Mos
News
Friday, December 1, 2006
Russian nuclear energy chief stated officially that a radioactive
element of Polonium 210 which had caused death of former FSB agent
Alexander Litvinenko could not be obtained illegally in Russia,
the Reuters news agency reported Friday.
Traces of polonium have also been found in several passenger
aircraft and at several places in London, some of which Alexander
Litvinenko —- a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir
Putin —- visited before his death. In his last note, made
public by friends after his death, Litvinenko said Putin was behind
his murder. The Kremlin and Russian secret services have denied
any connection with his death.
The head of Russia’s state atomic energy agency Rosatom,
Sergei Kiriyenko, told the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta
that Russia produces only 8 grams of Polonium 210 a month. “All
this amount goes to U.S. companies through a single authorised
supplier, Tekhsnabexport company,” the newspaper quoted
Kiriyenko as saying.
Kiriyenko refused to say how polonium was produced, but said
nuclear reactors like the Russian RMBK or the Canadian CANDU were
needed to make it.
“In Russia all nuclear reactors, including those used for
research, are government property tightly controlled by federal
authorities,” he said.
