Vladimir Putin probably knew about plans to murder dissident journalist Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, according to American diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. Litvinenko, you may recall, was poisoned with Polonium-210 in 2006 in London. He accused Putin of his murder before he died.
Litvinenko’s assassin now enjoys the “personal protection of Putin,” say the cables, which also call Russia a “virtual mafia state.”
(Update: Litvinenko’s widow weighs in.)
‘According to American diplomatic cables..’ You might as well buttress your argument with ‘according to the tooth fairy.’ This article is a vivid example of how amateurish and misleading American journalism is today. One might as well turn to reading scrawl on restroom walls.
Thanks for your comment. I’m not quite sure of your objection here: are you saying that the comments of diplomats are not to be trusted, or that we didn’t go far enough in detailing what was in the cables?
This post is now 7 years old, but we do still stand by it: the diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks did in fact say that Vladimir Putin probably knew about the plans to murder Alexander Litvinenko.