Like Nobody's Businessman
The title of the story currently above the fold at Drudge is "Poisoned Russian Spy Dies." One of the related links in the upper-left corner reads "Businessman says he, 2 others, met Russian ex-spy." The story opens this way:
A Russian former intelligence officer was quoted in a newspaper on Friday as saying he and two other men met ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in a London hotel on November 1, the day before Litvinenko complained of feeling unwell.
Given Russia's long-standing antipathy to Anglo-American capitalism, plus the fact that the phrase "Russian businessman" was for 8 decades an oxymoron, reading that line made me wonder what line of "business" this former intelligence officer was in. While the story never specifies precisely what said "businessman" does, there are a few valuable clues:
Businessman Andrei Lugovoy, a former officer in the FSB state security service, told Kommersant daily newspaper that he had known Litvinenko since 1996 and had been in touch with him in London several times over business affairs. "There was nothing personal in our contacts -- only business," Lugovoy was quoted as saying. Lugovoy said he went to London to see a football match between Moscow's CSKA and London's Arsenal and on November 1 he met Litvinenko in the bar of a London hotel.
Sounds to me like Lugovoy is in the it's-nothing-personal-it's-just-business business. Either that or the I-am-going-to-make-him-an-offer-he-can't-refuse business.
Update: The Urban Hermit says that Lugovoy "provides security for some of Russia’s richest men."
Update 2: Reuters is reporting that authorities "have found levels of radiation in a London sushi bar where he (Litvinenko) ate just before he became sick."
See "Like Nobody's Businessman II: A Dish Served Cold" | The Belmont Club: The return of SMERSH
Tags: Alexander Litvinenko
See also: From Russia with Lunch