Ghanima Atreides (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
atreideslioness) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2023-11-29 05:05 pm
atreideslioness) wrote in fandomhigh2023-11-29 05:05 pm
Entry tags:
The History of Assassination. Wednesday, First Period [11/29]
"Good morning," Ghanima said crisply, gathering handouts off her desk and beginning to distribute them. "Today we are going to talk about one of the big assassination powerhouses in the modern era. The Russian Government."
"Don't worry, we'll get to the Americans next week."
"If there is one thing the Russian governments understand, it is power," she continued, offering each student one of the handout. "Keep in mind, this is by no means an exhaustive list. It is simply confirmed, mostly political or military targets by the government, and does not necessarily include every time someone has 'fallen' out a window."
"Yes, that is exactly what it sounds like, and Russia has perfected that particular art of murder."
"The list of journalists who have died while in Russia, including many who are are highly likely to have been killed by the government is also incredibly long."
"Now, what do you notice about the list that I just handed you? If you're thinking 'My, that's a dedicated use of your various secret police forces for murder,' you are correct," she said. "But today we're going to talk about three names in particular, and the fact that Russia has moved a bit beyond putting arsenic in someone's tea when it comes to poisoning."
"Georgi Markov's infamous 'umbrella murder' in 1978, Alexander Litvinenko's 2006 death, and the attempt on the life of Sergei Viktorovich Skripal and his daughter Yulia."
"First up, we have Markov, and his death by a 'Bulgarian Umbrella," Ghanima continued. "A Bulgarian umbrella is an umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism which injects a small poisonous pellet containing ricin -- a biological warfare agent. It has a hollowed stalk in which the pellet neatly sits."
"It was used in -- and named for -- the assassination of the Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov on 7 September 1978." Ghanima smiled slightly. "The deliberate irony being that that was the birthday of the Bulgarian State Council chairman Todor Zhivkov, who had often been the target of Georgi Markov's criticism."
"The attack took place on Waterloo Bridge in London. Markov died four days later."
"A Bulgarian umbrella was also allegedly used in the failed assassination attempt against the Bulgarian dissident journalist Vladimir Kostov the same year in the Paris Métro, also using a ricin bullet. Both assassination attempts are believed to have been organised by the Bulgarian Secret Service of the time of the Cold War with the assistance of the KGB. And rumor has it that such an umbrella was intended to be used in the assassination of Pallo Jordan and Ronnie Kasrils by the South African Civil Cooperation Bureau death squad."
"Markov's death marked a turning point in delivery methods of poison, in that they were beginning to get more creative in their 'not window' methods of elimination. Ibn al-Khattab's sarin-laced letter in 2002, for example," Ghanima said. "And one of the most infamous being the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko."
"Alexander Litvinenko was an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service -- the FSB -- and its predecessor, the KGB, until he left the service and fled the country. Why? Because in 1998, Litvinenko and several other Russian intelligence officers said they had been ordered to kill Boris Berezovsky, a Russian businessman. Afterwards, when picking a patsy to take the fall, the Russian government began to persecute Litvinenko. He fled to the UK, where he criticised the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. In exile, Litvinenko worked with British and Spanish intelligence, sharing information about the Russian mafia in Europe and its connections with the Russian government."
"Just two weeks before his death, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human rights activist."
"Then, on 1 November 2006, Litvinenko was poisoned and later hospitalized. Earlier that day he had met two Russian ex-KGB officers, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, at the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel in London. He died on 23 November, becoming the first confirmed victim of lethal polonium-210-induced acute radiation syndrome," Ghanima stated, going up to the wipeboard to write out the cause of death and what followed....
"It was later discovered that the poison was in a teapot at the Millennium Hotel's Pine Bar from which Litvinenko drank some green tea. The symptoms seen in Litvinenko appeared consistent with an administered activity of approximately 2 GBq, which corresponds to about 10 micrograms of 210Po. That is 200 times the median lethal dose of around 238 μCi or 50 nanograms in the case of ingestion," she continued, writing swiftly. "The studies of the biodistribution of 210Po using gamma-ray spectrometry in post-mortem samples were used to estimate intake as 4.4 GBq."
She capped the marker and turned back to the class. "Now, to be clear, this was the third time these nitwits had attempted to murder Litvinenko. I need you to understand, they left polonium traces everywhere which put many people -- including themselves and their children -- at risk."
"Why? Because not only were the first two attempts duds, including disposing of polonium in hotel sinks--" Why yes, Ghanima was very offended by this display of incompetence. "They poisoned the tea pot they borrowed from the bar in a public restroom stall and left the bathroom a hotspot of contamination, not to mention the bar area where they met with Litvinenko, and the poor bar staff."
"Later, Forensic experts would test the entire bar area, the tables, and crockery. They examined 100 teapots, as well as cups, spoons, saucers, milk jugs. Litvinenko’s white ceramic teapot was not difficult to discover – it gave off readings of 100,000 becquerels per centimetre squared. The biggest reading came from the spout, as the teapot was put in the dishwasher afterwards and unknowingly reused for subsequent customers. The table where they sat registered 20,000 becquerels. Half that, ingested, was enough to kill a person."
Ghanima regarded the class seriously. "Poloniumis a miasma, a creeping fog. It was found inside the dishwasher, on the floor, till, a coffee strainer handle. There were traces on bottles of Martini and Tia Maria behind the bar, the ice-cream scoop, a chopping board. It turned up on chairs – with large alpha radiation readings from where the three Russians sat – and the piano stool. It turned up on people who were around Litvinenko in the aftermath, in their offices and homes, and left a wide trail across the city. Whoever sent Lugovoi and Kovtun to London must have known of the risks to others, and they did not care."
"And to be clear -- a freelance killer would probably not be able to manufacture polonium from commercially available products in the amounts used for Litvinenko's poisoning, because macroscopic amounts of polonium can only be produced in state-regulated nuclear reactors, even though one might extract polonium from publicly available products, such as antistatic fans. This was state-sanctioned."
"Litvinenko's allegations about misdeeds of the FSB and his public deathbed accusations that Putin was behind his poisoning resulted in worldwide media coverage, and the subsequent investigations by British authorities into the circumstances of Litvinenko's death led to serious diplomatic difficulties between the British and Russian governments."
"This case continues to have ripples today. In September 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia was responsible for the assassination of Litvinenko and ordered Russia to pay Litvinenko's wife €100,000 in damages plus €22,500 in costs. The ECHR found beyond reasonable doubt that Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun killed Litvinenko. The Court's decision is in line with the findings of a 2016 UK inquiry, in which the UK concluded that the murder was 'probably approved by Mr. Nikolai Patrushev, then head of the FSB, and also by President Putin.'"
"And in 2018, Russia did it again, to Sergei and Yulia Skripal. On 4 March 2018, Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia, who was visiting from Moscow, were found slipping in and out of consciousness on a public bench near a shopping centre in Salisbury by a doctor and nurse who were passing by. While at Salisbury District Hospital, they were put into induced comas to prevent organ damage. While it was touch-and-go, they did both, eventually, survive."
"Following the incident, health authorities checked 21 members of the emergency services and the public for symptoms. Two police officers were treated for possible minor symptoms, said to be itchy eyes and wheezing, while a third, Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who had been sent to Sergei Skripal's house, was in a serious condition."
"This time, the botched assassination attempt was a perfume bottle, found to have enough nerve agent -- a Russian-developed nerve agent Novichok -- to potentially kill thousands of people. It was recovered on 30 June 2018, when a civilian -- Charlie Rowley -- found a perfume bottle, later discovered to contain the agent, in a litter bin somewhere in Salisbury and gave it to Dawn Sturgess who sprayed it on her wrist. Sturgess fell ill within 15 minutes and died on 8 July, but Rowley, who also came into contact with the poison, survived. British police believed this incident was not a targeted attack, but a result of the way the nerve agent was disposed of after the poisoning in Salisbury."
"In an utterly fascinating turn of events, on 6 March 2018 Andrey Lugovoy, deputy of Russia's State Duma and 'alleged'" yes, you could hear her airquotes, "--killer of Alexander Litvinenko, in his interview with the Echo of Moscow said: 'Something constantly happens to Russian citizens who either run away from Russian justice, or for some reason choose for themselves a way of life they call a change of their Motherland. So the more Britain accepts on its territory every good-for-nothing, every scum from all over the world, the more problems they will have.' Which is a threat if I've ever heard one, and I've heard a lot of threats."
"In all three cases, Russia has, of course, blustered, pouted, and denied everything, as is their habit when called on their bad behaviour."
