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The Descent: Witnessing Russia's Spiral into Madness Under Putin
Bloomsbury presents The Witnessing Russia's Spiral into Madness Under Putin, written and read by Marc Bennetts
An extraordinary first-hand account of Russia’s descent into totalitarianism, paranoia and madness.
Marc Bennetts, foreign correspondent for The Times and The Sunday Times, moved to Russia in the chaotic final years of President Yeltsin's rule. Twenty-five years later, The Times pulled him out of Russia over concerns for his security following his arrest in Moscow at a protest against the war in Ukraine.
From the “wild” 1990s in Moscow to narrowly escaping death under fire in Ukraine, The Descent is a unique and personal diary of how Russia spiraled into violent insanity. Bennetts witnessed the often-terrifying events in Russia up close, observing how the Kremlin's ubiquitous propaganda warped minds and fomented hatred of Putin's foes, at home and abroad, even among people close to him. After leaving Russia, he travelled in war-torn Ukraine, where he came face-to-face with the appalling consequences of this madness.
Bennetts meets a vast array of characters, from pro-war Russian politicians, influential Russian Orthodox Church officials and aggressive Kremlin activists to opposition figures and a Siberian shaman who tried to “exorcise” Putin, as well as Russians who took up arms to fight Moscow's invading forces. In this extraordinary panorama, Marc Bennetts shows in frightening detail how a society can lose its mind, and how easily a power-hungry leader can reshape an entire country in his own malevolent image.
An extraordinary first-hand account of Russia’s descent into totalitarianism, paranoia and madness.
Marc Bennetts, foreign correspondent for The Times and The Sunday Times, moved to Russia in the chaotic final years of President Yeltsin's rule. Twenty-five years later, The Times pulled him out of Russia over concerns for his security following his arrest in Moscow at a protest against the war in Ukraine.
From the “wild” 1990s in Moscow to narrowly escaping death under fire in Ukraine, The Descent is a unique and personal diary of how Russia spiraled into violent insanity. Bennetts witnessed the often-terrifying events in Russia up close, observing how the Kremlin's ubiquitous propaganda warped minds and fomented hatred of Putin's foes, at home and abroad, even among people close to him. After leaving Russia, he travelled in war-torn Ukraine, where he came face-to-face with the appalling consequences of this madness.
Bennetts meets a vast array of characters, from pro-war Russian politicians, influential Russian Orthodox Church officials and aggressive Kremlin activists to opposition figures and a Siberian shaman who tried to “exorcise” Putin, as well as Russians who took up arms to fight Moscow's invading forces. In this extraordinary panorama, Marc Bennetts shows in frightening detail how a society can lose its mind, and how easily a power-hungry leader can reshape an entire country in his own malevolent image.
Audible Audio
Published March 26, 2026
About the author
Marc Bennetts
13 books11 followersMarc Bennetts is a British journalist based in Moscow, where he has lived for the past fifteen years. He has reported from Russia, Iran, and North Korea for the Guardian, The Times, the Observer and the New York Times, among other publications. He spent eighteen months as a reporter for Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency. His first book, Football Dynamo, examined Russian culture through the country’s national sport.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 15, 2026
I can see lots of reviewers of this book have said that it’s got nothing new to say about what’s happened in Russia - but I still think it’s worth reminding ourselves. It’s desperately sad to read.
June 29, 2026
When I read this in the preface -
Bennetts' anger at what Putin has done to Russia seems to overwhelm every conversation he recounts. The people he meets either agree with him or the conversation decays into name calling and arguments. Bennett is very manichean about today's Russia; if people aren't completely aligned with his views, they're morally corrupt.
This is not to defend what Putin has done in Russia. It's that I rarely find that people are so starkly black and white. He kinda lost me when he cut off his mother-in-law; must be tough for his wife and daughter.
Between Bennetts' self-assigned position as moral arbiter and the non-linear/up-and-back narrative (again, another thing about which he warned readers in the preface), it is difficult to extract facts from Bennetts' tirades. For me, this book was a slog and difficult not to DNF.
When I began this book, one of my biggest challenges was to control my hatred: without doing so, I would have likely produced 80,000 words of unreadable bile. I hope I have avoided that trap but I make no apologies for any anger that has spilled over onto these pages.I knew I was in for a ride. And note to future readers -- he doesn't avoid the trap.
