Chemical Attacks
02/04/25 • 44 min
Relations between Russia and the Conservative-led British government are being pushed to the brink. In Salisbury, former KGB officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are found unconscious on a park bench, poisoned by the radioactive nerve agent Novichok. The attack sends shockwaves through Britain and Europe, while the suspected perpetrators are flaunted in a prime time TV interview on Russia Today, convincing Sergei Cristo that his former homeland is now run like a mafia state.
NATO countries respond by expelling swathes of Russian diplomats and spies. So why does the UK’s foreign secretary shake off his security detail to party in Italy with his pal, the Russian oligarch Evgeny Lebedev, just one month after this critical incident?
Tensions are rising and a demand for answers about Russian interference in British politics growing. But it seems that powerful forces are determined to keep the truth buried.
Episodes drop weekly!
A Project Citizen production
To find out more about the story and issues it raises visit www.the-citizens.com
Presented by: Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes
Written by: Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes
Producer and Sound Design: Ruth Abrahams
Studio Producer: Sean Byrne Roberts
Location Producers: Sheridan Flynn and Manasa Narayanan
Original Music: Phil Channell
Mixed: Nigel Appleton
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Relations between Russia and the Conservative-led British government are being pushed to the brink. In Salisbury, former KGB officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are found unconscious on a park bench, poisoned by the radioactive nerve agent Novichok. The attack sends shockwaves through Britain and Europe, while the suspected perpetrators are flaunted in a prime time TV interview on Russia Today, convincing Sergei Cristo that his former homeland is now run like a mafia state.
NATO countries respond by expelling swathes of Russian diplomats and spies. So why does the UK’s foreign secretary shake off his security detail to party in Italy with his pal, the Russian oligarch Evgeny Lebedev, just one month after this critical incident?
Tensions are rising and a demand for answers about Russian interference in British politics growing. But it seems that powerful forces are determined to keep the truth buried.
Episodes drop weekly!
A Project Citizen production
To find out more about the story and issues it raises visit www.the-citizens.com
Presented by: Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes
Written by: Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes
Producer and Sound Design: Ruth Abrahams
Studio Producer: Sean Byrne Roberts
Location Producers: Sheridan Flynn and Manasa Narayanan
Original Music: Phil Channell
Mixed: Nigel Appleton
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
The Professor and the Trolls
Westminster is caught up in bitter Brexit debates and Trump’s first term in office is getting mired in investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Suddenly the two worlds collide in the form of an enigmatic Maltese professor, revealed in the unsealing of FBI indictments.
Sergei is disgusted with the atmosphere pervading British politics. Meanwhile, new trolling tactics of the Russian embassy, echoed by some on UK political fringes, takes a threatening turn, directed not least against Carole and then UK Prime Minister, Theresa May.
How much does the foreign secretary at the time, Boris Johnson, know about suspected Russian interference? Not a sausage it turns out.
Episodes drop weekly!
A Project Citizen production
To find out more about the story and issues it raises visit www.the-citizens.com
Presented by: Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes
Written by: Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes
Producer and Sound Design: Ruth Abrahams
Studio Producer: Sean Byrne Roberts
Location Producers: Sheridan Flynn and Manasa Narayanan
Original Music: Phil Channell
Mixed: Nigel Appleton
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
Listen Now: The Spy Who
If you’re enjoying Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring, we think you’ll love The Spy Who, from Wondery. In this special episode, we’ll play you an extract from their season: The Spy Who Putin Poisoned. When the USSR falls apart, GRU officer Sergei Skripal finds himself adrift in the new Russia, having never asked for the country's new democracy. So when he meets a shadowy wine dealer, he leaps at the chance to make some money, without a clue how the deal would lead him to Salisbury.
Listen to The Spy Who ad-free on Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/the-spy-who now.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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