The KGB's Poison Factory: From Lenin to Litvinenko

by Boris Volodarsky

Overview

“A cracking good read” and a chilling true story of Russia’s assassination program begun more than a century ago and which continues today (Tennent H. Bagley, former CIA chief of Soviet Bloc counterintelligence).
 
In late November 2006, Alexander Litvinenko—a former lieutenant colonel of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation—was ruthlessly assassinated in London by radiation poisoning. The shocking murder was the most notorious crime committed by the Russian intelligence on foreign soil in more than three decades.
 
Here, former Russian military intelligence officer and an international expert in special operations Boris Volodarsky—who was consulted by the Metropolitan Police during the Litvinenko investigation—offers readers a startling narrative of the Russian security services’ history of covert assassination by poisoning.
 
Beginning in 1917 with Lenin and his dreaded Cheka secret police, Russian security services have committed killing after killing both in Russia and across the globe. In The KGB’s Poison Factory, Volodarsky proves that the Litvinenko’s poisoning—supposedly ordered by Russian strongman Vladimir Putin—is just one episode in a chain of murders going back decades. Some of these assassinations or attempted assassinations are already known, others are revealed here for the first time.
 
With keen insight, Volodarsky brings readers inside the assassinations of twenty individuals killed by order of the Kremlin in a revealing tell-all that “will fascinate students as well as general readers interested in international espionage” (Library Journal).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473815735
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	02/20/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	859,495
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Boris Volodarsky is a former captain of the GRU Spetsnaz, a member of the World Association of International Studies and co-editor of the International Personal Files intelligence magazine. He is the author of Nikolai Khokhlov: Self-Esteem with a Halo and The Orlov File: The Greatest KGB Deception of All Time. He is also an advisor to the film director Michael Mann. 'The KGB's Poison Factory' is set to be one of the most controversial publications of 2009.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Prologue 11

The Funeral 13

London, September 1978 Georgi Markov 23

The KGB's Poison Factory 32

Those were the days 49

Operation Vladimir, Part I Litvinenko 62

the Ukrainian Patient, Kiev, September 2004 Victor Yushchenko 88

the victim, Vienna, May 1962 Béla Lapusnyik 117

the triple agent, Vienna, December 1975 Nikolai Artamonov 123

Operation Vladimir, Part II Litvinenko 137

the illegal, Germany, 1954-7 Nikolai Khokhlov 164

the assassin, Germany, 1957-9 Bogdan Stashinsky 182

Operation Vladimir, Part III Litvinenko 189

Dead Souls: From Stalin to Putin 224

Epilogue 254

Notes 257

Appendix: Selected Soviet and Russian operations abroad: from Lenin to Litvinenko and beyond 269

Select Bibliography 273

Index 277

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Here, for the fan of murder thrillers and modern history alike, is a cracking good read. In brilliant light we see what lay for nearly a century behind the London polonium poisoning of British citizen Alexander Litvinenko, former Russian. With original research guided by his insider's eye and scholarly care, Boris Volodarsky recounts scores of murders. Assassination emerges as state policy, as institutionalized bureacracy, as day-to-day routine, as laboratory science, as a branch of medicine researching ways not to stave off death but to deliver it in apparently innocent or accidental forms, and as engineering technology, devising ever-new devices to meet each new requirement, from umbrella tips and cigarette cases and rolled-up newspapers — to Litvinenko's teacup." Tennent H. Bagley, former CIA chief of Soviet Bloc counterintelligence.

Library Journal

In September 2004, Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned by dioxin, which caused severe illness and disfigurement. In October 2006, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and his handling of the Chechen conflict, was shot to death in Moscow. In November 2006, former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by polonium-210 and died after several days of agony. Litvinenko was known for publicly alleging that the Russian government was behind numerous acts of terrorism against its own people, including Politkovskaya's murder. These stories are familiar to most who follow international news. What many people do not know is that this type of assassination has a long history extending through Soviet regimes as far back as Lenin. Volodarsky, a former KGB officer himself, provides evidence that eliminating enemies by poisoning or other means is still business as usual in Russia, despite the political changes of the past two decades…[The KGB’s Poison Factory] will fascinate students as well as general readers interested in international espionage.

Editorial Reviews

"Here, for the fan of murder thrillers and modern history alike, is a cracking good read. In brilliant light we see what lay for nearly a century behind the London polonium poisoning of British citizen Alexander Litvinenko, former Russian. With original research guided by his insider's eye and scholarly care, Boris Volodarsky recounts scores of murders. Assassination emerges as state policy, as institutionalized bureacracy, as day-to-day routine, as laboratory science, as a branch of medicine researching ways not to stave off death but to deliver it in apparently innocent or accidental forms, and as engineering technology, devising ever-new devices to meet each new requirement, from umbrella tips and cigarette cases and rolled-up newspapers -- to Litvinenko's teacup." Tennent H. Bagley, former CIA chief of Soviet Bloc counterintelligence.

Library Journal

In September 2004, Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned by dioxin, which caused severe illness and disfigurement. In October 2006, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and his handling of the Chechen conflict, was shot to death in Moscow. In November 2006, former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by polonium-210 and died after several days of agony. Litvinenko was known for publicly alleging that the Russian government was behind numerous acts of terrorism against its own people, including Politkovskaya's murder. These stories are familiar to most who follow international news. What many people do not know is that this type of assassination has a long history extending through Soviet regimes as far back as Lenin. Volodarsky, a former KGB officer himself, provides evidence that eliminating enemies by poisoning or other means is still business as usual in Russia, despite the political changes of the past two decades…[The KGB’s Poison Factory] will fascinate students as well as general readers interested in international espionage.

From the Publisher

In September 2004, Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned by dioxin, which caused severe illness and disfigurement. In October 2006, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of President Vladimir Putin and his handling of the Chechen conflict, was shot to death in Moscow. In November 2006, former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by polonium-210 and died after several days of agony. Litvinenko was known for publicly alleging that the Russian government was behind numerous acts of terrorism against its own people, including Politkovskaya's murder. These stories are familiar to most who follow international news. What many people do not know is that this type of assassination has a long history extending through Soviet regimes as far back as Lenin. Volodarsky, a former KGB officer himself, provides evidence that eliminating enemies by poisoning or other means is still business as usual in Russia, despite the political changes of the past two decades. His book is readable, though it takes a strong focus at times to keep identities and events clear: a who's who appendix would have been a helpful resource. VERDICT Though not a scholarly book, this will fascinate students as well as general readers interested in international espionage.—Beth Johns, Haslett, MI

Library Journal