He says it was done by US and UK secret services and that he is going to go public with the evidence
by Ricky Twisdale for Russia Insider
Paul Barril
A former French official who has had senior roles in internal security and terror fighting has come forward with a remarkable statement: that he has documentary evidence proving that Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy who died from polonium poisoning, was killed by US and UK special services.
In a lengthy interview which is soon to be published, he goes further, saying that Litvinenko’s murder was a special sevices operation designed to defame Russia and Vladimir Putin, that the notorious Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky was involved, and was himself killed by MI6 when he became a liability. He even says he knows the code name of the operation: “Beluga”.
News of this broke on Sunday, March 27 in an article by William Dunkerley titled “Operation Beluga: A US-UK Plot to Discredit Putin and Destabilize the Russian Federation.” In it Dunkerley said:
Renowned French security expert Paul Barril has let loose a bombshell: the existence of Operation Beluga, a covert Western intelligence scheme intended to undermine Russia and its leaders.
Is that what’s behind much of the threatening rhetoric now going back and forth between the US and Russia?
Barril exposed Operation Beluga in a recent interview with Swiss businessman Pascal Najadi on the 2006 Alexander Litvinenko death case. Litvinenko was a reputed former spy who many believe was murdered with radioactive polonium on orders of Vladimir Putin.
Najadi says the interview drew out the converse revelation that Litvinenko was actually killed by “an Italian who administered the deadly polonium 210.” What’s more, he astonishingly says, the operation was carried out under the auspices of the US and UK.
In my books The Phony Litvinenko Murder and Litvinenko Murder Case Solved I’ve written about an Italian connection. But I can’t confirm that Barril is talking about the same person.
Barril’s allegations should be taken seriously. He is a renowned French intelligence figure who is known in France as “Superflic”, which translates roughly as “Supercop.” In the French public eye he is a kind of combination of Eliot Ness, James Bond, and William Bratton. For many years he was the second in command of the ski-mask wearing GIGN, the legendary elite French special forces unit, who top the “badass” rankings of special forces anywhere, and had other high ranking internal security positions in the French government.
Since leaving government service he has handled security issues as a private contractor for heads of state in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. He has been at the center of several controversies over the years, and is a well-known author. There is no question that he has access to intelligence at the state level which would give him insights into this affair.
The French GIGN is one of the most feared and lethal special forces units in the world
In the interview, Barril alleges that Berezovsky was working closely with MI6 and the CIA to discredit Russia and Putin, and that large sums from these agencies were passing through Berezovsky’s hands to be paid to individuals to cooperate in these efforts. Barril says Litvinenko was one of Berezovsky’s bag men, who passed funds on to others.
Barril has been in the big leagues of state security for 4 decades
From the interview:
“Russia has nothing to do with (the murder of Litvinenko). The case was fabricated from the beginning. Polonium was chosen as the poison because due to its production in Russia it would implicate Russia. The objective of the whole operation was to discredit president Putin and the FSB. It was done because Russia is blocking US interests around the world, especially in Syria. It was an attempt to weaken Putin’s hold on power, to destabilize Russia.”
In the interview, Barril mentions the outspoken Putin foe, financier William Browder, as being in close cooperation with Berezovsky in the discreditation efforts. He also says he is sure Berezovsky was murdered by his secret service handlers after they realized he was behaving erratically and had to be silenced so that he wouldn’t give them away.
Barril has advised heads of state in the middle east, the gulf states in particular
Finally, he says he will make his evidence available to a public investigation of the affair if it is run by a credible individual. He suggests Carla del Ponte as a good choice to do it, because he is convinced she is not under the control of the CIA.
Barril’s allegations are sure to raise further questions around the 2006 Litvinenko murder, which hit the headlines again in January, 2016, when a UK public inquiry into the affair failed to deliver a conclusive verdict.
The case is 10 years old, but still elicits widespread public interest due the spy-thriller ingredients of the murder mystery: spy – counterspy hijinks, radiation poisonings, accusations (which have been conclusively debunked) that Putin himself ‘probably’ ordered the murder, seedy nightclubs, a disgraced oligarch who ends up mysteriously dead in his bathroom, sobbing widows on the stand, preposterous politicized “show” trials, politicians grandstanding, and much more.
