Moscow Denies Litvineko Murder, Tells of Secret Poisons

Moscow apparently never liked that it was fingered for the nuclear-poisoning death of former KGB agent and Kremlin foe Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006 in London. So when popular thriller writer Daniel Silva arrived for a research tour of the KGB's legendary HQ, Lubyanka, for his new book Moscow Rules, officials saw it as a chance to set the record straight. "The way they said it was, 'If we had wanted to kill him, or if we had killed him, we would have used one of our poisons that leaves no trace.' They said this with a straight face," Silva says. "Russia is not a normal country, and it's not going to be anytime soon," he adds. Back home in Georgetown, Silva says he's taken up blogging for his millions of fans but admits it's a chore—and a danger. "I've always been concerned that if you talk too much about the work, it kind of spoils the mystery," he says. "I would have been more comfortable in the old days where the writer simply mails in his manuscript."