What we have here, it seems to me, is an attempt by the
UK to limit the damage to its own reputation – damage perhaps it never
envisaged, because it assumed everyone would “buy” the “wicked Russia”
story. - Mary Dejevsky in The Independent, 24 May
The murky
world of secret operations by State intelligence units is one that we seldom
get much of a look into – well, if we did, it wouldn’t be ‘secret’ anymore,
would it? – but enough transpires to give us considerable insight into its
workings.
When it
comes to awarding first prize for clandestine operations aimed at liquidating
individuals they don’t like, the Russian secret service would have to be the front-runner.
For the past three quarters of a century, these furtive characters have built
up a reputation for slick, targeted assassinations outside their own territory.
