Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB (Hardcover)

~ Alex Goldfarb (Author), Marina Litvinenko (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The assassination of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander "Sasha" Litvinenko in November 2006 -- poisoned by the rare radioactive element polonium -- caused an international sensation. Within a few short weeks, the fit forty-three-year-old lay gaunt, bald, and dying in a hospital, the victim of a "tiny nuclear bomb." Suspicions swirled around Russia's FSB, the successor to the KGB, and the Putin regime. Traces of polonium radiation were found in Germany and on certain airplanes, suggesting a travel route from Russia for the carriers of the fatal poison. But what really happened? What did Litvinenko know? And why was he killed?

The full story of Sasha Litvinenko's life and death is one that the Kremlin does not want told. His closest friend, Alex Goldfarb, and his widow, Marina, are the only two people who can tell it all, from firsthand knowledge, with dramatic scenes from Moscow to London to Washington. Death of a Dissident reads like a political thriller, yet its story is more fantastic and frightening than any novel.

Ever since 1998, when Litvinenko denounced the FSB for ordering him to assassinate tycoon Boris Berezovsky, he had devoted his life to exposing the FSB's darkest secrets. After a dramatic escape to London with Goldfarb's assistance, he spent six years, often working with Goldfarb, investigating a widening series of scandals. Oligarchs and journalists have been assassinated. Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko was poisoned on the campaign trail. The war in Chechnya became unspeakably harsh on both sides. Sasha Litvinenko investigated all of it, and he denounced his former employers in no uncertain terms for their dirty deeds.

Death of a Dissident opens a window into the dark heart of the Putin Kremlin. With its strong-arm tactics, tight control over the media, and penetration of all levels of government, the old KGB is back with a vengeance. Sasha Litvinenko dedicated his life to exposing this truth. It took his diabolical murder for the world to listen.

About the Author

Alex Goldfarb, Ph.D., was a dissident scientist who left Russia in the 1970s, joining the faculty of Columbia University. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, he went to work for George Soros directing charitable initiatives in Russia. He befriended Alexander Litvinenko in the 1990s. Goldfarb later helped Litvinenko work on his memoirs and supported his efforts to expose the abuses of the newly ascendant FSB. Goldfarb is currently the executive director of the International Foundation for Civil Liberties, set up by Boris Berezovsky as an umbrella group for human-rights activists.

Marina Litvinenko first met Alexander at her thirty-first birthday party, in 1993, when he was a young officer in the FSB. They married and she gave birth to a son thereafter. In 2000, the three of them sought asylum in the United Kingdom, and she continues to live in London with her twelve-year-old son.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 369 pages
• Publisher: The Free Press (May 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416551654
• ISBN-13: 978-1416551652
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #581,762 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Look At Modern Russia, June 16, 2007

By	Violaine "Violaine" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

I've been interested in this story ever since it first broke back in November, and I got this book after seeing an interview with Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko on Charlie Rose. It is a fascinating look at the events that led up to Litvinenko's poisoning. The story begins with Goldfarb helping Litvinenko and his family escape to Britain via Turkey in November of 2000. The book discusses the relationship between Putin, Berezovsky and Litvinenko against the backdrop of KGB/FSB's rise to control in modern Russia. The book also discusses the Politkovskaya murder, the 2002 Dubrovka theater hostage crisis where 129 people were killed, and how these events and others may be related to the FSB. This book does not sensationalize for the sake of selling, but at the same time remains a compelling read. Fascinating, intelligently-written, and easy to follow along with, this book has offered much insight and inspired me to do even more research on these topics. A great read for anyone interested in analysis of modern politics and power plays.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Documentary written like a political thriller, June 15, 2007

By	Jerry Leone (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Emotional and detailed account of events that lead to a tragic death of a former Russian intelligence officer Aexander Litvinenko.
Deep and competing political and financial agendas at play.
Great book, could not put it down untill finished!
Recommend to all who are interested in politics in general and Russia in particular.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 15 Years in 300 pages, July 29, 2007

By	Abraham Blinick (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am always looking for a book that can take a complex subject and make it seamless. Boris Berezovsky fighting with Vladimir Gusinsky, Anatoly Chubais fired and rehired by Yeltsin, Chubais knuckling under to Putin, a surprise in the form of Vanessa Redgrave coming to the aid of Akhmed Zakayev, a former Chechen commander who the Russians try to extradite from Denmark, Berezovsky fired by Yeltsin but instrumental in advancing Putin, Roma Abramovitch's handshake with the devil, the Moscow Theatre hostage crisis, the Ryazan incident, good and bad Chechens, hundreds of thousands of dead Chechens, the re-empowerment of the Russian bureaucratic state, the oligarchs and dissidents verses the War Party, and on and on, in a tightly packed, gripping narrative. What Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko provide is context in the dizzying array of shifting alliances of post-Communist Russia. It grabs you the way Victor Kravchenko's book, "I Chose Freedom" did in the 1940s.

You feel for the incredibly brave souls, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Duma members Sergei Yushenkov andYuri Shchekochikhin whose fate is death at the hands of the FSB; they are all tough, resilient, fearless and doomed. Yet Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko make you feel for all these people, make you wish that we could do something more to help, make you ache for their tragic and vicious fate.

But in tragedy we see what Sasha Litvinenko sees. The joy of fighting back against people who care for nothing but themselves, and have no compunction about ruining the life of anyone who resists them. Like real life James Bonds, Litvinenko, Goldfarb and Berezovsky marshal their resources to poke Putin in the eye daily, taking their pleasures where they find them. Goldfarb takes you into the world of psycho-tropic drugs, binary, and nuclear isotope killing agents and you see that even in the face of utter evil, there is a network that stands fast against Stalin's progeny.

By the end of the book you have felt Sasha Litvinenko's intelligence, his wife's devotion, and the final understanding of his fate. His "J'Accuse" hits its target. Maybe in the next round, civil Russia, with the help of democrats like Garry Kasparov, will bring down the War Party, and it will be Putin who stands in the dock. In the meantime, Putin's name stands in disgrace, and we owe no small debt to the writers of this book.