Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus

Grade 9-Lithium
English 3 (Anglo-American Literature)
Informative Paper
Imbang, Eugene Orteza-Imbang
From Russia with Hate
e
(Iz Rossii s Nenavistyu)
Martini. Shaken. Not Stirred. And pretty please with honey on top, no Polonium 210.
This should have been the bloody order of the late Litvinenko, Alexander Litvinenko, a
former KGB/FSS spy gone rogue and worked with the MI-6. Instead, what he got was a cup of
tea contaminated with a highly radioactive and also very Slavic element - Polonium.
December 25, 1991 - The world saw General Secretary and President Gorbachev, Mikhail
Sergejevich Gorbachev ( ) announced resignation as the head of
state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR/CCCP) (Soyuz Sovetskich
Socialistceskich Respublik/ ). Also, 13 out of
15 Soviet republics, namely Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan declared, either
through national referendums or through governments, dependence from Moscow. That same
day, the USSR seized to exist. Gorbachevs reform policies Glasnost n Perestroika (
), or literally Openness and Reconstruction, led to a gradual power hoover of the
Iron Curtain, as seen in November of 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, and eventually
gutting the superstate and its satellites. The largest of the 15 states in terms of territory and also
the seat of the Soviet government, Russian Federation, was recognized by the international

community as the successor state of the Soviet Union. The Russian Federation inherited the
Soviet military and security systems, including nuclear arsenals that only the USA matches and
the KGB (Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti/ ),
Moscows rough counterpart of the CIA, NSA and Homeland. The KGB was then broke into the
Foreign Intelligence Service and the Federal Security Service.
The FSS bore two of the definitely most well-known former KGB agents Putin,
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (' ' ') and Litvinenko, Alexander
Valterovich Litvinenko ( ). The former needs little
introduction because of the Russian Presidents machismo image, enigma and defiance with the
West as clearly seen in Ukraine and Syria. The latter was inducted in the list of series of
mysterious poisonings among anti-Kremlin sympathizers that includes a Ukrainian nationalist
and some Russian altenative media journalists.
In 1998, Alexander Litvinenko was arrested after exposing FSSs alleged plot to
assassinate the late tycoon Berezovsky, Boris Abrahamovich Berezovsky, who died in March
2013 after a suicide, as declared by the authorities, by mysteriously poisoning himself using
harmful chemicals. Litvinenko spent nine months in a remand center before being acquitted. In
1999, Litvinenko then co-wrote, along with historian-journalist Dr. Felshtinsky, Yuri Georgievich
Felshtinsky, the highly controversial book, Blowing up Russia ( ), which
accuses FSS for staging the bombings of apartments in Moscow and two other cities and frame
the Chechens of the accountability in order to (a) put pressure and eventually declare war on the
oil-rich and mostly Islam autonomous Republic of Chechnya and (b), promote the de facto FSS
head and acting president Putin, Vladimir Putin for the 2000 presidential elections in which Putin
won around 53% of the votes. Kremlin denied any of the accusations and Litvinenko was then

labeled rogue by the FSS. In fact, his face was used as target in gun trainings. In 2000,
Litvinenko fled the U.K. where he was granted asylum and citizenship.
During his stay in London, Litvinenko, Alexander Litvinenko was reported have several
meetings with some FSS agents and also MI-6 agents. The MI-6, or Military Intelligence Section
6 of the British Secret Intelligence Services, made famous thanks to the Fleming, Ian Fleming
novels and the Bond, James Bond films, was, alongside KGB and CIA, one of the biggest
players in international espionage especially during the Cold War. It was later revealed that he
was cooperating with the MI-6 about an investigation of alleged corruption among senior
Russian officials.
In November 1, 2006, at a hotel in London, Litvinenko, Alexander Litvinenko was
having tea with Lugovoi, Andrey Konstantinovich Lugovoi, a politician and now a member of
the Duma, and Kovtun, Dmitri Vladimirovich Kovtun, a businessman, both of who were also
former KGB/FSS agents. It was Litvinenkos last tea. He was later sent to hospital after three
days of vomiting. Within this period, according to his wife, Litvinenko, Marina Litvinenko,
Litvinenko, Alexander Litvinenko specifically pointed out Putin, Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin
as responsible for the poisoning. All of which the Kremlin has denied. It was later found out that
traces of radioactivity matched the location Kovtun and Lugovoi went during their stay.
Litvinenko, Alexander Litvinenko then died on November 23, 2006. According to British
officials and scientist, it was found out that he was poisoned by arguably one of the unique
element to be used for poisoning - Polonium 210.
Russia produces around 80% of the worlds Polonium supply. Just like much of its energy
sectors, Russia, natural rich in energy resources from the Caucasian oil to nuclear plants, holds
the biggest stock in companies that produce Polonium, Atomic Number 84 and Mass 209,

Polonium was the Latin for Polish people living outside Poland. It was named for its discoverer,
Sklodowska, Mariya Sklodowska who was a Polish living in France where she finished her
studies and married fellow chemist as physicist, Curie, Pierre Curie. Sklodowska, Mariya
Sklodowska then Frenchified her name into Curie, Marie Curie. She shared her first Nobel Prize
with Curie, Pierre Curie, for Physics in 1903 for their contribution in radioactivity. Her second
Nobel Prize, this time for Chemistry and for her alone as her husband died in an accident, was
awarded to her in 1911 for her discovery of Polonium and Radium. She spent her life using
radioactivity for medical purposes, especially during World War I. It was worth noting that the
Kingdom of Poland was part of the Czarist Russian Empire during her lifetime and France was in
the same web of alliance with both the Queen and the Czar. Curie, Marie Curie died in arguably
one of the most ironic deaths in history; she acquired leukemia after her lifelong exposure to
radioactivity. Nowadays, Sklodowska, Mariya Sklodowskas legacies remain mostly in the
medical purposes of radioactivity and Polonium until the death of Litvinenko, Alexander
Litvinenko where it was again used against ones life - this time with a possible ill intent.
In January 21, 2016, a publicized British investigation pointed out the credibility of the
theory that the Kremlin and Putin, Vladimir Putin himself, approved of the assassination. The
Kremlin responded by claiming that the investigation was politically biased, going as far as
accusing the MI-6 of staging the death. Despite apparent popular support of the Russian
involvement, the case still remains de jure unclosed, and does not show any signs to be closed in
the near future.