Steve LeVine - Putin's Labyrinth

According to Anna’s accountAnna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta, September 9, 2004.

“beat me on the face and”Anna Politkovskaya quoted by News-night, BBC, September 13, 2004.

“almost hopeless”Anna Politkovskaya, Novaya Gazeta, September 9, 2004.

Anna was irritated at herAuthor interview with Baranovskaya.

She told the onetime KGB officerAuthor interview with Marina Litvinenko, Alexander’s wife.

“Think about that”Author interview with Kudimov.

“at the point of breaking”Quotes and foreign visitor anecdote from author interview with Morozova. In an interview with the author, Kudimov confirmed the details.

“I am a pariah”Anna Politkovskaya, The Washington Post, October 15, 2006.

“If you want to go on”Anna Politkovskaya, Guardian, September 9, 2004.

“I know this is all going”Author interview with Baranovskaya, to whom Anna made the remark.

“I know I am not going”Author interview with Yevgenia Albats, to whom Anna made the remark.

“feel that this woman knew”Author interview with Mariane Pearl.

“I’m putting this document here”Author interview with Vera Politkovskaya, May 2, 2007.

“whose job, to say it softly”Author interview with Sergei Lapin, April 14, 2007.

“One could hardly believe”Author interview with Vera Politkovskaya.

“She never simply promised”Author interview with Vera Politkovskaya.

“return to a normal life”Author interview with Khaykina.

“Stalin of our times”Anna Politkovskaya interview with RFE-RL on October 5, 2006.

“You are close”Detail of October 7, 2006, and quote from author interview with Vera Politkovskaya.

A man in a baseball capDetails of murder from The Independent (London), October 8, 2006. All credible accounts coincide on these details.

Vera didn’t believeAuthor interview with Vera Politkovskaya.

Anna’s friend from childhoodDetail and quote from author interview with Morozova.

Elena telephoned Masha KhaykinaDetail and quote from author interviews with Morozova and Khaykina.

“Oi, Alexander, I have”Author interview with Marina Litvinenko.

Vladimir Putin was atAuthor interview with Yuri Kudimov, who knew of the birthday party from his KGB friends.

“influence on the country’s”Vladimir Putin, quoted by the BBC News online, October 10, 2006.

Oleg Panfilov, with whom I workedAuthor interview with Panfilov.

A while after Anna’s deathAuthor interview with Fadeeva.

“My name is Alexander Litvinenko”Alexander Litvinenko, appearance at the Frontline Club, YouTube videotape, October 19, 2006.

“like a person in a bazaar”Author interview with Marina Litvinenko.

His interrogation of a Chechen teenagerGoldfarb and Litvinenko, Death of a Dissident, 89–90.

“He thought everyone was working”Author interview with Felshtinsky.

“The view inside our”Litvinenko quoted in The New York Times, December 16, 2004.

“his bosses learned that”Alexander Litvinenko, ChechenPress, July 5, 2006.

Some who knew him said LitvinenkoThis was a consistent assertion of those close to Anna. One of them was Ilya Politkovsky, Anna’s son, who expressed this opinion in an interview with the author.

He rang the London policeBritish authorities briefly arrested Andrei Ponkin and Alexei Alyokhin after Litvinenko alleged that they had attempted to recruit him to help murder Putin, according to Interfax news service, October 21, 2003. Ponkin, who was one of the FSB whistle-blowers in the famous November 1998 news conference, said he met with Litvinenko and Boris Berezovsky to discuss a business affair, when they were introduced to British intelligence officials who attempted to get them to defect.

Yet he had solid sourcesSeparate author interviews with Marina Litvinenko and Oleg Gordievsky.

Yet Litvinenko found an ear inBackground on Litvinenko’s cooperation with British intelligence from a well-connected source who discussed it on condition of anonymity.

“There is no need to analyze”Boris Labusov quoted by Interfax, September 4, 2003.

“Discussing our involvement is really”Boris Labusov quoted by Nezavisimaya Gazeta, October 18, 2004.

“History knows a lot of cases”Boris Labusov quoted by Interfax, October 16, 2004.

FSB marksmen used large photographsThe story of Litvinenko’s image being used in target practice by Russian special forces broke in Poland’s Dziennik Online, January 30, 2007.

The Russian embassy left aAuthor interview with Marina Litvinenko.

“all matters linked to Litvinenko”Mikhail Trepashkin quotes and detail by Mark Franchetti, The Times (London), December 9, 2007.

“Every time I publish something on”Quote and detail from Julia Svetlichnaja, The Observer, December 3, 2006.

“He was probably thinking”Author interview with Felshtinsky.

“I can really do well”Quote and detail from author interview with Marina Litvinenko.

“We ourselves could have”Ibid.

One of his notableAuthor interview with a source familiar with the firm who asked not to be identified.

“Sasha, if I deposited my”Author interview with Felshtinsky.

“demanded considerable attention”Author interview with Berezovsky.

“something that could wait”Author interview with Felshtinsky.

On January 23, 2006, BerezovskyDescription of birthday party from author interview with Felshtinsky; detail on Lugovoi’s relationship with Litvinenko from author interview with Marina Litvinenko.

Litvinenko was an FSB officerIn a series of long interviews with Mark Franchetti of The Sunday Times (London), Lugovoi claimed that Litvinenko had called him prior to Berezovsky’s sixtieth birthday seeking a business relationship. Franchetti’s story on the interviews was published in the paper on November 25, 2007.

Lugovoi provided a background reportAuthor interview with a source familiar with the attitude at Titon; the source wished not to be identified.

“those slandering the”Law quoted in “Russia law on killing ‘extremists’ abroad,” BBC online, November 27, 2006.

“traitor”Litvinenko’s former supervisor at the FSB, Alexander Gusak, quoted in “Litvinenko ‘a traitor’—ex-boss,” BBC online, February 7, 2007.

“I was there with him a”Vladimir Bukovsky, speaking in documentary by Jos de Putter, VPRO, 2007.

“He believed that he would”Marina Litvinenko quoted by Kommersant, December 21, 2006.

“I’m British,” he said elatedlyAuthor interview with Felshtinsky; Andrei Nekrasov speaking in VPRO documentary of 2007.