August 19th 2023.
Vladimir Putin's involvement in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko has been widely acknowledged, and speculation remains about the death of Boris Berezovsky. An expert on the Kremlin's dark arts, Boris Volodarsky, has said that the police and security services should investigate at least two mysterious deaths on British soil.
Volodarsky expressed surprise that the case of former oligarch Berezovsky has not been properly investigated by British authorities. The Kremlin critic was among 14 suspected 'Russian hits' on British soil, according to a 2017 Buzzfeed investigation. This falls within a wider pattern of prominent Russians meeting untimely endings, with at least 13 cases since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The only fatal case definitively linked to the Kremlin on British soil is that of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London. Last December, The Agency reported how the ex-FSB officer had predicted before his death in November 2006 that Ukraine would suffer at the hands of Putin.
Suspicions remain that the Kremlin may have been involved in assassinating other prominent Russians in the UK, such as Berezovsky. He was found dead at his wife's home in Ascot, Berkshire in March 2013, with a ligature around his neck. The coroner recorded an open verdict, concluding that it was impossible to say how he died.
Four months prior to Berezovsky's death, Alexander Perepilichny, a wealthy businessman and whistleblower who had been helping to expose a money-laundering scheme in Russia, collapsed while jogging near his home in Weybridge, Surrey. The coroner ruled that the 44-year-old had died of natural causes but could not eliminate the possibility of foul play.
Volodarsky believes both Berezovsky and Perepilichny were murdered by the Russian secret services. He also believes the British government does not want us to know more, which he finds understandable. He expressed surprise that the death of Berezovsky was not properly investigated and instead of a public inquiry, there was only an inquest in the province.
To mark the launch of a new book about the Litvinenko murder, Volodarsky offers the intriguing premise that the case is not as straightforward as it may seem. He said that no espionage operation represents a 'shut and closed' case, and that every intelligence operation must be reassessed after a certain amount of time. He brings his knowledge of the Litvinenko case, the shadowy protagonists and the KGB's long-established poison factory to bear in The Murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
It is unclear just how much of the Russian president's dark arts on British soil will be made known to the public. Nevertheless, the facts of the cases suggest that further investigation into these mysterious deaths is warranted.
Vladimir Putin’s hand has been detected in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, and speculation remains about the death of Boris Berezovsky. According to an expert on the Kremlin’s dark arts, Boris Volodarsky, the British authorities have not properly investigated the former oligarch’s case. He is ‘truly surprised’ at this given the in-depth investigation by Buzzfeed in 2017 that named Berezovsky as one of 14 suspected ‘Russian hits’ on British soil.
The deaths of prominent Russians on British soil fit within a wider pattern, which media reports suggest include at least 13 cases since Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The only fatal case which has been firmly linked to the Kremlin is the poisoning of Litvinenko with radioactive polonium in London.
The death of Boris Berezovsky in 2013 is another mysterious case that has been shrouded in speculation. The 67-year-old tycoon, a fierce Putin critic, was found dead with a ligature around his neck at his wife’s home in Ascot, Berkshire. A coroner recorded an open verdict the following year, concluding that it was ‘impossible to say how he died’.
Alexander Perepilichny, a wealthy businessman and whistleblower, died four months before Berezovsky. The 44-year-old collapsed while jogging near his home in Weybridge, Surrey. A coroner ruled that the death was of natural causes but could not ‘eliminate all possibility’ of foul play. Volodarsky is convinced that both Berezovsky and Perepilichny were murdered by Russian secret services.
The full extent of the Kremlin’s dark arts on British soil may not be publicly known. Volodarsky, a former captain in Russia’s special forces, believes that no espionage operation can be definitively proven and that even those that become public knowledge must be reassessed over time. His new book, The Murder of Alexander Litvinenko, brings his inside knowledge of the case, the shadowy protagonists, and the KGB’s long-established poison factory to bear.
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