AP via CBS.com
"60 Minutes" correspondent Bob Simon has a report tomorrow night on murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned by Polonium in November, which includes the statement by an acquaintance that Litvinenko was planning to blackmail a Russian oligarch prior to his death.
Russian graduate student Julia Svetlichnaya met with Litvinenko in London, where there is a thriving Russian ex-pat community, and said that Litvinenko told her he was planning to blackmail a wealthy Russian oligarch, and claimed he had a connection to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Litvinenko accused Putin of orchestrating his poisoning from his deathbed, and issued a posthumous statement reiterating those accusations.
Litvinenko's widow, Marina, denies that her husband was capable of blackmail. Though Svetlichnaya would not reveal the name of the Russian businessman, she did say that it was not billionaire Boris Berezovsky, whose life Litvinenko had saved in the past and who was reportedly a source of income for Litvinenko going forward. More here; "60 Minutes" airs tomorrow night, Sunday, Jan. 7, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
