13) Russia's Murder Lab

And then, a deranged zealot willing to kill for a cause lit a fuse that would change my

life and so many others forever, rippling out for generations.

Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I found out what happened to all of them, except one.

A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars.

I'm Lucy Sheriff.

Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered

that everyone has a different version of events.

Hear the story on Where's Dia?

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

or on Apple Podcasts.

Listener discretion is advised.

targets in the past.

Absolutely.

He was special.

like there's a romantic feeling when you're describing him.

I liked his personality.

Whoever, like, say to me about Vladimir that, oh, he's a killer, he's a murderer, he's a

criminal.

But I've seen by myself, like, how he, he was so respectful to other people and, like,

just honest.

He was justice.

for rejecting her commander's advances, she's constantly told me that she didn't want to

live anymore.

But suddenly, she's stopped saying this.

Now, she seems to want to live.

The problem is that she's finally found her happiness on the wrong side of the law.

It kind of sounds like, to me, like you're getting lost in the role.

of them, they were armed, and they have a lot of cash in their pockets, and a big black

car with this, like, crazy loud music.

And I felt I'm, like, in a movie.

I live another life which I never had before, and I never even knew that this life may possibly

exist.

I'm sorry, I had to do it, that I'd go on my own.

You didn't guess that behind, I was loading my gun.

I got you, I tear you apart, I had to kill you.

Cause it's so much fun.

I stand up slowly so he wouldn't wake up.

I didn't go downstairs because I didn't know exactly where these guys were sleeping.

But upstairs on the second floor, there were...

She was now at the home of her target Vladimir, who had just fallen asleep.

This gave her the opportunity to search his home and discover any potential evidence that

could take down the drug trafficking and extortion gang that Vladimir was running.

It also gave her a very good opportunity to get caught.

One room was just bedroom.

I quickly checked the wardrobe and everything.

It was just empty bedroom.

And I opened the door of another room and I saw like sofa and a big wardrobe.

Near to the wardrobe, there were like huge black trash bags.

So I walked and I slowly opened it and I saw that it was full of cash.

Lots of lots of money in these black trash bags.

I've never seen anything like that.

I was shocked.

And then I opened the wardrobe and I saw automatic Kalashnikov guns just like in the line.

And I saw some TT guns as well.

And I kind of like even got jealous because it was expensive.

And the aim is just perfect.

It's a perfect gun.

I walked outside and I went to the door which was on the corner.

And I opened the door and it was kind of like an office because it was a table there.

A big map on the wall.

And I saw there was like some little pins on the map of the city.

There's a lot of papers on the table.

Aliyah decided to return to Vladimir's room.

However, as she's about to walk inside, Vladimir opened the door.

And he he said like, where have you been?

I woke up and you were not in the bedroom.

I said like, I'm so thirsty, I don't know where to find water.

He said, oh, I'll bring you, don't worry.

Go to bed, it's fine.

And I was thinking, oh my god, he almost caught me.

If he would walk around the house and see me in that different like doors checking everything,

he could kill me that moment straight away.

I didn't sleep at all, all night.

I was thinking about what I'm doing next.

And what should I report exactly to my commander?

that there was some evidentiary benefit to spending more time in Vladimir's home.

In order to help ensure that she'd be invited back,

that morning she tried one last seduction gambit.

In her bag, she had a small vial of a perfume

that she'd learned to formulate in her seduction training.

So every time he would go to his pillow and sleep there,

he will remember me, like remember my smell.

And I said to him, well, I have to go home because I have to study

and my lesson starts very soon.

And I walked outside and then his security drove me home.

I came back home and I called to Sasha.

I just said that, listen, we need to meet

and I will explain everything in person.

In case she was being followed,

she walked to the university campus where she claimed to be studying.

There, she waited for her colleague in the FSKN, Sasha, to arrive.

They met at a table in the student common area

and she filled them in on her progress the night before.

if he would caught you like in the night,

do you understand what he would do to you?

I said, like, I know.

And he's like, please be careful.

Don't do this again.

Listen, for now, just try to be close to him as you can.

Listen to his conversations.

Listen to his telephone calls.

And he said that you should start to bring more information

about next places of hearing supplies.

I said, okay, I'll do my best,

but just in the beginning, give me some time.

And I went back through the university

and then I returned to my house.

So just in case, I tried to make it look like I was really a student there.

how are you, beautiful?

I'm thinking about you.

Well, I knew that he was thinking about me because the smell was there.

but she said she needed to stay home and get her homework done.

because in this case, I show him that I'm not so desperate

about our communication and so needy.

He said that the team had decided

that she should try to get photos of the map and papers she'd seen.

which I could put to my purse.

And he brought me a wire as well.

The wire which you basically put into the room

and you can hear it on the distance.

And I had to put this device somewhere where people would hang out the most.

So I thought that it would be better to put this device into the dining kitchen area

rather than to his office.

as a way to get some alone time in the kitchen and plant the bug.

you need to cook for him.

And I got some potatoes, some tomatoes, I got some meat.

Then the driver came and I brought the bag with the food with me.

And they were finishing some conversations while I was cooking.

