Buzzfeed News work, published last summer, on the 14 other suspicious cases. Heidi Blake was on the Today programme on R4 discussing this, together with a Russian apologist speaking from Moscow. He made the Freudian slip of referring to Skripal as having been "killed" which caused the R4 anchor to icily interject with the words "He's not dead".
Heidi Blake is a fantastic journalist. I'd love to see her investigate the Olympic Stadium deal @PragueAddick
This morning an American commentator was reassuring us on the Today R4 Programme that despite Trump's silence, we can be sure the USA is with us, as Rex Tillerson had spoken strongly against the attack and Russian involvement.
A Russian exile who was close friends with the late oligarch Boris Berezovsky has been found dead in his London home, according to friends.
Nikolai Glushkov was discovered by his family and friends late on Monday night, aged 68. The cause of death is not yet clear. One of his friends, the newspaper editor Damian Kudryavtsev, posted the news on his Facebook page.
In the 1990s, Glushkov worked for the state airline Aeroflot and Berezovsky’s LogoVAZ car company. In 1999, as Berezovsky fell out with Vladimir Putin and fled to the UK, Glushkov was charged with money laundering and fraud. He spent five years in jail and was freed in 2004.
In recent years, Glushkov had lived in London, where he received political asylum. In 2011, he gave evidence at the court case brought by Berezovsky against his fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich, who remained on good terms with the Kremlin.
Glushkov told the court he had effectively been taken “hostage” by Putin’s administration, which wanted to pressure Berezovsky to sell his TV station ORT.
Berezovsky accused Abramovich of cheating him out of $5bn (£3.2bn) and claimed they had been partners in the 1990s in an oil firm, Sibneft. Abramovich denied this. The judge, Mrs Justice Gloster, rejected the claim and described Berezovsky as “deliberately dishonest”.
Glushkov was deeply unhappy with the judgment and launched a formal appeal, citing “bias”. Meanwhile, Berezovsky disappeared from public life. In March 2013, he was found dead at his ex-wife’s home in Berkshire. Police believe he committed suicide. His friends were not so certain, with a coroner recording an open verdict.
Speaking to the Guardian Glushkov said he was extremely sceptical that Berezovsky who was found hanged in a bathroom had died of natural causes. “I’m definite Boris was killed. I have quite different information from what is being published in the media,” he said.
He noted that a large number of Russian exiles including Berezovsky, and Berezovsky’s close friend Alexander Litvinenko, had died under mysterious circumstances. “Boris was strangled. Either he did it himself or with the help of someone. [But] I don’t believe it was suicide,” Glushkov said.
He added: “Too many deaths [of Russian emigres] have been happening.”
Glushkov continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding Berezovsky’s death for some months. He conceded that in the period before his death they had quarrelled. In 2013 Glushkov emailed a friend: “I have a lot of new facts that are of great interest.”
Glushkov has two grown up children, Natasha and Dima, and an ex-wife who lives in Moscow. It is understood that he had split in recent years from a partner. Natasha is believed to live in the UK.
In 2017, during a trial in absentia in Russia, Glushkov was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing $123m from the company.
Rex Tillerson sacked for speaking out against Russian involvement in Salisbury outrage. Allegedly
Bodes well for our future trade relationships with the USA.
Despite apparently being sacked on Friday.
Why do you believe that?
Tillerson’s departure had long been predicted after a series of clashes over policy. But the announcement, made just four hours after the secretary of state landed in Washington after a tour of Africa, took Tillerson unawares.
Under-secretary of state Steve Goldstein said: “The secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve, and still believes strongly that public service is a noble calling.”
Tillerson’s dismissal was immediate. State officials said they did not know if he would clear his office or if he would send someone to do it for him. Officials said Tillerson had shown every intention of staying and had a full programme of commitments. Tillerson had recently predicted he would stay in office for all of 2018 at least.....
On Monday, Tillerson issued a much stronger response to the nerve agent assassination of a former Russian spy in the UK than the White House, naming Russia as a suspect, a step Trump’s spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, had avoided.
Trump said he would speak to the British prime minister, Theresa May, on Tuesday. “It sounds to me like they believe it was Russia,” he said, adding that he would “take that finding as fact”.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, said: “President Trump’s actions show that every official in his administration is at the mercy of his personal whims and his worship of Putin.”
Here is a good answer to the questions "Why use this method of assassination, and why now?"
