A Russian FSB defector, Mr Litvinenko, who was said to have been poisoned by the FSB in London, gave a rather lengthy interview in Russian to the Chechenpress news agency on Thursday.
On Wednesday, his close friend Goldfarb from New York City, who is in regular contact with him, said in an interview to a Russian newspaper that Mr Litvinenko's clinical condition suddenly sharply worsened, that he was now unable to speak and was dying in a resuscitation ward in a London hospital.
Mr Litvinenko being confronted with this question seems, in fact, far from dying.
In his interview to the Chechenpress, he rejected reports from Russian media citing an unnamed FSB official that he had visited Moscow this October. According to Mr Livinenko, he has never been to Moscow after his defection in 2000.
He also denied reports from Russian media citing a Scotland Yard official that the London police knew nothing about his case. "I am actively working with the police in my hospital", Mr Litvinenko said.
Being confronted with two contradictory statements, it is really impossible to say who of them, the police or the defector, is speaking the truth.
Mr Litvinenko who is known to be capable of hoaxes has little credit with Western press after he wrongly accused some Al Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden of being former KGB agents. He also said in 2001 that it was the FSB that masterminded the 9/11. In both cases, Mr Litvinenko referred to his obscure "private conversations" with some FSB officials in Russia.
The most interesting thing for a journalist here is not the poisoning as such, real or feigned, but the working patterns of secret services and the fact that Western press keeps a total mum on the story.
Dmitriy Orlov
KC
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