British officers investigating the fatal poisoning of Russian whistleblower Alexander Litvinenko claim they were also poisoned while pursuing the case in Moscow.
Litvinenko was a former KGB officer who defected to London shortly before his death to expose corruption within Kremlin’s security services. Litvinenko fell ill November 2006 after his tea was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210. He passed away 23 days later. (RELATED: Here’s The Circumstantial Evidence Linking Putin To The Murder Of Russia Whistleblower)
Scotland Yard officers travelled to Moscow to investigate the two men who allegedly put the polonium in Litvinenko’s tea. Brian Tarpey, who led the investigation, says his team was poisoned during a visit to the prosecutor general’s office.
“I had a cup of tea and we left. I started to feel uncomfortable. Not wanting to put too fine a point on it, I had the sh**s,” Tarpey said in a new Channel 4 documentary about the case. “We were probably poisoned with something like gastroenteritis. I think there was a deliberate ploy to weaken us physically because we were the decision makers in the team.”
The Russian embassy in the United Kingdom declined to comment on Tarpey’s accusations, according to The Sunday Times.
A British inquiry into the murder found “strong circumstantial evidence of Russian state responsibility.” Investigators concluded the assassination was likely ordered by President Vladimir Putin, but the 328-page report offers no direct evidence to back up the claim.
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