So I searched the kitchen very well.

I only found a good place which was underneath the vase.

There was no flowers or something, but there were like some kind of like decoration.

So I put this device inside in the vase, like in the very bottom.

And then I put back this decoration.

And then the next task was to photograph all the important papers in his office.

I served the table and I call everybody and say like, the food is served.

And while they were eating, I was standing and just like looking at them and thinking,

okay, so if they eat it, so they trust me that I wouldn't poison them.

On the way, she asked for a tour of the house.

He even showed me the room where I saw these like bags of cash,

but they were not there anymore.

And then he said like, this is my office.

He didn't open it.

And I said like, I would love to see the place where you work.

And I would love to learn more about you.

He opened the door and then I said like, oh, that's where like the whole magic happens.

And I said, oh, wow, this table is so solid.

Do you think it can handle us both?

He's like, what do you mean?

And I started to kiss him.

And then I went into the position where he can take me from behind

where I was leaning at the table.

So in this case, I could see the map and I could see exactly where it was.

And it wasn't too dark.

So I could read numbers, streets, names on the papers.

And when he was taking me from behind, I was looking at the table

and like just trying to read these names on it and what exactly was there.

I couldn't remember everything, but I remembered some names.

Shortly afterward, she walked to the university in case she was being watched

and waited for a colleague, Sasha, to arrive.

And then we'll give you more like details.

And he asked me for pictures, which I didn't do.

And I told him like, listen, I didn't do it because it was not possible that time,

but I'll do it later.

But for now, I gave him names and I gave him addresses.

These properties were in the exact same area that Aliya had seen

on her first horrible mission with the FSKN.

He said it's exactly where we were like having our operation.

Exactly in some houses there, we saw all these overdosed young kids and teenagers.

And there were the places where were sex slavery,

prostitution basically, where also they sold some heroins.

At Vladimir's map, there were like three pins in that area.

was complicit in the horrible things she'd seen,

even if he was just taking protection money from the traffickers.

And I knew I was doing this for my job, my mission, my country,

for those kids who were killed and overdosed and kidnapped for human trafficking.

I knew all that.

I just wanted to,

I wanted to succeed in my mission,

but at the same time, I just wanted to understand,

is he really so much deeply involved in that?

it was important to get the photos he'd asked for of all the documents in Vladimir's office.

When Aliya explained that she was worried that Vladimir would wake up

and find her there, Sasha came up with this solution.

like really, really deep.

And I said to him, like, so how are we supposed to do it?

And he said, like, just give him, just give him some sleeping pills.

And I was like, okay, which one?

He said, like, I'll, next time I'll give you some good sleeping pills.

It's just like kills you for like 10 hours straight.

A backpack that contained a bomb.

While the authorities focused on the wrong suspect,

a serial bomber planned his next attacks.

Two abortion clinics and a lesbian bar.

But this isn't his story.

It's a human story, one that I've become entangled with.

forced to explore the gray areas between right and wrong, life and death.

Their once ordinary lives, and mine, changed forever.

and ugly reckoning with a growing threat.

Far-right, homegrown, religious terrorism.

Listen to Flashpoint on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

five women disappeared in the span of just a few months.

Eventually, I found out what happened to the women.

All except one.

A woman named Lydia Abrams, known as Dia.

Her friends and family ran through endless theories.

Was she hurt hiking?

Did she run away?

Had she been kidnapped?

I'm Lucy Sheriff.

I've been reporting this story for four years,

and I've uncovered a tangled web of manipulation, estranged families, and greed.

Everyone, it seems, has a different version of events.

Hear the story on Where's Dia,

my new podcast from Pushkin Industries and iHeart Podcasts.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Two Friends.

I would immediately have heat on me.

trained in chemical and radiological weapons response.

I'll explain why in a second.

But first, let's listen a little more.

and they're going to do what's called a geofence,

and they're going to look at what cell phones were in that little area at the time.

So they're going to nail me.

But if you have a drunken interaction with a guy outside a bar,

and he shoves you or coughs on you or smears something on you,

like, gross, that guy's hand was wet, and you don't think anything of it,

and then you don't feel sick for 48 hours,

and you don't get really sick for 72 more hours after that,

you're not going to immediately say,

hey, I bet that strange guy that bumped into me outside the restaurant poisoned me.

So it's a way for the spy to get in the country, do that,

and then they go to the airport, you know, decon themselves,

take an antidote if there's one needed.

and about so-called truth serums.

So I decided to speak to a few experts to get a better understanding

of one of the most sinister aspects of Russian intelligence.

It's deadly use of chemical compounds to silence its enemies around the world.

Why does this seem to be such a common Russian state security tactic

that it's in the news all the time?

between you and the victim before there's a body involved.

It's a cheap way to do it, and it's also terrifying.

If you're actively speaking out against Putin,

and you start to get a tummy ache, you're like, is this it?

Am I dying?

It's a psychological warfare aspect to it,

and it's cheaper than a predator drone with a satellite-guided missile.

that Matt Tipton is talking about, this is journalist Amy Knight,

author of several books critical of the Putin regime,

most recently, The Kremlin's Noose.

and I was terribly, terribly critical of Mr. Putin.

