A Very Expensive Poison

The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's War with the West

De: Luke Harding

Narrado por: Nicholas Guy Smith

A true story of murder and conspiracy that points directly to Vladimir Putin, by The Guardian’s former Moscow bureau chief and author of The Snowden Files and Collusion

On November 1, 2006, journalist and Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in London. He died twenty-two days later. The cause of death? Polonium—a rare, lethal, and highly radioactive substance.

Here Luke Harding unspools a real-life political assassination story—complete with KGB, CIA, MI6, and Russian mobsters. He shows how Litvinenko’s murder foreshadowed the killings of other Kremlin critics, from Washington, DC, to Moscow, and how these are tied to Russia’s current misadventures in Ukraine and Syria. In doing so, he becomes a target himself and unearths a chain of corruption and death leading straight to Vladimir Putin. F

rom his investigations of the downing of flight MH17 to the Panama Papers, Harding sheds a terrifying light on Russia’s fracturing relationship with the West.

Gripping and tragic story

I’d always been fascinated by the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and eagerly purchased this recording to learn about it - not knowing how much more than that I would receive. This story provides a clear portrait of the world menace that is Vladimir Putin: it is a highly listenable account into the maze of corruption and amorality that grips his country, our own, and sadly now much of the world. A great find.

Enlightening, Frightening, and Fascinating

Luke Harding was Moscow Bureau Chief for the Guardian for several years until he was kicked out of the country for writing the truth. Glad he's still on the case. I listened to this as I felt it was important to understand more about Putin, given his meddling in American politics, social media, etc. While the book is centered around the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, an alarming and tragic story, it goes beyond, putting this crime into the larger political context of Putin's Russia. I learned a lot and am prepared to provide counterpoint when I hear people say "Putin isn't so bad," which, surprisingly, is something I do hear now and then. I got a lot better understanding about the use of disinformation, false narratives, the intimidation of journalists and opponents, and the murder of dissidents and opponents. I learned more about Ukraine and the invasion of Crimea, the Panama papers, and more.

My only recommendation is to include a download with the names of the people discussed and their roles, as it gets hard to follow the Russian names and all their variation. Also a map would be helpful, as well, for context. That said, an important and good listen or read.

Incredible picture of Russia today

This is an extremely well-researched, well-written and thorough account of a case where the Kremlin (and probably Vladmir Putin) directed the assassination in London of a former Russian cop who defected against the FSB.

Beyond telling an unbelievable story of real-life spycraft, it's an excellent overview of Russia as a country today, with a number of battlefronts and a spymaster at its helm.

An excellent narrator

. Luke Harding has presented us with a spell binding story of intrigue, greed and mob style murder.Although the story was in all the newspapers at the time Mr. Harding has brilliantly described in amazing detail how it all came about. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Publisher please send copies to all in the senate and congress.

All citizens and government officials have a patriotic duty to read Harding's exposure of international criminal acts and political deceptions used to threaten, weaken and destroy democracies.