It's from an FT BTL contributor
There are some interesting questions about the use of a rare chemical weapon. Did the Kremlin not expect the UK government to identify the cause of the illness of the Mr Skripal and his daughter? Did they think it easier to bring a highly poisonous chemical into the UK in very small quantities than to provide a gun? A knife would be easily obtainable and relatively easy to use against the two targets. The fact that a knife was not used suggests that besides trying to kill the targets, subsidiary objectives would be:
1) An act of revenge designed to induce fear in those opposing Mr Putin and his all encompassing security apparateus;
2) An act to induce fear and disruption the in the UK in general and challenge the authority of the British government specifically to intensify the political disruption resulting from
a) the EU referendum which resulted in a vote for Brexit and
b) disruption caused by a long period of fiscal austerity.
3) An act intended to impress the world with Russian capacities for unorthodox disruption of its rivals polities;
4) An act which would allow an assessment of the extent to which British scientific institutions were still maintaining an interest in rare nerve agents and the extent of their expertise in identification of chemical agents in general, nerve agents in particular and their antidotes.
5) An act which could be used to impute that Russia was under attack (note the present tone of Russian propaganda - the inverted logic that is is Russia that is being assaulted) and which would consequently help Mr Putin get a big vote in the upcoming presidential erection.
Overall there were lots of positives for Russia in this attack and the UK needs to balance the advantage gained by hitting Russia hard with more economic sanctions and actions to reduce Russian influence in general and particularly espionage activities in the United Kingdom
What do people think about boycotting the World Cup?
I'd be for it as part of a series of measures, sends a message to Putin. Wouldn't be popular with footie fans but some things are more important than sport.
It would be gesture but little impact. However, if our European friends would also boycott the finals along with other nations that oppose the bully boy approach by Putin then this impacts on local folk financial bonanza and also a major fuck up on the world stage. I’m sure people in e.g. South America are not bothered as little exposure to either Russian or European politics.
23 Russian diplomats being expelled. In your face, Pootin.
I'm sure there was a ploy on yes Prime Minister where Hacker failed, and filed hard, over some Russian diplomacy event, and they were left with the only option being expelling Russia diplomants.
23 Russian diplomats being expelled. In your face, Pootin.
I'm sure there was a ploy on yes Prime Minister where Hacker failed, and filed hard, over some Russian diplomacy event, and they were left with the only option being expelling Russia diplomants.
I'm no fan of May but I have to say I think her response has been pretty good, so far she has;
- built international consensus for the condemnation of Russia over this incident, not easy given the UKs current position in the world
- refused to play Russia's games by giving them a strict deadline to provide answers and moving swiftly to consequences when they, inevitably, missed it
- convened the UN Security Council to brief them on the situation
- reported the incident to the chemical weapons watchdog
- given 23 Russian "diplomats" a week to leave the country
- terminated formal UK representation at the World Cup
- proposed the freezing of Russia's assets in the U.K.
- made it harder for Putins oligarch mates to come to the UK by increasing checks and customs requirements on private jets coming into our country
What more would you, realistically, have her do?
As I say, no fan of May, but compared to Corbyn - whose first question to PM after her speech today was "have we cooperated with Russia's request to share a sample of the poison so they can analyse it?" - she is actually showing leadership, which is most unexpected.
Not sure there is too much that can be done really - it will all blow over in a few months and Russia will do as it pleases! Short of declaring war we don't really have anything but mild annoyance we can bring to the table in terms of actions. Probably the best way to stop it happening again on our soil is to try to build better relations with them and ask them not to as a favour!
I'm not defending them - they have been massively out of order here and endangered the lives of British citizens but you have to be pragmatic. What do I/we want? How is the best way to achieve it?
I ask a question. It is one of the primary functions of any government to ensure that the citizens of their country are kept safe and secure, so given Jeremy Corbyns performance so far would you trust him the react in the correct manner if the UK was under threat from a foreign aggressor, whomever they may be?
Corbyn came across very badly with his response. Labour back benchers obviously very embarrassed by his comments and showed their support for the PM's statement.
So annoying Russia makes us all safer then? Serious question.
You have to push back. Otherwise they will take the piss and take the piss and laugh at us, they really don't give a fuck. Don't mistake Russia for a proper country. It is a gangster nation.
So annoying Russia makes us all safer then? Serious question.
You have to push back. Otherwise they will take the piss and take the piss and laugh at us, they really don't give a fuck. Don't mistake Russia for a proper country. It is a gangster nation.
Putin and Russia are all about posturing. Be aggressive back and they’ll quietly back down.
That was a ballsy statement by Theresa May and if they think that then they need to work out what the course of action will be as it’s a bold call
Are we really buying this?
For sure it's a useful distraction from the train wreck aka Brexecution - plays really well in the news this week. But why does Putin or his subordinates feel they want to announce to the world that they did it? Nobody else has this Novichok nerve agent... As has appeared in media reports, Novichok is a "calling card with plausible deniability" As per the quote from @PragueAddick the Russian strategy is disruptive and divisive towards the West and the post WWII order. This coupled with a domestic agenda of promoting nationalism and a "greater Russia". FFS this is a country which annexes whole chunks of Ukraine!
