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Quality newspapers vs. Tabloid newspapers set 1. Litvinenko case

Article 1. QUALITY NEWSPAPER

EX-SPY ‘KILLED FOR DOSSIER

On kremlin boss’

Jonathan Calvert and Mark Franchetti

December 17, 2006 The Sunday Times

A FORMER associate of Alexander Litvinenko has claimed that the ex-spy was killed because he had collected sensitive information on a high-ranking Kremlin official.

Yuri Shvets, a former spy now based in America, claims Litvinenko had been doing due diligence work for a British company on the official, who was facilitating a business deal.

Shvets believes Litvinenko had acquired a damaging eight-page dossier with details on the official that may have ruined a multi-million-pound deal with the British company.

The claims shed new light on the activities of Litvinenko, who died on November 23 after being poisoned with polonium-210, a radioactive substance.

His death has been the subject of several theories, including claims that he was murdered in a Kremlin plot to silence his criticism of Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Shvets is a former KGB major who now works from Washington, advising businesses on corruption and security in the former Soviet Union.

He has been interviewed by detectives from Scotland Yard. He gave his first full interview last week to his friend Tom Mangold, a journalist, in a programme for BBC Radio 4.

Shvets says Litvinenko came to him for help after a British security company had offered him a $100,000 contract to do due diligence work on five Russian figures.

One of the five, whom Shvets refused to name, is said to be a powerful Kremlin official.

Litvinenko acquired the eight-page dossier on September 20. Shvets says Litvinenko showed the dossier to Andrei Lugovoi, another former Russian agent, two weeks later.

This, Shvets believes, was a mistake because he claims Lugovoi probably tipped off the official about the dossier.

''I believe the dossier was the trigger for the assassination,'' he said.

Lugovoi met Litvinenko at the Millennium hotel in London on November 1, the suspected day of the poisoning. Lugovoi has denied any involvement in the murder and is himself contaminated with polonium.

Scotland Yard detectives were present at interviews with Lugovoi and others during a visit to Moscow last week. The British officers were not allowed to put any questions, however. Russian prosecutors conducted the interview.

Article 2. TABLOID NEWSPAPERS

Poisoned for writing dossier

By Online Reporter (The Sun)

December 16, 2006

MURDERED Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was killed because of an eight-page dossier he had compiled on a powerful Russian figure, a business associate has said.

Litvinenko died on November 23, after receiving a lethal dose of radioactive polonium 210.

On his deathbed, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his killing.

The Kremlin has denied involvement.

Ex-spy Yuri Shvets, who is based in America, said Litvinenko was asked to write reports on five Russians for a British company before investment deals were made. He asked Shvets for help.

The British company was not named, but Shvets said he had passed Litvinenko the information for the dossier on one individual in September.

Shvets said the report contained damaging personal details about a ''very highly placed member of Putin’s administration.''

''Litvinenko obtained the report on September 20. ''Within the next two weeks he gave the report to Andrei Lugovoy. I believe that triggered the entire assassination,'' he said.

Shvets said Litvinenko had given the dossier to Lugovoy to show him how reports on Russian companies and individuals should be presented to western clients.

However, Shvets said he believed Lugovoy was still employed by the Russian secret service the FSB, the successor to the KGB, and had leaked Litvinenko’s dossier to the Russian figure.

Shvets said the report had led to the British company pulling out of a deal, losing the Russian figure potential earnings of ''dozens of millions of dollars. ''Lugovoy and businessman Dmitry Kovtun met Litvinenko at a central London hotel, soon after he had met Italian KGB expert Mario Scaramella at a sushi bar. Litvinenko felt ill that night and two days later was admitted to hospital.

''Litvinenko told me he met Lugovoy and other Russians and they offered him tea that wasn’t made in front of him,'' said Shvets.