Paolo Guzzanti Italian journalist and politician Country: Italy

1. Journalist and Politician
2. Investigative Reporting
3. Political Controversy
4. Litvinenko's Death and Its Aftermath

Journalist and Politician

Paolo Guzzanti is an Italian journalist and politician who has served as a Senator for the Forza Italia party. He is best known for his role as the head of the Mitrokhin Commission, which investigated the activities of Soviet intelligence agents in Italy during the Cold War.

Investigative Reporting

Guzzanti's career began as a journalist, where he rose to the position of deputy editor of the newspaper Il Giornale. In 2002, he was appointed to lead the Mitrokhin Commission, which was tasked with examining a list of alleged Italian collaborators with Soviet intelligence agencies. Despite extensive investigations, the commission's findings were inconclusive.

Political Controversy

In 2006, Guzzanti became embroiled in a political controversy after a recorded conversation with a commission consultant revealed his inquiries into potential links between the KGB and Romano Prodi, then the leader of the opposition and later Prime Minister of Italy. This incident occurred amidst the scandal surrounding the death of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko, who had met with Guzzanti's consultant just before his demise.

Litvinenko's Death and Its Aftermath

Following Litvinenko's death, Guzzanti accused Russian intelligence agencies of being involved, as Litvinenko's murder came after the deaths of other vocal critics of the Russian government, including Anna Politkovskaya and Anatoly Trofimov. In the wake of the discovery of radioactive polonium-210 in Guzzanti's consultant's body, he expressed fears for his own safety.