An accomplished murder mystery author would have trouble coming up with something this surreal.
My deep respect to this man. I hope he has a good life insurance. As Stalinist – I pray for courageous Paul Barril!
Could this be a revolt in the French intelligence service? It’s understandable that they might of had enough incoherence from the empire. Who was it who said France would be first to revolt? Who will be next?
Look at the timing, right before the empire launches operation Beluga. It would also make sense that French intelligence is worried about who might come after Putin. Perhaps they know of someone far less diplomatic in the wings.
No time to read this right now—working—but on the basis of the lede, I hope this guy has personal body guard and food taster . . .
Katherine
The title of this Russia Insider article is badly misleading, a practice befitting a typical cheap sensationalistic western tabloid. Paul Barril is not “French Counter-Terror Boss”, but merely a former French official who in the past acted in some of the senior roles pertaining to internal security and counter-terrorism. A huge difference.
Just some additional info:
Paul Barril (13 April 1946 in Vinay, Isère) is a former officer of the French Gendarmerie Nationale.
Barril was a gendarme until 1995. He was the second officer of the GIGN Special Forces unit for 10 years, before being involved in the creation of the Counterterrorist Cell of the Élysée during François Mitterrand’s first mandate from 1981 to 1988.
Since then, he has led several private security companies.
Barril was second officer of the GIGN from 1974 to 1982, as aid to commandant Christian Prouteau.
In late 1979, he was dispatched to Saudi Arabia to help the Saudi government quell the Grand Mosque Seizure, an uprising at Islam’s holiest shrine in Mecca that was led by fundamentalist preached Juhayman al-Otaibi.
Barril was commander of the GIGN by interim in 1982-1983, while commandant Prouteau was organising the GSPR, a presidential security unit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Barril
All of the above means the guy can have some sensitive info
the guy can have some sensitive info …
‘n so can my grandmother, they say she was quite a gal in her hay-days…
In a similar vein, I wonder how much Barbara Bush knows. In her earlier pics she looks like a gangster’s mol.
How in the Earth is this man from the French intelligence services ( official I mean )?
I have understood that he runs “his own security business” in the private sector, so a contratist.
Having worked for the Gulf monarchies, who knows who is really behind this and what is the final goal.
As a rule I do not trust people who sold itself to the highest bidder and less in the business of ( dirt ) war .
Hi elsi,
> How in the Earth is this man from the French intelligence services ( official I mean )?
don’t forget that more and more former state functions get outsourced to private biz’es in (not only) western countries. Statehood gets increasingly replaced by private cororationism as part of globalization aka NWO. This extends to the highest levels of what once used to be public right/state’ish.
It would be a topic of its own. Not only the Fed is a private biz, rather than any Federal organization. Really almost everything is a biz now.
So your distinction of “private” versus “official” no longer works that linear way.
Nevertheless thanks for your research. Sure enough the original headline is simply incorrect.
I don’t believe a word this self-promoting mercenary says…
His motives then??
You mean he would risk getting killed only for making some “self-promoting”?
Or has Putin paid him?
Or the US/UK/IL have paid him to discredit themselves?
Sounds laughable.
heck I believe I would be killed.. I am just such a self righteous important kind of person who thinks highly of himself.. But of course it is what others in power believe that matters.
Why would they care? Just because you know don’t make you dangerous. Lots of people know things. It is what that knowledge can give you access to that makes you dangerous. Like the people who brought a lot of puts on airlines before 911.. no ones heard of that dead end after that.. like 6 feet under..
That’s not me: Saker, you need to control/distinguish between those with the same Christian name – who posted here first?
Ralph – if someone else is using the same name maybe you should call yourself Ralph1. Mod on Duty
Ralph,
last week I had the same problem with some “Martin” suddenly popping up, who mentioned he lives in Scandinavia. I dealt with the problem by simply replying to him, that he and myself are not the same person.
It is me only if I use the long form “Martin from Soviet East-Berlin” or the shortcut “Martin from S.E.B.”
Even then it could still be anybody else stealing my identification.
