I found it interesting to read this morning about another exiled Russian having traces of the radioactive isotope Polonium-210 (210-Po) found in his office in London, which was the same element that killed Alexander Litvinenko (Radioactive traces found in office of another Putin critic by Sandra Laville and Tania Branigan).

*dons lab coat and chunky glasses*

There are 34 isotopes to Polonium, which is more than any other element - perhaps you could say it's showing off or something... The 210-Po isotope is highly radioactive and toxic (more poisonous than cyanide), and is classed as an "alpha emitter" - it gives off alpha radiation. This means it has to be ingested, inhaled or absorbed to do damage, but then you only need 0.12 of a microgram when ingested for it to be lethal (and even less if inhaled), plus it sticks around in the human system for up to 50 days. If you have enough curies of it together, it'll give off a blue glow (making an attractive and interesting centrepiece for your next romantic dinner...).

Earlier this year I watched a documentary about Lab X in Russia, which focused on the ways in which poisons produced there had been used in the assassinations or attempted assassinations of politicians, journalists, business people, spies and dissenters in the former USSR, such as the ricin poisoning in 1978 of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, and also more recently with events like the attempted poisoning of Viktor Yuschenko prior to the 2004 Ukrainian elections.

In the documentary, brief mention was made of a journalist or political opponent who died of poisoning following exposure to radioactive materials. But where would this guy have been exposed to the radiation was the puzzle. It was found that he'd been mailed things in which the KGB had put radioactive dust. Opening the envelopes saw the dust fall out and settle around his office, he and some other people who worked in the building inhaled it...

Similarities? Hmmm.