Luke Daniel Harding is a British journalist who is a foreign correspondent for The Guardian. He was based in Russia for The Guardian from 2007 until, returning from a stay in the UK on 5 February 2011, he was refused re-entry to Russia and deported the same day.^[1] The Guardian said his expulsion was linked with his critical articles on Russia,^[2] a claim denied by the Russian government. After the reversal of the decision on 9 February and the granting of a short-term visa, Harding chose not to seek a further visa extension.^[2] His 2011 book Mafia State discusses his experience in Russia and the political system under Vladimir Putin, which he describes as a mafia state.

Harding graduated with an International Baccalaureate diploma from UWC Atlantic College, South Wales and studied English at University College, Oxford. While there he edited the student newspaper Cherwell. He worked for The Sunday Correspondent, the Evening Argus in Brighton and then the Daily Mail before joining The Guardian in 1996.^[3]

He has lived in and reported from Delhi, Berlin, and Moscow, and has covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.^[4] In 2014 he was the recipient of the James Cameron prize for his work on Russia, Ukraine, WikiLeaks, and Edward Snowden.^[5]

In 2007, The Guardian retracted one of his articles for containing text "substantially similar to paragraphs" in another "article, published in May, in the Exile".^[6]

In February 2011, Harding was refused re-entry into Russia. According to Harding, this made him the first foreign journalist to be expelled from Russia since the end of the Cold War. The Guardian said his expulsion was linked with his unflattering coverage of Russia, including speculation about Vladimir Putin's wealth and Putin's knowledge of the London assassination of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.^[2] The director of Index on Censorship, John Kampfner, said "The Russian government's treatment of Luke Harding is petty and vindictive, and evidence – if more was needed – of the poor state of free expression in that country."^[7] Elsa Vidal, head of the European and Central Asia desk at the media freedom watchdog, was quoted in The Washington Post as saying: "This is a serious and shocking step, unprecedented since the Cold War [...] It's an attempt to force correspondents working for foreign media in Moscow to engage in self-censorship."^[8]

However, on the following day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained at a press conference that no visa cancellation had taken place and the problem had been caused by the fact that Harding's visa had expired, a statement disputed by Harding due to his visa being valid until May of that year.^[9] According to Lavrov, Harding had requested an exceptional visa extension until May which was approved. Lavrov also added that Harding had previously broken the rules of his press accreditation by visiting the area of counter-terrorism operations without informing the relevant security authorities.^[10]

The expulsion preceded a visit to Britain by Lavrov, which led to suggestions from Labour MP Chris Bryant that the British government might rescind Lavrov's invitation.^[11] On 9 February, Russia reversed the decision not to re-admit him^[2] although it only granted him a short term visa. Harding chose not to seek a further visa and returned to the UK in February. Harding has said that during his time in Russia he was the subject of largely psychological harassment by the Federal Security Service, whom he alleges were unhappy at the stories he wrote.^[12]

In 2011, a book written by Harding and David Leigh was published by Vintage Books in the US and Guardian Faber in the UK.^[13] WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy was made into a Hollywood film, The Fifth Estate (2013). WikiLeaks condemned the film, stating that its depiction of Assange rushing to publication with no redactions was false.

On November 27, 2018, Harding co-authored a piece for The Guardian claiming that Julian Assange and Paul Manafort met several times at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2013, 2015, and 2016.^[14] Commentators including Preet Bharara and Benjamin Wittes stated that they would be interested in seeing more evidence, because the sources in Harding's piece were described only as "sources". Manafort and Assange both denied ever having met, and Assange threatened legal action against The Guardian.^[15]

In The Washington Post, Paul Farhi noted that, despite The Guardian promoting Harding's story as "a bombshell", it could turn out to be nothing but "a dud", and that the British paper has only defended the story "half-heartedly" since critics started voicing their skepticism. According to Farhi, "No other news organization has been able to corroborate the Guardian’s reporting".^[16] The article was described as possibly journalism's biggest scoop of the year, or its biggest blunder.^[15]

According to Glenn Greenwald, "if Paul Manafort visited Assange at the Embassy, there would be ample amounts of video and other photographic proof demonstrating that this happened. The Guardian provides none of that."^[17] Likewise, President Obama’s former national security aide Tommy Vietor said that "If these meetings happened, British intelligence would almost certainly have video of him entering and exiting."^[17]

Harding's book on Edward Snowden, The Snowden Files (2014), received a glowing review from The New York Times's Michiko Kakutani,^[18] who noted that it “reads like a le Carré novel crossed with something by Kafka. . A fast-paced, almost novelistic narrative. . .. [The book] gives readers . . a succinct overview of the momentous events of the past year. . . . Leave[s] readers with an acute understanding of the serious issues involved”. Additionally, it received positive reviews from several other major publications, including The Guardian,^[19] the London Review of Books,^[20] and the Washington Post,^[21] as well as a mixed review from The Daily Telegraph's David Blair.^[22] It was adapted into a film, Snowden, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, released in September 2016.

In 2016, Harding published A Very Expensive Poison, an account of the murder of the Russian ex-KGB whistle-blower and outspoken Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko. The book garnered a positive response from reviewers, including from the Spectator,^[23] Guardian,^[24] Times,^[25] and London Review of Books;^[26] Robert Fox, writing for the Evening Standard called it 'one of the best political thrillers [he had] come across in years'.^[27] Lucy Prebble has adapted the book for the stage, with the play due to première in The Old Vic theatre, London in 2018.^[28]

In November 2017, Harding published Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win on the subject of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. The book examines the dossier by former British spy Christopher Steele, and alleges that Trump was the subject of at least five years of "cultivation" by Soviet/Russian intelligence services prior to his election, and possibly by the KGB as soon as 1987.^[29][30]