What do you think?
Rate this book
Orders to Kill: The Putin Regime and Political Murder
Ever since Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia, his critics have turned up dead on a regular basis. According to Amy Knight, this is no coincidence. In Orders to Kill , the KGB scholar ties dozens of victims together to expose a campaign of political murder during Putin’s reign that even includes terrorist attacks such as the Boston Marathon Bombing.
Russia is no stranger to political murder, from the tsars to the Soviets to the Putin regime, during which many journalists, activists and political opponents have been killed. Kremlin defenders like to say, “There is no proof,” however convenient these deaths have been for Putin, and, unsurprisingly, because he controls all investigations, Putin is never seen holding a smoking gun,. But Amy Knight offers mountains of circumstantial evidence that point to Kremlin involvement.
Called “the West’s foremost scholar” of the KGB by The New York Times , Knight traces Putin’s journey from the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the late 1990s to his subsequent rise to absolute power as the Kremlin’s leader today, detailing the many bodies that paved the way. She offers new information about the most famous victims, such as Alexander Litvinenko, the former FSB officer who was poisoned while living in London, and the statesman Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered outside the Kremlin in 2015, and she puts faces on many others who are less well-known in the West or forgotten. She shows that terrorist attacks in Russia, as well as the Boston Marathon bombing in the U.S., are part of the same campaign. And she explores what these murders mean for Putin’s future, for Russia and for the West, where in America Donald Trump has claimed, “Nobody has proven that he's killed anyone....He's always denied it.…It has not been proven that he's killed reporters."
Orders to Kill is a story long hidden in plain sight with huge ramifications.
Russia is no stranger to political murder, from the tsars to the Soviets to the Putin regime, during which many journalists, activists and political opponents have been killed. Kremlin defenders like to say, “There is no proof,” however convenient these deaths have been for Putin, and, unsurprisingly, because he controls all investigations, Putin is never seen holding a smoking gun,. But Amy Knight offers mountains of circumstantial evidence that point to Kremlin involvement.
Called “the West’s foremost scholar” of the KGB by The New York Times , Knight traces Putin’s journey from the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the late 1990s to his subsequent rise to absolute power as the Kremlin’s leader today, detailing the many bodies that paved the way. She offers new information about the most famous victims, such as Alexander Litvinenko, the former FSB officer who was poisoned while living in London, and the statesman Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered outside the Kremlin in 2015, and she puts faces on many others who are less well-known in the West or forgotten. She shows that terrorist attacks in Russia, as well as the Boston Marathon bombing in the U.S., are part of the same campaign. And she explores what these murders mean for Putin’s future, for Russia and for the West, where in America Donald Trump has claimed, “Nobody has proven that he's killed anyone....He's always denied it.…It has not been proven that he's killed reporters."
Orders to Kill is a story long hidden in plain sight with huge ramifications.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published September 19, 2017
66 people are currently reading
372 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 31, 2017
After a strong start that broke down the different branches and functions of the Russian government it became a rather tedious recount of assassinations that could possibly be traced to Putin, the phony investigations and trials which corresponded with government cover ups. Stretched the limits of credulity trying to claim the Boston Marathon bombings were part of a Putin network scheme. Closer to a 1.5 rating.
August 19, 2024
Ovo mi je druga knjiga koju sam čitala na ovu temu i s obzirom na broj činjenica i osoba, čini mi se vrlo korektno kako je knjiga napisana. Doduše, ukoliko čitatelju baš niti jedan akter nije poznat, mogla bi biti naporna za čitanje. Ne mogu provjeriti činjenice navedene u njoj pa ne bih ocjenjivala njenu vjerodostojnost. Jedino što me u knjizi smeta je mjestimično nepotreban sarkazam i neobjektivnost. Bilo bi mi draže da je pisana umjerenije i na pojedinim dijelovima profesionalnije. Ocjena 3,5
February 6, 2018
I honestly read this book to better understand our own government right now. I knew this book was loaded. It tells precisely who Putin assassinated, how, when, and why. The most important thing it explains is that these assassinations are not political, though writers and politicians are dying. It is the mafia stance that anyone who is standing to halt the money train has to die. And most of those are people trying to stop corruption. I did wade thru it in the beginning because an explanation had to be given of how Putin created a police state and how many inconceivable security agencies exist, all of them answering to Putin. I got half way through it and had to return it to the library. I'll go to Powell's and get it to finish it. Yes, it explains what is happening to this country.
