The ex-KGB spy Litvinenko's story still intrigues the news audience.

CNN has a report that a friend of Litvinenko's, another Russian ex spy in exile, says that he knows who killed him. Yuri Shvets, who lives in the US, says that he has told the police the identities of the people responsible for Litvinenko's death.



I have a hard time believing this latest revelation. It all seems to be too obvious. The allegations are that the killers are the Russian secret services. The key word in here is 'secret'. But when every Tom, Dick and Harry ex spy knows all the details then there is not much secret, is there? True, the public eventually learns the dirty tricks of the secret services of different countries but usually these deeds are revealed late. And usually, the names of the agents involved are never revealed.



I have to give a little bit of consideration to the Russian government's explanation of all this. It does seem that there is a conspiracy to discredit the Russians. I mean, they are not angels by any means, but I don't think they are as stupid as to kill someone with such a highly visible method in order to silence him. If Litvinenko had slipped in the London underground and fallen under a train, he would have been silenced and his death would have been deemed as an accident.