Vitali Vitaliev

The first investigative journalist in the old Soviet Union, Vitali Vitaliev was forced to defect from the USSR in January 1990 – the result of his ground-breaking and courageous investigations into Soviet organised crime, neo-fascism, political prisoners and persecutions.
For his dangerous, courageous and pioneering exposures, he has been awarded several Journalist of the Year awards and received the Nieman Fellowship in Journalism from Harvard University (USA).
Since his escape to the West, Vitali has lived and worked as an editor and columnist in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and the USA and has become widely known for his regular appearances on both serious and satirical TV and radio programming, including “Saturday Night Clive”, “After Dark”, “Have I Got News For You”, “Desert Island Discs” and “QI”.
Vitali has published thirteen books, written in English and translated into many languages, including German, French, Italian, Japanese, Finnish and Russian. 
At different times, he was a regular columnist with The Guardian, The European, The Daily Telegraph, The Australian, The (Glasgow) Herald and many other titles. He won over a dozen awards for his journalism and has written and presented TV and radio documentaries for BBC 1 TV, BBC Radio 4, Channel 4, ABC and ITV.
Vitali is a regular media commentator on current political and social issues, a columnist, a features writer  and an accomplished public speaker. 

Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitali_Vitaliev

Amazon author's page:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vitali-Vitaliev/e/B001K85YAW?ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vu00_tkin_p1_i0

Speakers' Profile:
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