From Russia with Blood

September 23, 2019
Russian president Vladimir Putin has enjoyed the British government’s “quiet complicity” in a “covert killing campaign” against his exiled enemies and their associates, according to this sensationalistic account by BuzzFeed News editor Blake (The Ugly Game). At the center of her tale are Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky and his Scottish “bagman,” Scot Young. Berezovsky, who sought political asylum in England after helping to bring Putin to power, was found hanged in March 2013. Less than two years later, Young’s body was discovered impaled on a fence beneath his London apartment. Investigators ruled out foul play in both cases, but Blake suggests that the two men were killed in retaliation for their involvement in a Moscow real estate deal. Citing unnamed U.S. intelligence sources, she identifies 12 other “suspicious” deaths from the past 15 years, alleging that authorities prematurely closed these cases in order to keep Russian money flowing into the U.K. Though Blake claims to have gathered “hundreds of boxes of documents” and a “huge cache of digital files,” she doesn’t cite any specific evidence to explain how these alleged assassinations were carried out. Readers will have to set their skepticism aside in order to enjoy this cinematic ride.

Marisa Calin gives a splendid narration of this account of the targeting of Russian expats by the Russian government. Although the Soviets did the same thing, the often sensational news coverage of the deaths now gets more attention. Buzzfeed News editor Heidi Blake's account may bring more speculation. Calin has a quick and expressive delivery that one can easily follow and understand. She affects a Russian accent for certain quotes and dialogue. This account of targeted assassination by the Russian government demonstrates that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Calin's narration of this work is well worth the listener's time. M.T.F. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine