KGB's Poison Factory: From Lenin to Litvinenko
"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 theLondonpolonium poisoning of British citizenAlexander Litvinenko, former Russian. With original research guided byhis 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  JournalIn 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 inMoscow. 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 inRussia, 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.