Report: Russians Used Photo of Litvinenko for Target Practice

Email

Print

Share

January 30, 2007 10:52 AM

Alleged footage of elite Russian troops using pictures of poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko for target practice has been posted on the Internet by a Polish newspaper Web site.

The video was allegedly shot years before the ex-spy's death, but if authentic shows that the Russians considered him a possible target for assassination for some time.

Watch a clip of the Litvinenko target practice video from the Polish Dziennik Daily.

The newspaper claims the footage was shot in 2002, two years after Litvinenko defected to the United Kingdom, where he publicly criticized the Russian security service, or the FSB, and Vladimir Putin.

The footage was allegedly filmed at a training camp outside Moscow for publicity purposes.  Snow can be seen on the ground, but there is no other indication as to when the footage was shot. 

It shows young soldiers weaving through an obstacle course before they pump rounds from revolvers into a photograph of Litvinenko, riddling his face with bullet holes. 

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

The video was obtained by the Moscow correspondent of "Dziennik Daily," one of the three biggest papers in Poland.

According to the report, the video was shot two days after the Dubrovka theater siege on Oct. 10, 2002, at Balashikha, a Russian SpecNaz base 10 kilometers outside Moscow.

Apparently, the base was originally set up for the training of the Interior Ministry's Alfa Units within the then KGB. After the demise of Alfa and the KGB, they became the Vityez Units within the new Russian secret security force known as the FSB. These are the troops who were deployed during Dubrovka and later in Beslan. 

ABC News was unable to independently verify the video's authenticity.

The Russian government denied any links with the training center and claimed it was run by a private company.

In related news, main suspect Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, two key figures in the investigation of Alexander Litvinenko, told Russia Today TV that they would consider going to Britain if requested by investigators.