Author of critical book about Putin asks for asylum in UK

A Russian journalist who wrote a highly critical book about President Vladimir Putin has asked for political asylum in Britain, claiming her life was in “mortal danger,” she said today.

Yelena Tregubova, a former Kremlin reporter for Kommersant, one of Russia’s leading newspapers, in 2003 penned Tales Of A Kremlin Digger, in which she accused Putin of curbing freedom of speech, but also described juicy details, such as her alleged intimate private dinner with Putin when he was still the country’s top security official.