The KGB's Poison Factory: From Lenin to Litvinenko

by Boris Volodarsky

In late November 2006 the world was shaken by the ruthless assassination in London of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Lt Col of the Russian security service (FSB). The murder was the most notorious crime committed by the Russian intelligence on foreign soil in over three decades. The author, Boris Volodarsky, who was consulted by the Metropolitan Police during the investigation and remains in close contact with Litvinenkos widow, is a former Russian military intelligence officer and an international expert in special operations. His narrative reveals that since 1917 beginning with Lenin and his Cheka the Russian security services have regularly carried out bespoke poisoning operations all over the world to eliminate the enemies of the Kremlin. The author proves that the Litvinenkos poisoning is just one episode in the chain of murders that continues until the present day. Some of these assassinations or attempted assassinations are already known, others are revealed here for the first time.Uniquely Volodarsky has had a personal involvement in almost every each of the 20 cases, from the radioactive thallium poisoning of the Soviet defector Nikolai Khokhlov in Frankfurt in September 1957 to the ricin umbrella murder of the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London in 1978. 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. It was just one recent hit by the world's most prolific serial killer -- the Russian state. 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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Military Fiction, Russia

510 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2009

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 1 out of 5]

I simply couldn't finish this book. It was poorly organized and a laborious read. The reader is bombarded with hundreds of names and organizations and most of the incidents related by the author had little to do with a poison program. The author digressed from the main theme constantly and the whole narrative felt bloated.

[Jeremiah Salyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely education but incredibly fragmented. Mr. Volodarksy really leaps around in terms of the narrative flow. Also, I suspect he wrote this in Russian and translated it to english or his grasp of English isn't the greatest. But it is still a fascinating subject. Sometime the context of certain people is not spelled out at all. And he changes the subject often within the same chapter. Despite all these flaws, he still wrote a fascinating and timely book for anyone interested in what the KGB has been up and is up to, or will be again in terms of carrying out political assassinations via poison.

[Lucy Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of a handful of books with real information on the Russian poisoning business. It was one of the best research sources for my novel -- "The Poison Factory - Operation Kamera." Topnotch read!