May 26, 2018
Stalin is alleged to have said, "No person, no problem." Amy Knight has marshalled many facts to buttress her thesis that KGB veteran Vladimir Putin still subscribes to this dictum, as a Russian Godfather running a "government by assassination." It's not clear all her evidence supports that specific conclusion; much of it is circumstantial. But even giving her the benefit of those doubts, massive dubiousness yet prevails. For it *is* certain this behavior is a "threat to the West" only because it's Putin and Russia. His Kremlin has pushed back on creeping NATO enlargement, now pitching a tent at Russia's front door in Ukraine; unlike the "appeasing" Gorbachev and Yeltsin when it came to fork-tongue treaties from the Great Father of Washington. Reprehensible as Putin's domestic behavior may be, he's not projecting it globally and so far there's no justification for another round of nuclear-powered cold war.
And not only because the existential threat to "Western values and security" is minimal by these actions. From where did Putin learn that "targeted assassination" was acceptable? Not his old KGB training, for Putin was one of the new perestroika breed who was once attached to the St. Petersburg legal ministries trying to establish a New Russia under the rule of law. Rather, he's watched the US justify ripping apart its own constitutional order with "black ops", Patriot Act renditions, Gitmo; and Israel feel free to whack anyone perceived to be a threat in its Near Abroad, regardless of any howls from the "international community." One could compile a quite lengthy laundry list of those ordered dead by Israel's PMs; yet no one in the West considers them bloody-handed murderers, or Israel a viral threat to regional stability. As for sicario states in the Western Hemisphere, like Colombia: those are off the map as far as our sanctions-and-security crowd are concerned.
By now I'm being damned as a Putin apologist or Commie, so fine - in the words of Lenin, it's all in who does what to whom, not the deed itself. Enjoy your new cold war as America's infrastructure crumble around its knees, thanks to its own rotten oligarchs in power.
And not only because the existential threat to "Western values and security" is minimal by these actions. From where did Putin learn that "targeted assassination" was acceptable? Not his old KGB training, for Putin was one of the new perestroika breed who was once attached to the St. Petersburg legal ministries trying to establish a New Russia under the rule of law. Rather, he's watched the US justify ripping apart its own constitutional order with "black ops", Patriot Act renditions, Gitmo; and Israel feel free to whack anyone perceived to be a threat in its Near Abroad, regardless of any howls from the "international community." One could compile a quite lengthy laundry list of those ordered dead by Israel's PMs; yet no one in the West considers them bloody-handed murderers, or Israel a viral threat to regional stability. As for sicario states in the Western Hemisphere, like Colombia: those are off the map as far as our sanctions-and-security crowd are concerned.
By now I'm being damned as a Putin apologist or Commie, so fine - in the words of Lenin, it's all in who does what to whom, not the deed itself. Enjoy your new cold war as America's infrastructure crumble around its knees, thanks to its own rotten oligarchs in power.
November 12, 2017
If more Americans were informed about Russia by reading books like this they would not be making morally equivalent arguments about the present totalitarian government of Russia and our Republic.
September 10, 2019
I started tho book because I wanted to better understand my own government. It took me a very long time to finish the book because of how heavy it is. There is so much I didnt know about, so much that was hidden from me. This book is amazing, maybe some will say that it’s too vague, but the evidence is there. Everything that was said in this book was immediately backed up. I honestly loved this book in made me think about how f*cked up life in Russia is and how little people know about Putin’s regime. Truly an amazing book!
September 30, 2017
An important book that is well researched, but a really boring read. Repetive in style and format- the author looks at a killing, gives a little background, and then runs you through the investigation (or lack there of). The motive for the killings, and the way the subsequent investigations are obstructed, are all more or less the same. While this helps to drive home the point (Russia is a lawless and corrupt mafia state), it doesnt make for interesting reading.
October 25, 2023
As much as I appreciate finding out about some of these people for the first time, the second to last page really ruined the whole book for me. Yes, it’s still a valuable source of information but I find it offensive to suggest that Russia should be given Crimea in order for the West to get some “favours” from them in return. This was, of course, written before the war, but I never appreciated this way of thinking. Give the bully what it wants and hope for the best? Get real..
December 8, 2020
This book is part of that cottage industy of books about Putin where they quote each other, make allegations, but do not have the facts.
You are left with this uneasy feeling that all this might be true, might not be true, might partly be true... You still don't know after having read a dozen books like this.
