Louise's Reviews > A Very Expensive Poison: The Definitive Story of the Murder of Litvinenko and Russia's War with the West

Alexander Litvinenko solved the crime of his murder as he was dying from poisoning and it took the British government another 10 years to confirm it. Luke Harding takes you through the crime and the issues that surround it. You see how those who fall out of favor with Vladimir Putin are never safe.

Those at the top did not plan it well. While they found two unassuming motiveless assassins, Andrei Lugovoi and Dimity Kovton knew little of their tradecraft. The descriptions of how they dressed, attempted to get laid, and sought an accomplice are comical. Did the planners know that polomium 210, while hard to detect in a body, leaves a larger external trail, one that could possibly put thousands at risk? It doesn’t matter that the planners were careless, with the power of the “country” they control and their wealth, consequences are unlikely. They publically awarded the assassins with honors.

Litvenenko’s assassination did not occur in a vacuum. There is a description of the Crimea takeover which gives insight as to how the Putin regime works. There is a description of the wealth these oligarchs are protecting, not only in their world-wide properties but also their prominence in the Panama Papers. (For those following Putin and his circle it is interesting that “cellist” features in the “Papers”.)

Harding profiles some of Putin’s critics that have wound up dead: Boris Berezosvski (Litvenenko’s former mentor & exile to the UK) Badri Patarkatsishvili (a Berezosvski partner and UK exile), Anna Polikovskaya (a Russian journalist murdered in her Moscow apt. stairwell), Boris Nemtsov (an opposition politician murdered in the open at a would-be Moscow rally) and Mikhail Lesin (a mysterious death in the US). You understand that Harding has had some space considerations since the trail is far from complete. Sergei Magnitsky (and others that perished regarding the Browder claims) gets only mention and other prominent victims are not listed.

There are many takeaways. One is awe for the very brave men and women in Russia who pursue reform through the media, politics and the courts. In the US these can be career or commitment pursuits, in Russia they are life and death undertakings. Another is how Russian money acts like a drug on policy makers and politicians in the west.

While Trump supporters may look the other way, it is clear that the influence is here in the US. The inability of the Republicans in the House and Senate to secure our voting system makes you wonder how deeply they are hooked on Russian cash. It also makes you hopeful that the Robert Mueller investigation can put some energy behind isolating this threat to democracy.

This book is highly recommended for both those who know the issues, but also for those who are starting to inform themselves about how Putin’s Russia operates and its tentacles this book is also a good introduction.