Litvinenko detective: Scotland Yard at risk if Skirpal inquiry goes to Russia - Polidicks

https://www.thedailybeast.com/uk-cops-will-be-at-risk-from-the-kremlin-if-inquiry-takes-them-to-russia-says-the-detective-who-hunted-litvinenkos-killers LONDON—As one of Britain’s most senior counterterror investigators, former Detective Inspector Brian Tarpey conducted operations at the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland; followed the trail of jihadis to North Africa; entered the notorious Black Beach prison in Equatorial Guinea; and tracked the 2005 London terrorists all the way back to their lawless training camps in Pakistan. In all of his investigations, he says he was harmed only once: in Moscow, during the hunt for the killers of Alexander Litvinenko. The Russian dissident had died in London after being poisoned with a dose of the radioactive isotope polonium-210 that was slipped into a pot of tea. The Russian authorities said they would help the team from Scotland Yard to run down their leads and interview the prime suspects. Instead the detectives encountered obstruction, ultimatums, subterfuge, intimidation, a possible body double, and even a case of suspected poisoning. It was the most difficult foreign assignment of Tarpey’s career.When he sat opposite a delegation from the Russian prosecutor general’s office at the beginning of the trip in December 2006, he had no idea that the rogues’ gallery on the other side of the long table featured some of Vladimir Putin’s top enforcers including a future member of the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions list and the suspected mastermind of Russia’s alleged pro-Trump influence campaign. After just a few days of investigation in Moscow, it was obvious to Tarpey that this supposedly independent branch of the justice system was being run as a de facto intelligence operation with immense power and resources. They weren’t tested at the time, but he’s convinced that he and a colleague were given tainted cups of tea inside the prosecutor general’s office, which left them both suffering from gastroenteritis-like symptoms. Tarpey began to feel unwell as soon as he left the building. The article lists the ways they tried to slow/obstruct their investigation, and that they might do worse if they go to russia to investigate who was behind what happened to Skirpal and Glushkov.

Nah, not at all fancying the idea of sending police. Send agents, counter-espionage is not a law enforcement task.

I think the fact that Russia offered help but attempted to obstruct the investigation is as good as a written confession that they were behind the attacks. That's yet another act of war to add on to their ever growing list.

It's just ridiculous at this point that we still tiptoe around every time something like this happens saying things like "well I'm sure Russia will help us catch the killers!" and "maybe it was Russians who did it but not the government" like come on

If I were law enforcement I'd probably resign right then and there, fuck that. I'm not going to make myself fresh meat for whatever mafioso motherfuckers or poison-parties they have planned for me just walking in there all open. You're exactly right.