‘I’m a dead man walking’: ex-Russian spy says defectors in UK are at risk

Boris Karpichkov: ‘I expect to be killed and I can’t protect myself.’ Photograph: David Levene/The Observer

In April 1997, Vechernyaya Moskva, one of the most popular newspapers in Moscow, published an article on a former Russian intelligence agent, Boris Karpichkov.

The article was illustrated with a picture of Karpichkov’s KGB identity papers, with the crosshairs of a sniper’s rifle superimposed. It warned that the ex-KGB major was wanted by Interpol, faced interrogation by the Russian authorities and was being hunted by organised crime groups.