So what exactly is the follow up by May? She has stood up with a big play in Parliament and perhaps she had no option? But it looks like a horrible bluff if not much follow up. And that might not look too clever as the situation evolves? People might not be aware but the UK is a global hub for secrecy and money laundering when one takes into account the various island dependencies. These are where the super yachts and their owners hang out and some of them are Russian. That's where the holding companies which own London multi-million pound properties are based.
May has form on grandstanding - from the allegations about overseas students overstaying to Hard Brexit. Just an observation but given the Trump relationship with Russia and the lack of real dialogue on Brexit, is she really able to call in any favours? I know, I know there's always the Foreign Secretary!
Please don't take this as a positive commentary on the activities of Russia. Just that the UK is in an intense discussion with itself and not really in any position to play hard ball with anybody right now.
23 expelled diplomats who are believed to be spies
Well there’s why the mush was targeted are we saying we only just found out they were spies
Surely as soon as we knew we expell
So if we have just discovered it then some one has grassed them up
And now we have a dead Russian two critically ill Russians one who was a double agent and his daughter who’s Mum and brother have died In accidents in Russia
Hello Jeremy Corbyn even you must accept that’s all a bit leaning towards putin
Comments
There is now one great big problem with that:
Trump has just fired Tillerson.
Bodes well for our future trade relationships with the USA.
A man who breached one of the police cordons in Salisbury has been sentenced to 16 weeks in prison.
A Russian exile who was close friends with the late oligarch Boris Berezovsky has been found dead in his London home, according to friends.
Nikolai Glushkov was discovered by his family and friends late on Monday night, aged 68. The cause of death is not yet clear. One of his friends, the newspaper editor Damian Kudryavtsev, posted the news on his Facebook page.
In the 1990s, Glushkov worked for the state airline Aeroflot and Berezovsky’s LogoVAZ car company. In 1999, as Berezovsky fell out with Vladimir Putin and fled to the UK, Glushkov was charged with money laundering and fraud. He spent five years in jail and was freed in 2004.
In recent years, Glushkov had lived in London, where he received political asylum. In 2011, he gave evidence at the court case brought by Berezovsky against his fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich, who remained on good terms with the Kremlin.
Glushkov told the court he had effectively been taken “hostage” by Putin’s administration, which wanted to pressure Berezovsky to sell his TV station ORT.
Berezovsky accused Abramovich of cheating him out of $5bn (£3.2bn) and claimed they had been partners in the 1990s in an oil firm, Sibneft. Abramovich denied this. The judge, Mrs Justice Gloster, rejected the claim and described Berezovsky as “deliberately dishonest”.
Glushkov was deeply unhappy with the judgment and launched a formal appeal, citing “bias”. Meanwhile, Berezovsky disappeared from public life. In March 2013, he was found dead at his ex-wife’s home in Berkshire. Police believe he committed suicide. His friends were not so certain, with a coroner recording an open verdict.
Speaking to the Guardian Glushkov said he was extremely sceptical that Berezovsky who was found hanged in a bathroom had died of natural causes. “I’m definite Boris was killed. I have quite different information from what is being published in the media,” he said.
He noted that a large number of Russian exiles including Berezovsky, and Berezovsky’s close friend Alexander Litvinenko, had died under mysterious circumstances. “Boris was strangled. Either he did it himself or with the help of someone. [But] I don’t believe it was suicide,” Glushkov said.
He added: “Too many deaths [of Russian emigres] have been happening.”
Glushkov continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding Berezovsky’s death for some months. He conceded that in the period before his death they had quarrelled. In 2013 Glushkov emailed a friend: “I have a lot of new facts that are of great interest.”
Glushkov has two grown up children, Natasha and Dima, and an ex-wife who lives in Moscow. It is understood that he had split in recent years from a partner. Natasha is believed to live in the UK.
In 2017, during a trial in absentia in Russia, Glushkov was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing $123m from the company.
Tillerson’s departure had long been predicted after a series of clashes over policy. But the announcement, made just four hours after the secretary of state landed in Washington after a tour of Africa, took Tillerson unawares.
Under-secretary of state Steve Goldstein said: “The secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve, and still believes strongly that public service is a noble calling.”
Tillerson’s dismissal was immediate. State officials said they did not know if he would clear his office or if he would send someone to do it for him. Officials said Tillerson had shown every intention of staying and had a full programme of commitments. Tillerson had recently predicted he would stay in office for all of 2018 at least.....
On Monday, Tillerson issued a much stronger response to the nerve agent assassination of a former Russian spy in the UK than the White House, naming Russia as a suspect, a step Trump’s spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, had avoided.
