The Litvinenko Inquiry

Part 4 | Chapters 1 to 6 | Why would anyone wish to kill Alexander Litvinenko?
these matters, is also consistent with a number of documents that I admitted into
evidence. Mr Goldfarb referred to the contents of these documents when giving oral
evidence. 95
4.98 A US diplomatic cable dated 31 August 2009 published on the Wikileaks website 96
described two operations, codenamed Avispa and Troika, that the Spanish authorities
carried out against members of Russian organised crime groups in or about 2005 and
2006. The cable referred to allegations made in the Spanish press that Mr Litvinenko
had; “tipped off Spanish security officials on the location, roles and activities of
several ‘Russian’ mafia figures with ties to Spain.” The cable went on to assert that
Mr Litvinenko “allegedly provided information on Izguilov, Zakhar Kalashov and Tariel
Oniani to GOS [Government of Spain] officials during a May 2006 meeting.”
4.99 A further US cable published on Wikileaks appears to provide further support to the
idea that Mr Litvinenko was assisting Spanish authorities in their investigations into
Russian organised crime. This cable, dated 8 February 2010, 97 refers to the Spanish
prosecutor heading the investigation, named Jose Grinda Gonzales, quoting what he
described as a “thesis” by Mr Litvinenko. The ‘thesis’ was that: “the Russian intelligence
and security services … the FSB, the SVR and the GRU – control organised crime
in Russia.” The cable further records Mr Grinda as having stated that he himself,
“believes this thesis is accurate”.
4.100 If Mr Litvinenko did provide the type of assistance to the Spanish authorities that was
described in the evidence that I have summarised above – and in particular if it is
true that he was due to give evidence about these matters in court – the question that
arises for the purposes of this Inquiry is whether there could have been any connection
between those matters and his death. Is it possible, for example, that Mr Litvinenko
was killed in order either to punish him for assisting the Spanish authorities, or to
prevent him offering any further assistance, including perhaps giving evidence in
court? I shall return to this issue below.
95
Goldfarb 26/61-67
96
BLK000049
97
INQ015639
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