On Friday, Luke Harding published a lengthy article detailing some of his experiences as the Guardian’s correspondent in Russia, which culminated in his deportation in February of this year.  His involvement in covering the Litvinenko case, the war in Georgia and the exile of Bors Berezovsky made himself and his family the victims of an insidious long-term persecution campaign by the FSB.  He has now written a book, “Mafia State: How One Reporter Became An Enemy Of The Brutal New Russia” which comes out this week.  The article makes for fascinating, if not deeply disturbing reading on the perils of pursuing investigative journalism in Russia.  Below is just a brief extract:

The FSB’s invisible presence continued; the agency became an intangible part of my Moscow life – sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly, with someone in a back room clearly turning the volume of minor persecution up and down. That someone listened to my phone calls was made clear most days. FSB agents cut the line whenever my conversation strayed into sensitive areas. Saying words such as “Berezovsky” or “Litvinenko” meant the immediate end of any call. (For a while, I substituted the word “banana” for Berezovsky. Amazingly, this appeared to work.) Discussions of Kremlin politics also ended badly, with the frustrating beep-beep of a disconnected line.