Killer in the Kremlin: The instant bestseller - a gripping and explosive account of Vladimir Putin's tyranny

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an Emmy Award and a Royal Television Society prize for programs about the Massacre at Krusha e Madhe, Kosovo. While unreservedly condemning his brutal murder I should admit that Nemtsov did not make a similar impression on me. When I spoke to him of the bravery of Yuri Shchekochikhin, Nemtsov scoffed and put down his death, not to poisoning, but to his “fondness for Armenian brandy”. It was a comment that lowered him in my estimation.

Shchekochikhin’s girlfriend Alyona Gromova recalled: “On the day he was taken to hospital, he felt very weak. After he had a shower, his hair was a mess. I went to stroke it and great handfuls of hair came out in my hand. The symptoms were confusing. First, it seemed like a cold but his face was very red, as if he had sunburn, then lumps of his skin started to flake off.”By the time I get to the Post Office building a great curl of sound walls up in front of me like a monster wave at sea. It’s the air-raid siren, going off big time, warning of incoming Russian artillery or mission fire. The noise is obscene. Alyona went to say goodbye to her lover in the morgue. “It was a big place, a huge hall. There were bodies on slabs due to be buried the next day. I looked around. There were about 20 people but I couldn’t find Yuri. I went up to the supervisor and explained that I might be in the wrong place as I couldn’t find him. Through the corner of my eye I saw a dear old lady lying on a slab. The strangest thing, she reminded me of my grandma who passed away a long time ago. The curious resemblance of the two old ladies hit me. In my worst nightmares, I could never, ever have imagined that the dear old lady was in fact Yuri.” I share many of the author’s views on the current Kremlin regime, especially that the invasion of Ukraine was not only morally indefensible but was also a serious military mistake. There is one section of the book, however, that I found to be infuriatingly selective with the truth. This book delves into Putin’s soul, it questions his birthright and sexual preferences, it looks at his close links with organised crime and how he has become so wealthy, it delves into his relationships with corrupt business leaders and politicians including ex-Presidents and how he has manipulated the Russian economy for his own benefit. It gives many detailed examples of his vindictive and controlling methods and how any criticism has put people’s live at risk. From this book it is impossible to estimate how many lost lives Putin has been responsible for, but the lists of those who were once close and have died in mysterious circumstances is extraordinary. So, apart from beginning and ending with an account of his experiences in Ukraine from mid-February until mid-June last year, the author introduces us to Vladimir ‘Rat Boy’ Putin and a certain Alexander Lebedev (who reappears much later in the book) and then reminds us of the mysterious bomb explosions which took place in various parts of Russia very shortly before Yel’tsin, in effect, selected Putin as his successor.This led to the reopening of the war against Chechnya, the disastrous Western failure to understand the significance of the selection of Putin as the new President of Russia, the mysterious deaths of a variety of Russians, including, notably, Alexander Litvinenko, who did understand the Kremlin’s long-term anti-Western strategy, the pathetically weak foreign reaction to the illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and the ensuing shooting down over Ukraine of the MH17 passenger plane, the demonstrative murder of Boris Nemtsov just outside the Kremlin the following year, the attempted murder of Naval’ny, the attempted murder in Salisbury of a Mr. Skripal and, even more sinister, at least one completely innocent member of his family (these aren’t merely crimes, but ‘acts of war’ – p. 207), the never-ending exploitation of thousands of still unrepentant, greedy, non-Russian useful idiots, ignorant of the true nature of the new Russian authorities, etc., etc., etc.

Heavily engaging and informative, sweeneys personal recount of the tsar of is gripping. Following Putins rise to power as a low ranking KGB officer to Yeltsins successor, In the midst of one of the darkest acts of aggression in modern history - Russia's invasion of Ukraine - this book shines a light on Putin's rule and poses urgent questions about how the world must respond. It is anyone’s guess as to where this war will take Putin and Russia, let alone Zelensky and Ukraine. One thing is certain, many more Ukraine and Russian soldiers, and sadly many more Ukraine citizens will die and the Ukraine cities, countryside and economy will be scared for generations. Afraid this is just poor. The book starts out with some passionate, melodramatic self-aggrandising about Sweeney's adventures in Ukraine, which could have been interesting if spun out into an examination of the present, Russia's crimes and the impact he's observed in Ukrainian society. Instead, the bulk of the book is focused on paraphrasing the works of other, better books with the addition of being written by a somewhat manic Steve Zissou figure. He's obviously been reading Masha Gessen, heavily - no bad thing because her books are great - but if you want a book examining Putin and taking guesses as to what's wrong with him then read The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, which is truly excellent.

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John Sweeney has a long career in investigative journalism and as such his experience of and interest in Russia and Putin helps to create a very readable and useful book. In Killer in the Kremlin, the story of Ukraine is bookended at the start and finish, using Sweeney's own experiences in Kyiv and elsewhere, with the wider story of Vlad the murder's executions and assassinations. Sweeney himself comes across as a mix of Humphrey Bogart and Hunter S. His fearlessness to put himself into the sights of powerful establishment figures and ask the important questions like "Why did Russian anti-aircraft guns shoot down an air Malaysia flight?" To Putin is astounding. A gripping and explosive account of Vladimir Putin's tyranny, charting his rise from spy to tsar, exposing the events that led to his invasion of Ukraine and his assault on Europe. Yes, there was brutality in the later stages of the war but it took the form of massive artillery shelling and aerial bombardments.