Of course it is hard to have evidence in the case of a regime like Russia. But still, circumstancial evidence, allegations and likelihoods won't do.
The sheer number of political murders elaborated by Knight is astounding. There is obviously an issue here. But her treatment of the different sides is on unbiased. Putin is who he is, we all know. But was Berezhovsky simply a freedom fighter? Nope, he was a crook, an oligarch, a thief, and most likely also a murderer. The same can be said about Khodorkovksy. Why not treat the issue of Russia in a more complex way then? It deserves better. Then you learn in the acknowledgements that Knight was working closely with some of Berezhovsky's men. OK...
There are also some really silly parts in the book. Like in the middle of a completely unrelated segment, suddenly making the allegation that Putin is gay and a pedophile. What?! The evidence to back it up? Nothing. Somewhat later there is a story about Putin kissing the belly of a boy on Red Square in front of his parents. That justifies making this allegation by a serious writer? Really?
Or about women. When Putin's men have many women, they are unsavoury womenisers. When Nemtsov has many women, including a prostitute for a girflriend... he is a good looking guy who attracts women. Contrasted with Putin of course. :)) This is just so cheap. It questions the seriousness of the whole book, which would otherwise be quite informative and a good read.
You are left with this uneasy feeling that all this might be true, might not be true, might partly be true... You still don't know after having read a dozen books like this.
Of course it is hard to have evidence in the case of a regime like Russia. But still, circumstancial evidence, allegations and likelihoods won't do.
The sheer number of political murders elaborated by Knight is astounding. There is obviously an issue here. But her treatment of the different sides is on unbiased. Putin is who he is, we all know. But was Berezhovsky simply a freedom fighter? Nope, he was a crook, an oligarch, a thief, and most likely also a murderer. The same can be said about Khodorkovksy. Why not treat the issue of Russia in a more complex way then? It deserves better. Then you learn in the acknowledgements that Knight was working closely with some of Berezhovsky's men. OK...
There are also some really silly parts in the book. Like in the middle of a completely unrelated segment, suddenly making the allegation that Putin is gay and a pedophile. What?! The evidence to back it up? Nothing. Somewhat later there is a story about Putin kissing the belly of a boy on Red Square in front of his parents. That justifies making this allegation by a serious writer? Really?
Or about women. When Putin's men have many women, they are unsavoury womenisers. When Nemtsov has many women, including a prostitute for a girflriend... he is a good looking guy who attracts women. Contrasted with Putin of course. :)) This is just so cheap. It questions the seriousness of the whole book, which would otherwise be quite informative and a good read.
February 17, 2019
Edit: After some thought I'm going to downgrade to four stars. While the review below still stands, the more the novel sat with me I realized that there were parts that didn't link properly. The three negatives I mentioned below were also a huge factor in my decision to downgrade my rating. Because it felt like, after thinking it over, that this book was solely trying to blame the Chechens for political murder. Yeah they are responsible in some cases, but I realized this novel was trying but didn't outright state that the security services would hire Chechens to "be their bitch". Essentially, this book had a good premise, was well organized but at times lacked the solid proof to back up it's claims. The Boston bombing chapter was creating wild speculation about the guys trip to Russia without ever offering substantial proof that he'd engaged in terrorism or met with security services on that trip.
--------------------
Clear, concise, compelling, and incredibly insightful. Well done Amy Knight. This was a masterpiece on political murder. I was close to giving this four stars because the last chapter on Kadyrov, until I realize that that tied everything in together. This book belongs aside "All the Kremlin's Men", it's that good. Kept me on the edge of my seat, and read like a thriller. Highly recommend!
The one thing that kinda raised red flags with credibility was claiming that Almaty was the capital of Kazakhstan.... I was like, wtf, how do you get that wrong.
Also, tying the Boston bombings in this were not really necessary and a stretch.
--------------------
Clear, concise, compelling, and incredibly insightful. Well done Amy Knight. This was a masterpiece on political murder. I was close to giving this four stars because the last chapter on Kadyrov, until I realize that that tied everything in together. This book belongs aside "All the Kremlin's Men", it's that good. Kept me on the edge of my seat, and read like a thriller. Highly recommend!
The one thing that kinda raised red flags with credibility was claiming that Almaty was the capital of Kazakhstan.... I was like, wtf, how do you get that wrong.
Also, tying the Boston bombings in this were not really necessary and a stretch.
