The Skripal Files cover art

The Skripal Files

Putin, Poison and the New Spy War

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Skripal Files

By: Mark Urban
Narrated by: Mark Urban
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The Skripal Files tells the full story behind the Salisbury Poisonings, one of the most shocking incidents to occur in Britain in recent memory. Mark Urban interviewed Sergei Skripal in the months before the poisoning and explains why Skripal was targeted for assassination.

'A scrupulous piece of reporting, necessary, timely and very sobering' John Le Carré

Chosen as one of the best political books of 2018 by the Sunday Times


4 March 2018, Salisbury, England.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were enjoying a rare and peaceful Sunday spent together, completely unaware that they had been poisoned with the deadly nerve agent Novichok. Hours later both were found slumped on a park bench close to death.

Following their attempted murders on British soil, Russia was publicly accused by the West of carrying out the attack, marking a new low for international relations between the two since the end of the Cold War.

The Skripal Files is the definitive account of how Skripal’s story fits into the wider context of the new spy war between Russia and the West. The book explores the time Skripal spent as a spy in the Russian military intelligence, how he was turned to work as an agent by MI6, his imprisonment in Russia and his eventual release as part of a spy-swap that would bring him to Salisbury where, on that fateful day, he and his daughter found themselves fighting for their lives.

©Mark Urban 2018 (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio
Eastern Espionage Europe Freedom & Security Military & War Murder Politics & Government True Crime Military War Russia Crime Great Britain Scandinavia Imperialism Soviet Union Cold War

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Terminal Spy cover art
Red Devils cover art
Putin's Wars cover art
Double Agent cover art
Killer in the Kremlin cover art
Assassination on Embassy Row cover art
Overreach cover art
Spies in the Family cover art
The Gold cover art
Undercover War cover art
The Accidental Spy cover art
Too Big to Jail cover art
Hard Measures cover art
Spymaster cover art
Deception cover art
Queen of Spies cover art

Critic reviews

Engrossing . . . Urban tells the story of Skripal’s undercover career well, much of it previously unknown and gleaned from around 10 hours of conversations with him at his Salisbury home (Luke Harding)
All stars
Most relevant  
This book is dense on information, particularly names. Take your time and absorb it, the author is diligent and an good reader too. Great stuff.

A fantastic insight

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Mark Urban has provided exemplary commentary on an incredible chain of events. The research adds background and substance to the activities of the secret intelligence services across the globe and the subsequent nerve agent attack in Salisbury. Well worth a read or listen.

Fascinating insight into a truly remarkable event

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

An amazing insight into the workings of the GRU and the Russian mindset when it comes to traitors and how they should be dealt with. Mark Urban explains clearly how the events in Salisbury can be traced back to the 90s if not even earlier.

Enthralling read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

As someone who responded to the bench on that day in March 2018 as part of the 999 response, I was fascinated to hear more detail as to what led it to be. Mark Urban is great too, a well known voice to me growing up with an interest in current affairs.

The background that led to that bench in Salisbury!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

author vert open on admitting his own errors. fascinating insight into an egregious act committed on British soil. authors aren't narrators, though!

fascinating tale.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

No hesitation in recommending Mark Urban's book, it's just so engrossing and a real eye opener. He paints such vivid picture of how and why we ended up in Salisbury with an attempted murder on the Skripal's lives.

Excellent!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Excellent and enjoyable. But released before the Bellingcat reports and TV interviews of Mishmin (alias Petrov) and Chepiga (alias Boshirov) it is post facto incomplete. A pity because otherwise very good.

Entertaining and well written, but released too soon

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

for those of us who are fascinated by the espionage genre this book is outstanding great work from Mark Urban

excellent book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The skripals story is part of a much wider book about the post Cold War espionage activities of the east and west.

I don’t mind admitting I got mighty confused by the acronyms (past & present) for the Russian / Soviet espionage groups and the interactions between each and the individuals within.

A little detailed and wide ranging for me, but for those enthused by this stuff, fill your boots!

Quite confusing for the unfamiliar …

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.