No worries, the Tsar will bury this story tout de suite.

Should we recognize him without reference?

He is a Russian spy who died from polonium poisoning.

I know who he is, but I would not recognize what he looks like.
I don't think most would. Sometimes posters can be too clever,

Alexander Litvinenko.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-19647226

needed a caption.

Larger point of course is Putin kills people.

Sorry about that but I know the Litvinenko story generated some good amount of discussion on DU!

Pretty much what one . . . . oh, not that kind of poster.

these posters:
https://www.rt.com/

not these posters

[IMG][/IMG]

before being declared "dead".

See Yasser Arafat or Ariel Sharon.

Pass the tinfoil, Mother!

who get their news from RT will say.

Is anybody alleging he died from anything other than natural causes?

"Igor Sergun" sounds like a dangerous dude...like out of a James Bond movie...

And Abby Martin before him?

I hope you also never watch MSNBC owned by GE one of the biggest arms makers in the world.

If you actually think that those two would cow down and be bought off to just be propaganda arms of Putin you don't know them very well. I don't listen regularly to RT, but catch clips now and again. Does the American RT have full depth and embarrassing investigations of the Russian government?...No. Does the corporate American MSM have truly full depth investigations of the US government?....No.
Just like the US administration was happy to watch the American MSM demonize Putin and Russia when it attacked the Ukraine, Putin is content to sit back and enable the American arm of RT to enlighten the world about American misbehaviour. But if you'd prefer to restrict your news sources to American approved news sources, its your (narrow) choice.

whether it's the BBC or CBC or Mother Jones or Al Jeezera, is lying.
Just shouldn't listen to criticism on great leader Putin.
Taking his side in Ukraine tells me all i need to know about your views.

not quite as shocked as i used to be

my mom died at 93 she outlived almost all her buddies

Just wondering.

The west tends to make a bit of noise about the modern Russian FSB being descended from the KGB, but the story of the Ukrainian SBU has gone largely unreported.

Here's the nutshell version: Ukraine had its own division of the KGB that was fully integrated into the Soviet KGB. When the USSR disintegrated and Ukraine gained its independence, the Ukrainian KGB became the SBU, keeping its facilities, spymasters, assassins, and everything else. Very few of their spies and resources transferred to Russia. The SBU has operated as an enforcement agency of the Ukrainian government ever since.

After Euromaidan in 2014, the SBU temporarily disintegrated. Nearly ALL of its leadership fled to Russia, and thousands of its spies (yes, THOUSANDS) switched sides and went to Russia. The agency briefly ceased to exist as the Ukrainian government subsequently interrogated everyone who didn't flee in order to root out any remaining spies. It was eventually reestablished, and is now a mix of loyal old guard ex KGB agents and younger western Ukrainians who are charged with not only protecting the country, but with spying on each other to assure loyalty.

So what do have today? A KGB trained secret service that is desperate to prove its loyalty to the new government, filled with young anti-Russian western Ukrainians aching for a chance to strike back at Russia. What better way to do it than to use those KGB skills to take out two of the men they hold responsible for attacking their homeland?

don't deserve to be a regional power.

If it's not Putin, Kadyrov from Chechnya can't be ruled out of any crime that happens.

They are descended from the same KGB that created Putin, and still have many old guard ex-KGB on their payroll. The KGB pulled its recruits from all corners of the Soviet Union and Ukraine was no exception. Many of those ex-KGB are now loyal to Ukraine and built the current SBU. While their numbers may be small, these guys trained alongside their modern Russian opponents and are just as capable of performing an assasination.

Thousands of SBU agents went to Russia after the last Ukrainian government was overthrown. It's not a reach to believe that at least a few of them are still loyal to Ukraine and were simply taking advantage of the opportunity to embed themselves into their "enemy" nation. And even if they didn't, the border between the nations is trivially easy to cross, so an SBU assassin would have had an easy time entering into Russia.

But you're right when you point out that there are other players who could have done it. Kadyrov certainly has motive, though it seems like a bold move for him to make. The Georgian's have their own ex-KGB spymasters in play who would love to avenge what this guy did to their nation. Hell, even the Malaysians have reason, as this guy was personally fingered as being responsible for transferring the Buk missiles to Ukraine that were responsible for bringing down MH-17 (an airliner that also carried nationals from OTHER countries that might be interested in a bit of justice). This guy had a LONG list of people who might want him dead, and an even longer list of people who might like to kill him in an attempt to disrupt Putin.

Or he might have just had a heart attack. It's all just speculation, right?

"Oh, Vlad! You're such a killer!"

Killing an active spy chief and active members of the military leadership is disruptive to current Russian military operations. If Putin wanted them dead, it seems like it would have been better to retire them, get new people running in their positions and THEN kill them off. Why endanger your current and ongoing military operations over an internal disagreement? It really doesn't make sense to kill off the spymaster who is CURRENTLY overseeing both of your nations wars.

On the other hand, if you're one of the groups the Russians are currently pissing off, both of these men would make excellent assassination targets. Killing them disrupts Russia's military and intelligence communities, and sticks a finger in Putin's eye. It also makes all of the OTHER people blindly following Putin's orders question Russia's ability to protect them from retaliation. If Russia can't even protect the head of its intelligence agency from assassination (and this guy is basically the equivalent of our Director of the CIA), then what chance do the little guys below them have?

Who benefits most from these deaths?

be noisy and make news. My hunch is, it's premature to draw any conclusion of foul play. Has anyone considered the possibility of suicide(s) - that might fairly be described as causing a blood clot?

We'll never know. But, it's been fun playing Kremlin Watch again. Until next time!

Making sure nothing comes back to bite him in the Ass.

Chapter 21-Omaha
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016139460

That's what the Kremlin said after more than one former premier died unexpectedly.

Chapter 21-Omaha
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016139460