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Comment by siliconvalley1 | Hacker News Reader

And that billionaire just happens to have access to a Russian Military Chemical Weapon?

You may have missed that the elusive WireCard CEO Jan Marsalek had the formula too. It's not a huge secret that random billionaires can't buy. Some people apparently believe the spin from some low-quality media that using or accusing of using Novitchok is basically proof Russia did it. It says more about their naivety than anything else.

https://www.ft.com/content/941a9a2e-88df-4a66-9b3c-670bb7eb4...

Having the "formula" for a chemical weapon in no way grants you the ability to manufacture it.

Any secret service of the world can manufacture it.

True. You need a facility equipped and capable of producing Novichok. Think of Porton Down, for example. Conveniently located just miles away from Salisbury.

Lol. The GRU agents who poisoned Skripal literally gave an interview where they claimed to be everyday Russian tourists before their IDs were blown.

Perhaps there's an innocent explanation why three GRU agents traveled to Salisbury multiple times, including the day that Skripal was poisoned but lied about their reason for being there, their identities, and their connection to the Russian military?

https://www.dw.com/en/second-skripal-poisoning-suspect-ident...

Given the level of corruption in Russia...yes?

Yes. In the '90s Soviet nuclear submarines were being sold on the black market.

Putin's grip isn't as tight as you think.

I'm not denying that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok. The question is who ordered it. I'm not convinced it was Putin.

This seems like semantics, was it Putin that signed the order or did one of his henchmen? Don’t matter. This is the Nth novichok poisoning too. Putin is either complacent or participant.

It's an important distinction.

> one of his henchmen

There are various clans of power in Russia, and not all of them are loyal, or report, to Putin.

Navalny had a lot of enemies.

> complacent

It's likely. The alternative could lead to some serious instability. For example, evidence suggests Kadyrov took out Nemtsov, but holding Kadyrov accountable could lead to chaos in Chechnya. Is it worth it? This is realpolitik.

You're failing occams razor. On one hand we have Putin who is very publically Navalny's primary antagonist who also has the means and obvious motive to poison him with Novichuk. On the other some nameless "enemies" who also somehow have the means to build a lab sophisticated enough to produce Novichuk without killing themselves or the people in a large radius of their lab and also access to Mercenaries/Assassins/ex-GRU/Spetsnaz agents with the talent to poison a very high profile person and not be caught?

Navalny does have a lot of enemies: if you look at this page https://fbk.info/investigations/ (use Google translate), you will see mentions of dozens of people. He keeps investigating into them in great detail and exposing their illegal wealth. They aren't that nameless, they are rich and powerful people, some of them are sure to have friends within GRU.

Not saying that Putin didn't order it, just pointing out that the group of people with motive and means to do it is bigger than just him.

And yet why did they let him be flown to Germany for treatment?

well, it's Russia. USA feared that generals could sell nukes a while ago, but I sincerely doubt that any oligarch would do this without Putin's approval. Too high profile. And if Putin approved this (one way or another) there's no need for oligarchs to get involved.

So it's not an oligarch thing but reaches the highest levels of Russian government

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