The assassination of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006--poisoned by the rare radioactive element polonium--caused an international sensation. Within a few short weeks, the fit 43-year-old lay gaunt, bald, and dying in a hospital, the victim of a "tiny nuclear bomb." Suspicions swirled around Russia's FSB, the successor to the KGB, and the Putin regime. But what really happened? What did Litvinenko know? And why was he killed? The full story of Litvinenko's life and death is one that the Kremlin does not want told. Ever since 1998, when Litvinenko denounced the FSB for ordering him to assassinate tycoon Boris Berezovsky, he had devoted his life to exposing the FSB's darkest secrets. He investigated everything, and he denounced his former employers in no uncertain terms. Litvinenko dedicated his life to exposing this truth; it took his diabolical murder for the world to listen.--From publisher description.