"Don't worry, we'll get to the Americans next week."
"If there is one thing the Russian governments understand, it is power," she continued, offering each student one of the handout. "Keep in mind, this is by no means an exhaustive list. It is simply confirmed, mostly political or military targets by the government, and does not necessarily include every time someone has 'fallen' out a window."
"Yes, that is exactly what it sounds like, and Russia has perfected that particular art of murder."
"The list of journalists who have died while in Russia, including many who are are highly likely to have been killed by the government is also incredibly long."
"Now, what do you notice about the list that I just handed you? If you're thinking 'My, that's a dedicated use of your various secret police forces for murder,' you are correct," she said. "But today we're going to talk about three names in particular, and the fact that Russia has moved a bit beyond putting arsenic in someone's tea when it comes to poisoning."
"Georgi Markov's infamous 'umbrella murder' in 1978, Alexander Litvinenko's 2006 death, and the attempt on the life of Sergei Viktorovich Skripal and his daughter Yulia."
"First up, we have Markov, and his death by a 'Bulgarian Umbrella," Ghanima continued. "A Bulgarian umbrella is an umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism which injects a small poisonous pellet containing ricin -- a biological warfare agent. It has a hollowed stalk in which the pellet neatly sits."
"It was used in -- and named for -- the assassination of the Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov on 7 September 1978." Ghanima smiled slightly. "The deliberate irony being that that was the birthday of the Bulgarian State Council chairman Todor Zhivkov, who had often been the target of Georgi Markov's criticism."
"The attack took place on Waterloo Bridge in London. Markov died four days later."
"A Bulgarian umbrella was also allegedly used in the failed assassination attempt against the Bulgarian dissident journalist Vladimir Kostov the same year in the Paris Métro, also using a ricin bullet. Both assassination attempts are believed to have been organised by the Bulgarian Secret Service of the time of the Cold War with the assistance of the KGB. And rumor has it that such an umbrella was intended to be used in the assassination of Pallo Jordan and Ronnie Kasrils by the South African Civil Cooperation Bureau death squad."
"Markov's death marked a turning point in delivery methods of poison, in that they were beginning to get more creative in their 'not window' methods of elimination. Ibn al-Khattab's sarin-laced letter in 2002, for example," Ghanima said. "And one of the most infamous being the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko."
"Alexander Litvinenko was an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service -- the FSB -- and its predecessor, the KGB, until he left the service and fled the country. Why? Because in 1998, Litvinenko and several other Russian intelligence officers said they had been ordered to kill Boris Berezovsky, a Russian businessman. Afterwards, when picking a patsy to take the fall, the Russian government began to persecute Litvinenko. He fled to the UK, where he criticised the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. In exile, Litvinenko worked with British and Spanish intelligence, sharing information about the Russian mafia in Europe and its connections with the Russian government."
"Just two weeks before his death, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human rights activist."
"Then, on 1 November 2006, Litvinenko was poisoned and later hospitalized. Earlier that day he had met two Russian ex-KGB officers, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, at the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel in London. He died on 23 November, becoming the first confirmed victim of lethal polonium-210-induced acute radiation syndrome," Ghanima stated, going up to the wipeboard to write out the cause of death and what followed....
"It was later discovered that the poison was in a teapot at the Millennium Hotel's Pine Bar from which Litvinenko drank some green tea. The symptoms seen in Litvinenko appeared consistent with an administered activity of approximately 2 GBq, which corresponds to about 10 micrograms of 210Po. That is 200 times the median lethal dose of around 238 μCi or 50 nanograms in the case of ingestion," she continued, writing swiftly. "The studies of the biodistribution of 210Po using gamma-ray spectrometry in post-mortem samples were used to estimate intake as 4.4 GBq."
She capped the marker and turned back to the class. "Now, to be clear, this was the third time these nitwits had attempted to murder Litvinenko. I need you to understand, they left polonium traces everywhere which put many people -- including themselves and their children -- at risk."
"Why? Because not only were the first two attempts duds, including disposing of polonium in hotel sinks--" Why yes, Ghanima was very offended by this display of incompetence. "They poisoned the tea pot they borrowed from the bar in a public restroom stall and left the bathroom a hotspot of contamination, not to mention the bar area where they met with Litvinenko, and the poor bar staff."
