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The family hiding in the bush after leaking Russian secrets

Nick Stride’s family had to learn to hunt, fish and deal with deadly animals in the wilds of Australia’s bush after leaking secret financial records of Putin’s one-time Deputy.

Nick Stride said too much about his former boss, one of Putin’s closest allies.

Nick Stride, a builder from the UK, feared for his family’s safety after discovering alleged financial corruption while building First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov’s 140-million-dollar mansion in Moscow. Worried that his every movement was being watched, he hatched a plan to get out and put as much distance as possible between his loved ones and his former boss. They chose Australia. Nick then passed the secret accounting documents he’d taken to an investigative reporter, but by the time it came to publish, Nick and his family’s claim for political asylum in Australia was rejected. Seeing no way out, the family went on the run, hiding out amongst the snakes and crocodiles of the country’s unforgiving Dampier peninsula, every morning expecting a truck to pull up and tear his family apart.

The book about his odyssey is called Run For Your Life, by Sue Williams.

Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Edgar Maddicott

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40 minutes

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  • Lives Less Ordinary

    Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary personal stories