Saturday, November 25, 2006

We just can't understand....

Kommersant, Russian daily, is perplexed about why "The West Is Ready to Believe the Worst about Russia" in an article entitled, "Russia's Poisonous Foreign Policy". It's a particularly odd title when the story is about the poisoning of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko. And it's chilling when they list the following famous poisonings:
On August 4, 1995, head of Rosbiznesbank Ivan Kivelidi was poisoned with a nerve agent that had been placed on the telephone in his office. Vladimir Khutsishvili, a member of the board of directors of the bank, was arrested on suspicion of murder in October, but later released for lack of evidence. On June 30, 2006, Khutsishvili was arrested again after new evidence came to light, and is now awaiting trial.

On April 11, 2002, the FSB reported that field commander Khattab had been liquidated in Chechnya. According to the media, he was killed with a poisoned letter. Militants shortly thereafter shot Dagestani resident Ibragim Alauri, who allegedly sent the poisoned letter to Khattab on instructions from the FSB. The FSB denied having any ties with Alauri.

On July 3, 2003, Novaya gazeta newspaper writer and State Duma member from Yabloko Yury Shchekochikhin died of what was called a brain hemorrhage. Many of his colleagues suspected that he was poisoned. His investigation of smuggling by the Three Whales stores and publications about corruption in law enforcement bodies were thought to be the motives.

On June 1, 2004, Khizri Aldamov, representative of Ichkerian President Aslan Maskhadov in Georgia, along with his son and nephew, were hospitalized in Tbilisi for “poisoning.” The Georgian Interior Ministry determined that Aldamov's car had been poisoned with a phosphorous-containing substance. The victim claimed that he was poisoned on orders of the Russian FSB.

On September 24, 2004, general director of Baltic Escort private security company Roman Tsepov died in St. Petersburg. The cause of his death was poisoning by a medicine used to treat leukemia. Tsepov did not have leukemia. The company headed by Tsepov provided protection to the leaders of the city, including mayor Anatoly Sobchak and his deputy Vladimir Putin. The murder is still under investigation.

They left out the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko.

It's not like it's a pattern or anything. Ya think?

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