"Later, Forensic experts would test the entire bar area, the tables, and crockery. They examined 100 teapots, as well as cups, spoons, saucers, milk jugs. Litvinenko’s white ceramic teapot was not difficult to discover – it gave off readings of 100,000 becquerels per centimetre squared. The biggest reading came from the spout, as the teapot was put in the dishwasher afterwards and unknowingly reused for subsequent customers. The table where they sat registered 20,000 becquerels. Half that, ingested, was enough to kill a person."
Ghanima regarded the class seriously. "Poloniumis a miasma, a creeping fog. It was found inside the dishwasher, on the floor, till, a coffee strainer handle. There were traces on bottles of Martini and Tia Maria behind the bar, the ice-cream scoop, a chopping board. It turned up on chairs – with large alpha radiation readings from where the three Russians sat – and the piano stool. It turned up on people who were around Litvinenko in the aftermath, in their offices and homes, and left a wide trail across the city. Whoever sent Lugovoi and Kovtun to London must have known of the risks to others, and they did not care."
"And to be clear -- a freelance killer would probably not be able to manufacture polonium from commercially available products in the amounts used for Litvinenko's poisoning, because macroscopic amounts of polonium can only be produced in state-regulated nuclear reactors, even though one might extract polonium from publicly available products, such as antistatic fans. This was state-sanctioned."
"Litvinenko's allegations about misdeeds of the FSB and his public deathbed accusations that Putin was behind his poisoning resulted in worldwide media coverage, and the subsequent investigations by British authorities into the circumstances of Litvinenko's death led to serious diplomatic difficulties between the British and Russian governments."
"This case continues to have ripples today. In September 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia was responsible for the assassination of Litvinenko and ordered Russia to pay Litvinenko's wife €100,000 in damages plus €22,500 in costs. The ECHR found beyond reasonable doubt that Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun killed Litvinenko. The Court's decision is in line with the findings of a 2016 UK inquiry, in which the UK concluded that the murder was 'probably approved by Mr. Nikolai Patrushev, then head of the FSB, and also by President Putin.'"
"And in 2018, Russia did it again, to Sergei and Yulia Skripal. On 4 March 2018, Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia, who was visiting from Moscow, were found slipping in and out of consciousness on a public bench near a shopping centre in Salisbury by a doctor and nurse who were passing by. While at Salisbury District Hospital, they were put into induced comas to prevent organ damage. While it was touch-and-go, they did both, eventually, survive."
"Following the incident, health authorities checked 21 members of the emergency services and the public for symptoms. Two police officers were treated for possible minor symptoms, said to be itchy eyes and wheezing, while a third, Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who had been sent to Sergei Skripal's house, was in a serious condition."
"This time, the botched assassination attempt was a perfume bottle, found to have enough nerve agent -- a Russian-developed nerve agent Novichok -- to potentially kill thousands of people. It was recovered on 30 June 2018, when a civilian -- Charlie Rowley -- found a perfume bottle, later discovered to contain the agent, in a litter bin somewhere in Salisbury and gave it to Dawn Sturgess who sprayed it on her wrist. Sturgess fell ill within 15 minutes and died on 8 July, but Rowley, who also came into contact with the poison, survived. British police believed this incident was not a targeted attack, but a result of the way the nerve agent was disposed of after the poisoning in Salisbury."
"In an utterly fascinating turn of events, on 6 March 2018 Andrey Lugovoy, deputy of Russia's State Duma and 'alleged'" yes, you could hear her airquotes, "--killer of Alexander Litvinenko, in his interview with the Echo of Moscow said: 'Something constantly happens to Russian citizens who either run away from Russian justice, or for some reason choose for themselves a way of life they call a change of their Motherland. So the more Britain accepts on its territory every good-for-nothing, every scum from all over the world, the more problems they will have.' Which is a threat if I've ever heard one, and I've heard a lot of threats."
"In all three cases, Russia has, of course, blustered, pouted, and denied everything, as is their habit when called on their bad behaviour."
Sign-In #11
During the Lecture
Discussion!
"And why use radioactive materials? Litvinenko's case alone threatened to take out British civilians, which does not serve political relations, and could have gone much, much worse. Then, a British civilian did die as a result of failure to dispose of the Skripal solution properly." Ghanima shook her head. "The entire point of using a poison is pinpoint accuracy. So, why a poison that sent up a red flag across the entire world?"
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