Departures With Robert Amsterdam

There are few other countries in history with Russia's record of foreign intrigue. High-level assassinations of prominent dissidents, including the nuclear poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London, Sergei Skripal in Salisburg, the most recent poisoning of Alexei Navalny presumably in Siberia followed by his recovery in Germany, have come to shape global perceptions of Russia - perhaps based in fear, but also characterized by instability. Andrei Soldatov, one of Russia's most revered and deeply sourced journalists specializing in the intelligence services, joins Robert Amsterdam on the podcast this week to discuss his latest book co-authored with Irina Borogan, "The Compatriots: The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia's Exiles, Émigrés, and Agents Abroad." Soldatov argues with Amsterdam that the choice of poisons such as Novichok, a highly controlled substance, to carry out these attempted assassinations is not accidental, and is instead actually quite strategic. "It's actually very smart. It's only about