November 11, 2019
Knjiga o nekim od najzapaženijih političkih likvidacija u Rusiji je istovremeno zanimljiv okvir događaja suvremene ruske povijesti i politike. Autorica je zanimljivo uobličila stravične događaje i kako je do njih došlo, uz navođenja mogućih krivaca što gotovo uvijek fino obrazloži.
Kako je riječ o slučajevima koji su odjeknuli i u svjetskoj javnosti, dosta toga sam otprije znala i bila upoznata, te se ovdje dobila na širini. Autorica ne nudi sve odgovore, što bi iskreno bilo i nemoguće kako je riječ o likvidaciji političkih protivnika.
Moram priznati kako je sve fino strukturirano i objašnjeno do trenutka kad počne obrazlagati bombaše Bostonskog maratona za koje pomalo otvoreno sugerira kako je Rusija imala veze s time što počne biti takva teorija urote da ostatak knjige koji je dobro obrazložen s dokumentima iz raznih zemalja, NGO-a i slično izgleda manje vjerodostojno. No, sama po sebi knjiga je zanimljiva. Za one kojima je takva tematika interesatna.
Kako je riječ o slučajevima koji su odjeknuli i u svjetskoj javnosti, dosta toga sam otprije znala i bila upoznata, te se ovdje dobila na širini. Autorica ne nudi sve odgovore, što bi iskreno bilo i nemoguće kako je riječ o likvidaciji političkih protivnika.
Moram priznati kako je sve fino strukturirano i objašnjeno do trenutka kad počne obrazlagati bombaše Bostonskog maratona za koje pomalo otvoreno sugerira kako je Rusija imala veze s time što počne biti takva teorija urote da ostatak knjige koji je dobro obrazložen s dokumentima iz raznih zemalja, NGO-a i slično izgleda manje vjerodostojno. No, sama po sebi knjiga je zanimljiva. Za one kojima je takva tematika interesatna.
October 11, 2017
Provocative title and substance, of course, but kind of a mixed bag here.
A lot of really interesting journalist-y detail, but also a lot of just straight up listy things that were hard to follow unless one was already deeply knowledgeable about Russia's security apparatus. So I think on that front it was a bit too intense for general readers.
Readers need to push through the initial background. It's light on Putin's bio, strangely, since it is making the case that this is who he is, and doesn't shed much new info on his time in the KGB. Perhaps it was unremarkable.
It hits its stride 2005 chronologically and is very good on Nemtsov. The Afterword seems very forced, and it would have been better to have served as an op-ed to kick off the book, rather than finishing it.
A lot of really interesting journalist-y detail, but also a lot of just straight up listy things that were hard to follow unless one was already deeply knowledgeable about Russia's security apparatus. So I think on that front it was a bit too intense for general readers.
Readers need to push through the initial background. It's light on Putin's bio, strangely, since it is making the case that this is who he is, and doesn't shed much new info on his time in the KGB. Perhaps it was unremarkable.
It hits its stride 2005 chronologically and is very good on Nemtsov. The Afterword seems very forced, and it would have been better to have served as an op-ed to kick off the book, rather than finishing it.
March 21, 2023
This book came out in 2017 and was prescient in predicting how Putin would continue to try and restore the Russian empire. Much like when you read about the multitude of scandals in the Trump administration in a single book, the vast number of Putin’s political rivals and critical journalists who either were gunned down, poisoned, or died under mysterious circumstances outlined in the book were staggering. I’d love to see it updated to our current time. I’d give it a 5 except sometimes I found it difficult to follow the names of the parties (my problem, not the author’s)
May 9, 2024
Informative and thoughtful writing regarding a subject about which not a lot is known, therefore relying on supposition to make connections. There is little doubt that Russia is ruled with authority by a "President" who will never willingly give up control of the country that has made him wealthy and powerful. I have done other reading about some of these subjects, and I did not find the authors conclusions to be off the mark. In fact, I think the book makes a compelling argument to support the main thesis of the book which is reflected in the title.
November 24, 2022
Elaborate study of political violence that has brought and sustained authoritarian regime of Putin. The power of putin lies in corrupt, brutal, regime with forced loyalty. Tgere are heroes who fought against and died or have suffered a lot.
May 25, 2025
At page 309, in her afterword, Amy Knight writes "So perhaps Western allies should consider using recognition of Crimea as part of Russia to extract concessions from Moscow on other issues..."
It's almost like she didn't read her own book. Amy Knight is delusional.
It's almost like she didn't read her own book. Amy Knight is delusional.
July 25, 2018
Frenemies
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews