Boris Volodarsky
Boris B. Volodarsky (; born 14 August 1955 in Syzran, Kuybyshev Oblast) is an English historian, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, specialising in Intelligence History, which he has studied for almost 30 years after having moved to the West, and the history of the Spanish Civil War. He formerly served as a captain in the Spetsnaz GRU, a Russian special forces unit. Education Volodarsky has a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science Since 2010, Volodarsky has been a Research Fellow at the LSE's Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies under the directorship of Paul Preston; a member of the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar chaired by Christopher Andrew; and a member of the World Association of International Studies (WAIS), Stanford University, USA. Volodarsky made his name writing The KGB's Poison Factory: From Lenin to Litvinenko (2009) and several follow-up books and articles on the history of Soviet intelligence. He is a regular contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America, ITV, and The John Batchelor Show. Volodarsky also acted as the chief consultant for the BBC Panorama documentary How to Poison a Spy (2007). Volodarsky's interview for Foreign Policy on Russian undercover agents, the so-called