Orders to Kill

A KGB scholar examines dozens of Putin's victims to expose a campaign of political murder that even includes the Boston Marathon terror attack.

Russia is no stranger to political murder, from the tsars to the Soviets to the Putin regime, during which many journalists, activists and political opponents have been killed. Kremlin defenders insist there is no proof of these crimes. Since Putin controls all investigations, he is never seen holding a smoking gun. But investigative journalist Amy Knight offers mountains of circumstantial evidence that point to Kremlin involvement.


An eminent scholar of the KGB, Knight traces Putin's journey from the Federal Security Service (FSB) in the late 1990s through his rise to absolute power, detailing the many bodies that paved the way. She offers new information about the most famous victims, such as Alexander Litvinenko, the former FSB officer who was poisoned while living in London, and the statesman Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered outside the Kremlin in 2015. She also sheds light on many others who are less well-known in the West.


Knight shows that terrorist attacks in Russia, as well as the Boston Marathon bombing in the US, are part of the same campaign. And she explores what these murders mean for Putin, for Russia, and for the West, where American President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended him.