At some point, the Russian embassy phoned up The Globe and Mail

and said that they were going to kick their journalist

who was in Moscow out of the country,

and they were going to do all sorts of repercussions

if Amy Knight didn't stop writing about Putin.

But before that, while she was in Moscow,

something strange happened to her that she still wonders about.

I spoke with him.

I had lunch with my research assistant,

who was Russian, at the hotel.

And about three hours later, I got so violently ill

that I just couldn't do anything.

Just, you know, terrible stomach issues.

And I was able to get myself on the plane a couple days later,

but that stomach thing took a long time to go away.

And they couldn't figure out why I, you know,

had this terrible stomach thing.

And I was thinking to myself that, you know,

unlikely that it was like standard food poisoning

in a very upmarket hotel like the Marriott

with lots of foreign tourists.

And after that, I wondered whether somebody had

slipped something into my food,

not to kill me, but to warn me.

a specific political target.

It also creates fear and uncertainty

in every other enemy and potential enemy.

because it's speculative.

And, you know, it could have just been bad luck.

But I do wonder.

for political ends, taking down kings, emperors,

religious leaders, and philosophers.

But why, I asked journalist Amy Knight,

does Russia seem to employ this method

more than any other country in modern times?

If you want to assassinate someone,

either within the country or abroad.

The Russians started way back when in the Soviet period

what they called a secret poison lab.

They have a technical expertise that has continued

and been passed on.

And the original poison lab was set up

under Stalin's secret police.

And it continued on through the KGB.

And now, of course, there are secret laboratories

that belong to the FSB.

has taken an even more bizarre turn.

A Russian agent sent to tail opposition leader Navalny

has accidentally revealed how he was poisoned in August.

The agent, a member of an elite toxins team

in Russia's FSB security service,

said the lethal nerve agent Novichok

was planted in Navalny's underwear.

You heard that right.

to an actual poisoning is Dr. Yuri Felshtinsky.

We'll get into that exact story in the next episode.

But for now, I called Dr. Felshtinsky,

a leading Russian historian and author,

to better understand why literally part

of the core curriculum for an FSB agent

is learning the use and concealment of poisons.

Number one, and this is extremely important,

it gives you time to escape.

And for example, if we take recent poisonings,

in case of Litvinenko, who was poisoned,

and in case of Skripal, who was poisoned.

who were poisoned in England for betraying Putin.

One survived, along with his daughter,

who was also poisoned.

The other didn't.

to escape back to Russia.

While, for example, Mr. Krasikov,

who killed a Chechen military leader in Berlin

in the middle of the day using a gun,

was arrested.

Or those people who killed former president

of the Chechen Republic, Zelimkhan Yendarbeev,

in Qatar, using bomb,

they successfully killed him,

but they were arrested.

So you see, this is the advantage,

when you poison a person.

But number two, it is not always known

that the person is poisoned.

We know some, of course, in some cases.

But in some other cases, who knows?

Maybe we even do not know

why the person was found dead.

And there are some questionable deaths

in London as well,

where we still do not know

why the person actually left his life

and was found dead.

So this is the advantage,

and that's why they're using it successfully.

not to mention shootings and bombings,

and we didn't even mention the Putin critic

who fell to his death out of a hotel window,

I tell Dr. Felshtinsky

that this is a lot of assassinations.

His answer, to my surprise,

is to explain to me that it's the law.

which allowed Russian special services

to kill enemies of the state abroad.

how the Russian government determines

whether someone should be assassinated

without a trial,

or arrested and put on trial.

And here's his answer.

The first case is when the person

commits treason from the point of view

of the government.

And this is a case of both Litvinenko

and Skripal, for example.

The same was true about that helicopter pilot

who was recently killed in Spain.

Prior to this, he defected to Ukraine

with his helicopter.

Case number two,

when people are competing for power

against Putin.

And in these cases,

they kill preventively.

And this is an order of, for example,

Boris Nemtsov, who was killed

right at the walls of the Kremlin.

And the same is true, of course,

about Alexei Navalny, who was killed

because he was competing

for presidential power.

And the third case, I think,

when it's connected to big money.

Then we're probably going back

to the mafia aspect of political life

in Russia.

But yes, when big money is involved,

we see usually some killings.

is a deadly world that operates

by its own rules,

which sound a lot closer

to the code of the Vory, the mafia,

than that of an elected government.

Even Aliyah, who was working

on what she felt was the right side

of the law, had already been involved

in a possible poisoning.

We'll go deeper into Russia's poison factory

next episode.

But for now, let's return

to Aliyah's experiences

with these chemical agents.

at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.

A backpack that contained a bomb.

While the authorities focused

on the wrong suspect,

a serial bomber planned

his next attacks.

Two abortion clinics

and a lesbian bar.

But this isn't his story.

It's a human story.

One that I've become entangled with.

basically someone bleeding out.

were left to pick up the pieces.

Forced to explore the gray areas

between right and wrong.

Life and death.

Their once ordinary lives,

and mine, changed forever.