Trump said he would speak to the British prime minister, Theresa May, on Tuesday. “It sounds to me like they believe it was Russia,” he said, adding that he would “take that finding as fact”.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, said: “President Trump’s actions show that every official in his administration is at the mercy of his personal whims and his worship of Putin.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/13/rex-tillerson-fired-donald-trump
It's from an FT BTL contributor
There are some interesting questions about the use of a rare chemical weapon. Did the Kremlin not expect the UK government to identify the cause of the illness of the Mr Skripal and his daughter? Did they think it easier to bring a highly poisonous chemical into the UK in very small quantities than to provide a gun? A knife would be easily obtainable and relatively easy to use against the two targets. The fact that a knife was not used suggests that besides trying to kill the targets, subsidiary objectives would be:
1) An act of revenge designed to induce fear in those opposing Mr Putin and his all encompassing security apparateus;
2) An act to induce fear and disruption the in the UK in general and challenge the authority of the British government specifically to intensify the political disruption resulting from
a) the EU referendum which resulted in a vote for Brexit and
b) disruption caused by a long period of fiscal austerity.
3) An act intended to impress the world with Russian capacities for unorthodox disruption of its rivals polities;
4) An act which would allow an assessment of the extent to which British scientific institutions were still maintaining an interest in rare nerve agents and the extent of their expertise in identification of chemical agents in general, nerve agents in particular and their antidotes.
5) An act which could be used to impute that Russia was under attack (note the present tone of Russian propaganda - the inverted logic that is is Russia that is being assaulted) and which would consequently help Mr Putin get a big vote in the upcoming presidential erection.
Overall there were lots of positives for Russia in this attack and the UK needs to balance the advantage gained by hitting Russia hard with more economic sanctions and actions to reduce Russian influence in general and particularly espionage activities in the United Kingdom
Nato will be informed and they will do nothing.
I'm sure there was a ploy on yes Prime Minister where Hacker failed, and filed hard, over some Russian diplomacy event, and they were left with the only option being expelling Russia diplomants.
- built international consensus for the condemnation of Russia over this incident, not easy given the UKs current position in the world
- refused to play Russia's games by giving them a strict deadline to provide answers and moving swiftly to consequences when they, inevitably, missed it
- convened the UN Security Council to brief them on the situation
- reported the incident to the chemical weapons watchdog
- given 23 Russian "diplomats" a week to leave the country
- terminated formal UK representation at the World Cup
- proposed the freezing of Russia's assets in the U.K.
- made it harder for Putins oligarch mates to come to the UK by increasing checks and customs requirements on private jets coming into our country
What more would you, realistically, have her do?
As I say, no fan of May, but compared to Corbyn - whose first question to PM after her speech today was "have we cooperated with Russia's request to share a sample of the poison so they can analyse it?" - she is actually showing leadership, which is most unexpected.
I'm not defending them - they have been massively out of order here and endangered the lives of British citizens but you have to be pragmatic. What do I/we want? How is the best way to achieve it?
I give my answer, not in a million years!
For sure it's a useful distraction from the train wreck aka Brexecution - plays really well in the news this week. But why does Putin or his subordinates feel they want to announce to the world that they did it? Nobody else has this Novichok nerve agent... As has appeared in media reports, Novichok is a "calling card with plausible deniability" As per the quote from @PragueAddick the Russian strategy is disruptive and divisive towards the West and the post WWII order. This coupled with a domestic agenda of promoting nationalism and a "greater Russia". FFS this is a country which annexes whole chunks of Ukraine!
So what exactly is the follow up by May? She has stood up with a big play in Parliament and perhaps she had no option? But it looks like a horrible bluff if not much follow up. And that might not look too clever as the situation evolves? People might not be aware but the UK is a global hub for secrecy and money laundering when one takes into account the various island dependencies. These are where the super yachts and their owners hang out and some of them are Russian. That's where the holding companies which own London multi-million pound properties are based.
May has form on grandstanding - from the allegations about overseas students overstaying to Hard Brexit. Just an observation but given the Trump relationship with Russia and the lack of real dialogue on Brexit, is she really able to call in any favours? I know, I know there's always the Foreign Secretary!
Could write more but this piece from the Guardian covers it so much better!
Please don't take this as a positive commentary on the activities of Russia. Just that the UK is in an intense discussion with itself and not really in any position to play hard ball with anybody right now.
Well there’s why the mush was targeted are we saying we only just found out they were spies
Surely as soon as we knew we expell
So if we have just discovered it then some one has grassed them up
And now we have a dead Russian two critically ill Russians one who was a double agent and his daughter who’s Mum and brother have died In accidents in Russia
Hello Jeremy Corbyn even you must accept that’s all a bit leaning towards putin