an investigator of organised crime. As such, he had nothing to do with foreign intelligence (spying). Thus he was using a false aura of authority when making his various claims to press.
Second, his past claims were often rather 'out there'. They included:
- a claim that al-Qaida number two Zawahiri received a half-year training from the Russians (that's as crazy as if someone claimed he received it from Rumsfeld: al-Qaida is an ally to the most extreme Chechen guerillas),
- the insinuation that the editor of the Danish paper that published the Muhammad caricatures was a Russian agent with a mission to stir up trouble (the guy is actually close to American neocons, reveres Richard Perle).
Third, the least covered but probably most relevant part of Litvinenko's story has to do with his ties to former oligarch and present exile Berezovskij. Litvininko became a public figure eight years ago with a dramatic press conference. Alongside other FSB agents, he claimed some FSB officers have conspired to assassinate Berezovskij.
The political consequence of this was that then still oligarch Berezovskij got Yeltsin to dissolve the Organized Crime Division of FSB.
What is rarely told is that a week later, the other officers at the press conference said that Litvinenko was paid a high sum by Berezovskij, and that they were tricked. (Russian courts later found the assassination plan claims unfounded, this at a time Berezovskij wasn't yet out of favour.) This was the start of a multi-year feud between Litvinenko and those officers, accusing each other of corruption and other crimes.
One in retrospect funny episode of this saga, in 2003 (when Berezovskij still thought he can get Putin's favours), was when Litvinenko 'uncovered' a plot to assassinate Putin, a plot by these officers. (This also means that the media narrative of a long-running Litvinenko-Putin feud is at least misleading. I also note that Putin returned to the spy business [as FSB head] following a seven-year hiatus after the Berezovskij-induced reorganisation.)
(To complicate matters, I note that the present top suspect according to the English-language MSM, another former KGB agent named Lugovoi who met Litvinenko the same day as Scaramella, is another former associate of Berezovskij.)
Mario Scaramella: truth is relative
Scaramella too is a character using false claims to authority. In his case, it is much more explicit: among other things, he falsely claimed to be an academic (his supposed university never heard of him). Scaramella appeared in the Italian media before with several outlandish claims, including a claim that there are 20 Soviet nukes in Naples Bay.
He appeared most prominently as dataminer and witness for the Mitrokhin Commission, an Italian parliamentary commission purportedly investigating the presence of former KGB agents in Italy, in truth created by the Italian Right to try to frame leftist politicians. This was when Scaramella got in touch with Litvinenko.
The "investigation" was prompted by the "discovery" of already known and analysed notes of a former KGB agent. The actual notes refer to some three dozen informants and agents active decades ago, whose activity was strangely focused on spying on the Italian Communists (who broke with Moscow). But the actual activity of the Commission was to dig for any information and distort it beyond recognition, trying to connect it to then current politicians.
To exemplify how far they went, here is the story of supposed new evidence proving the Bulgarian secret service's connection to the assassination attempt on Pope JPII (a conspiracy theory originally created by none other than neocon machinator and Iran-Contra culprit Michael Ledeen, Berlusconi's propagandists later somehow also put current Italian PM Romano Prodi into it). The new evidence was supposed to be documents found in the archive of the former East German secret service. But a newspaper managed to get hold of those documents, and published it -- and they not only haven't proved the Bulgarian Connection, but the opposite: the Bulgarians wrote their collagues about not understanding why the Italians want to frame them, and asked whether they have any background info.
Framing Prodi seems to have been a main assignment for Scaramella. Because he was already under suspicion of corruption and fraud, police tapped his phone -- and recently, Italian papers to which the tapes were leaked printed transscripts. The dirty tricks he discussed with associates included insinuation of financial connections by leaving away key points of information, and prompting an 'independent' court investigation by sending an 'informant' to prosecutors to peddle distorted information. He also claimed direct approval for his actions from Italian right-wing leader Berlusconi.
Finally, an example of how recklessly Scaramella operates in the media (half of which is owned by Berlusconi; imagine of Fox, CBS, the New York and LA Times were all Dubya's personal belongings). Three days ago, he declared to Italian press (Berlusconi's media) that he too was meant to be assassinated, as was found with five times the lethal dose of Polonium, and claimed he has a deathbed statement from Litvinenko implicating Italian (not Russians) top politicians. The British hospital that treated him said bollocks, he had only trace amounts from Litvinenko and his health is fine. A day later, he told Italian papers (non-Berlusconi) that no, he doesn't claim either having been poisoned or having any evidence. Again a day later, he went on television (Berlusconi) prime-time, and repeated his old claims -- now even claiming videotaped evidence from Litvinenko (which he didn't show)!
Litvinenko and Scaramella
Let's finish the precedents with some information on the connection of the two.
In the course of his work to frame Prodi, Scaramella sought to get former KGB agents to either claim Prodi was a KGB spy, or say something that can be distorted as such. One of these was Litvinenko. His testimony was one of those used. However, when the scandal broke, Litvinenko protested his innocence, saying he never claimed such, and the Italians must have falsified the translation of his testimony.
With this background, it is curious that the two appear to have been in such good relations that they met in London.
Another former KGB officer Scaramella was in touch with is a certain Limarev. Limarev also said to Italian papers that Scaramella was out to twist his words on Prodi and the KGB. But there is more. Scaramella claims to have visited Litvinenko to show him a death list with both of them and recently murdered journalist Politovskaya on it. At one time, he claimed the source is Limarev. But Limarov says that's false: Scaramella must have had another source, as he was only asked to confirm that Scaramella and another Italian are in the sights of a Russian ex-KGB-officers oganisation (which Limarev confirmed). Nothing about Litvinenko or Politovskaya, and probably only about spying on them.
At any rate, this is a further mystery, which makes Scaramella a key figure.
Latest leaks and exposures
The less important of the latest news in the Italian press is an interview with another ex-KGB man whom they tried to use to smear Prodi, a certain General Gordievskij, who too is under the protection of the British government. He not only says that the Italians tried to press him and other former colleagues into false statements, but says it was a joint project by Scaramella and Litvinenko. He also said that he complained to the MI6 (this was confirmed by the Italian secret service later that day). Gordievskij told he was further enraged when he learnt that this information (that he complained to MI6) reached Scaramella.
The more important news, are further police tapes of Scaramella's phone calls. There is connection: Gordievskij is mentioned.
Half of the conversations are with a shady Italian prosecutor. They discuss how the Scotland Yard makes them difficult to badger Gordievskij, and discuss matter-of-factly how Gordievskij's testimony should be twisted and peddled to the press.
But the other half are with a certain Californian named "Perry". In that conversation, Scaramella makes several claims of having wide backing for his actions, including from Berlusconi, and including Gordievskij himself (whom he here claims to be the author of the plot to frame Prodi!).
But what's most interesting is that "Perry" refers repeatedly to "our organisation" as though Scaramella is part of it. And this is the most tantalising part. Is some branch of the CIA still meddling in Italian politics, playing with the lives of former KGB men in the process?
For background, note that at the beginning of the Cold War, to thwart the then real possibility that the Italian Communists gain power by democratic election, the CIA set up a clandestine network. The organisation most well known under the name of its 1956 incarnation, "Operation Gladio", developed into criminal directions and in essence formed a parallel state. Actions connected to it include the bombing of Bologna Railway Station with almost a hundred dead. Its fate is unknown, only that it still existed in 1990.
(For sources, check Jerome a Paris's diary and links to European Tribune therein. Credit for relaying material from Italian goes chiefly to de Gondi.)