UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Former Russian spy poisoned in London restaurant now being treated in intensive care unit

A former Russian spy fighting for his life in a London hospital after being poisoned was the target of a Kremlin-backed plot, a close friend said on Monday (November 20), a claim Moscow called "nonsense". Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence agent is being treated in the Intensive care unit at London's University College hospital after being poisoned with thallium, a highly toxic chemical. Thallium attacks the nervous system lungs, heart, liver and kidneys. The colourless, odourless toxin results in hair loss, vomiting and diarrhoea. One gram can be enough to kill. The hospital said Litvinenko's condition had deteriorated slightly overnight and he had been transferred to intensive care. Doctors say he has only a 50/50 chance of surviving. In a case with echoes of a classic Cold War spy tale, Alexander Goldfarb, who helped Litvinenko defect to Britain six years ago, told Reuters the former spy was the victim of a plot directed from the heart of the Russian government. After visiting Litvinenko in hospital Goldfarb said his friend's condition was serious. "He is at risk of sudden deterioration and so he has to be constantly monitored, you know, like his heart functions and so on, his blood chemistry. So they keep him on monitors and he is in intensive care unit but to me he is in the same situation as yesterday, there is no visual deterioration," Goldfarb said. A Kremlin spokesman dismissed allegations that Litvinenko, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was the victim of an assassination attempt by Russian security services. Goldfarb said Litvinenko looked very ill. "He is, he looks very bad, he lost all his hair so visually to me he looks very tired and he looks very much older than he really is. He is thin, he is still not eating so they are feeding him intravenously. Medically, as I understand from the the doctor, there are several danger points to his life. Obviously it may be a sudden heart failure or sudden kidney failure or sudden infection, because his bone marrow is not getting any signs of function so far," said Goldfarb. British police are investigating after Litvinenko, a former colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the KGB, said he fell ill after meeting a contact while probing the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Politkovskaya, who had criticised Kremlin policy in the troubled Chechnya region, was shot dead by an unknown gunman in her apartment building on October 7. Politkovskaya, a mother of two, was well-known for exposing rights abuses by Russian troops and remained critical of Moscow's campaign despite intense government pressure. Litvinenko said he fell ill after meeting a contact while investigating Politkovskaya's killing. Interviewed in the year 2000 Litvinenko said he had left Russia because he feared for his life and the safety of his family. "If I return to Russia I won't last long there. I won't live long. I was told that I had betrayed the system and that the Federal Security Service does not forgive traitors," he said. In Moscow, deputy Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no need to comment on statements that were pure nonsense. An FSB spokesman declined comment and the Russian embassy in London described Litvinenko's case as an "accident". Asked why he suspected Kremlin involvement, Goldfarb said Litvinenko was one of Putin's fiercest critics. A former colonel in the Russian secret service, Litvinenko was admitted to hospital on November 1 after having lunch in a sushi bar with a mysterious contact known only as Mario. "I ordered lunch but he ate nothing. He appeared to be very nervous. He handed me a four-page document which he said he wanted me to read right away," Litvinenko told The Sunday Times newspaper from his hospital bed. "It contained a list of names of people, including FSB (Federal Security Service) officers, who were purported to be connected with the journalist's murder," he added. Litvinenko said: "They probably thought I would be dead from heart failure by the third day." "I do feel very bad. I've never felt like this before -- like my life is hanging on the ropes" Litvinenko told the paper. Scotland Yard police headquarters refused to go into details but a spokeswoman no arrests have been made and inquiries are continuing."

ITN Source | November 20, 2006

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