Vladimir Putin

[Sarmatian]

Meant as a general comment. I am not aware of any confirmed particulars regarding Putin. Russian history is replete with such episodes though, certainly from Ivan if not before.

Barring examples of quartering people for disobeying their divinely ordained rulers in the middle ages, there really aren't.

If the idea was to send a message, why use Polonium? Supposedly, Polonium is untraceable and Russian agents weren't aware that some new piece of technology in the west can detect Polonium. If you want to send a message to would-be traitors, you generally don't want it to look like the traitor died a natural death.

If the idea was just to exact revenge on him for badmouthing Putin... Well, that's a really thin argument. Thousands of people badmouthed him. Litvinenko was generally unknown to the wider public. Why choose him over everybody else and divert massive amount of attention to him? Seven years after he fled? It doesn't really make sense.

Since he already blew the whistle, there was also no reason to kill him. The deed's been done. Nothing more to gain except additional bad rep.

It's all pretty thin, and since there's absolutely zero evidence linking this to Putin and since British police didn't release any serious information, this is really tinfoil hat territory.