@Mod on Duty: I agree with Ralph that not he should be forced to change his name, but 1st come, 1st serve. On the other hand it may be too much overhead to deal with such aspects (since no credentials are required to post, not even a confirmation email). So as long as nobody pops up who repeatedly rants against one of us regular guests (like this “Martin from Capitalist East-Berlin” Putin-hater a few months ago) there are probably more serious problems than simply a (perhaps unintended) namespace collision.
Well he’s not the first to put forward the case, only the most reputable yet. I’ve read this information some years ago from a Swedish source as well (unfortunately I don’t recall the name). I was under the impression that this was almost common knowledge outside of MSM. Usually a good circumstantial clue is otherwise to be vigilant whenever a story is touted simultaneously in multiple cycles by the MSM in different countries. The Litvinenko case is such a story.
self-promoting mercenary
hardly. you might want to research his bio a little more
cheers,
The Saker
well maybe a proven revelation might serve to radically alter/embaress/expose the Uk politico-judicial-intelligence system that came to the conclusion that it did………………William Dunkerly has written many articles and book on the Litvinenko case…………….
.This is kind of stale.
When the British ‘inquiry’ concluded that Putin ‘probably’ did it, the news – from comments in the Guardian and other news sites – was mostly greeted with derision.
Frankly, it only succeeded in making the British Establishment and secret services a laughing stock.
The days when they could play on creaky KGB stereotypes are long gone, but someone has yet to inform the goons who cooked up this farce of a psych-ops. Did that twit Philip Hammond hire a bunch of Ian Fleming wannabes to script it , or what?
fPutin is now increasingly respected and admired by the British public. The Litvinchenko plutonium farce was about as subtle as a jcb hurtling down the North face of the Eiger.
Chances are the French Sécurité have a bone to pick with their British counterparts, and this ‘ exposé ‘ is part of it.
I would be interested to know what the state of relations between those three Libya partners-in-crime Blair, Cameron and Sarkozy is currently: is this guy connected with the poison dwarf by any chance?
If Berril’s evidence is strong, does that mean the CIA and MI6 will be charged by a British court for murder?
“… does that mean the CIA and MI6 will be charged by a British court for murder? …”
As we speak, the British courts are trying to decide the most important question first: shall they be charged now – or immediately?
Once that is decided, yeah, they will be charged… Tomorrow :-)
(In juicy Serbian: Сад или одма’? Мало сутра…
… Hmm, I’m afraid something is lost in translation :-))
Finally Barril comes out to give the proofs who assassinated Litvinenko, the US and the UK. In reading recent heavy weight debates on the future of Europe so embroiled with orders it obey US desperate hegemony orders and threats such as the MH17 massacre to force Europe to sanction it’s saviour, Russia, it was stated that Britain and it’s successor the United Kingdom, are enemies of Europe, seen during WW11 as well.True enough. Clearly visible in Barril’s words and proofs. Russia, having saved the “European Balance of Power” threats by Napoleon and Hitler, and others, and being Europe’s Golden Goose of promise, cannot be but by Atomic force and lies removed from European identity. (Thereby destroying more than two thirds of all humanity,) This in fact has been the US/UK goal for about 3 hundred years! Millions of us know this. So do all Russians. The concrete US plans to effect this removal involve several million US highly paid operatives, numerous vast, unstoppable, legally unaccountable, US/UK Corporations and a Rogue State police state status presently of the US government. Homicidal insanity has replaced the rule of law.
The French Security Services became subsidiaries of Mossad with the accession of Mossad agent Sarkozy to the French Presidency. My ranking sources in the CIA and MI6 told me in 2003 that the US and British security services were Mossad subsidiaries. ‘If you can’t beat them, join them. George Soros and Jacob Rothschild were behind an attempt to launch surprise US AND UK nuclear attacks ON Russia in March 2015. US Capt Heather Cole used a procedural change introduced by SecDef Chuck Hagel to abort the order. Cole was arrested and has not been heard of since. UK PM David Cameron received a nuclear attack order from Washington. His attack order to the UK Atomic Weapons Authority never reached its destination. It was intercepted and hijacked by the Russians.