Reign of Terror à la Russe?

The death of Alexander Litvinenko ten days ago from radioactive polonium poisoning left me somewhat reeling at the far-reaching cruelty of the Russian government toward dissidents. Litvinenko was sure that it was the Russian government, more specifically former FSB agents that he accused as a dissident after an extensive military and intelligence service.
Litvinenko's revelations about FSB's participation in illegal assasination attempts as well as bombings of Russian homes as a scare tactic, was followed by his poisoning. Incredibly creepy - one day you're voicing your opinion and calling media attention to the injustices in your home country, the next day you go out for sushi with an Italian professor, and thirty days later you're dead. The Italian professor as well as Litvinenko's wife have also tested positive for polonium, although the doses they recieved are not life-threatening, yet possibly damaging as well. Litvinenko publicly accused the Russian government as being behind his affliction — which resulted in a media uproar in the UK and rest of Europe, and very public denial on the part of Putin's chronies. According to Wikipedia, "British authorities are investigating his death and it was reported on December 1 that scientists at the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment had traced the source of the polonium to a nuclear power plant in Russia." Damn. That's really fucking scary. After the death of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist well-known for her opposition to Putin who was shot while coming out of her elevator, dissent or oposition to Putin's regime is a risk. Now that Alexander Litvinenko is dead, his widow and the Italian he met with could also be poisoned, who the hell could be next. There are rumors that Yegor Gaidar, a former Deputy Prime Minister has been poisoned while on a visit to Ireland, and that there may be others that are currently targeted by the Russian Secret Service. Not only is it frightening, it is also happening on such a scale that suggests that Putin's government is not afraid of an international scandal or uproar. The British police are currently investigating Litvinenko's death, but although the Russian police have stated that they are conducting an investigation as well, they seem to be going at it somewhat slowly and unwillingly. Anyway, it all just kind of seems incredible to me and makes me more distrustful of the idea that Russia is now a reformed, Western country. Its history is just too violent and opressive to settle down so smoothly. The regime is establishing itself as more and more as frighteningly tyrannical and those that have a problem with the war in Chechnya or Putin's cronies are forced to shut up - one way or another.