Bennetts' anger at what Putin has done to Russia seems to overwhelm every conversation he recounts. The people he meets either agree with him or the conversation decays into name calling and arguments. Bennett is very manichean about today's Russia; if people aren't completely aligned with his views, they're morally corrupt.
This is not to defend what Putin has done in Russia. It's that I rarely find that people are so starkly black and white. He kinda lost me when he cut off his mother-in-law; must be tough for his wife and daughter.
Between Bennetts' self-assigned position as moral arbiter and the non-linear/up-and-back narrative (again, another thing about which he warned readers in the preface), it is difficult to extract facts from Bennetts' tirades. For me, this book was a slog and difficult not to DNF.
July 22, 2026
This is not a history book. But it contains heaps of valuable first-hand information from a qualified journalist, collected over a 25-year period in Russia and Ukraine in interviews, personal encounters and day-to-day life. This is information that you would find difficult to obtain otherwise.
The book does not try to give a complete picture of the events since Putin rose to power, their causes, the detailed behind-the-scenes political developments, the Ukraine war, and how could it? Most of the time, the information is also not presented in chronological order. Bennetts makes a half-hearted attempt to categorise the phenomena that emerge from his experiences with Russians and Ukrainians by giving the book a chapter structure. Only rarely, however, do the chapter titles point to what the leitmotif of the chapter is meant to be. In spite of these limitations, Bennett`s book is extremely interesting to read.
The book does not try to give a complete picture of the events since Putin rose to power, their causes, the detailed behind-the-scenes political developments, the Ukraine war, and how could it? Most of the time, the information is also not presented in chronological order. Bennetts makes a half-hearted attempt to categorise the phenomena that emerge from his experiences with Russians and Ukrainians by giving the book a chapter structure. Only rarely, however, do the chapter titles point to what the leitmotif of the chapter is meant to be. In spite of these limitations, Bennett`s book is extremely interesting to read.
June 21, 2026
Bennetts rarely if ever seems to connect with or understand the people who are at the center of the book he wrote. Most interactions with them rarely last more than a few interchanges before being derailed by arguments, name calling, and general hostility. Those that dont rarely lead to second or third meeting, as Bennetts just seems to disgusted or morally superior to connect to them on any deep level, so he doesn’t actually have much of depth to say. Often, a person who could have been a fascinating source of information is squandered so he could throw some antagonizing accusation at them, instead of trying to get some trust or showing some basic tact.
It’s okay to not want to develop connections with radicals and racists - but not if you want to write a book about them with anything new or deep to say.
If you already know that Russian nationalistic populism is schizophrenic, racist, self contradictory, and will lead to nothing more than the enrichment of oligarchs at the expense of the rest - which you probably already do - you basically got the gist of his insights that come from this own supposed witnessing. The historical recap was good enough.
It’s okay to not want to develop connections with radicals and racists - but not if you want to write a book about them with anything new or deep to say.
If you already know that Russian nationalistic populism is schizophrenic, racist, self contradictory, and will lead to nothing more than the enrichment of oligarchs at the expense of the rest - which you probably already do - you basically got the gist of his insights that come from this own supposed witnessing. The historical recap was good enough.
June 22, 2026
I really wanted to like The Descent more than I did.
I recently finished From Russia with Blood by Heidi Blake, and I suspect that influenced my expectations going into this book. I was hoping for something similar stylistically, which is probably unfair to Marc Bennetts because he is trying to tell a different story in a different way.
For me, the biggest issue was that the narrative felt somewhat disjointed. There were certainly interesting and important stories throughout the book, but I never felt fully pulled into a single narrative thread.
That said, Bennetts has an important story to tell. His observations about Russia under Putin are valuable, and there were plenty of moments that were enlightening and thought provoking.
I am curious what I would have thought of this book had I not read From Russia with Blood immediately beforehand. Perhaps I would have been more receptive to its style. Then again, I suspect I still would have landed at roughly the same rating.
Overall, an informative and worthwhile read, but one that never fully came together for me. Three stars.
I recently finished From Russia with Blood by Heidi Blake, and I suspect that influenced my expectations going into this book. I was hoping for something similar stylistically, which is probably unfair to Marc Bennetts because he is trying to tell a different story in a different way.
For me, the biggest issue was that the narrative felt somewhat disjointed. There were certainly interesting and important stories throughout the book, but I never felt fully pulled into a single narrative thread.
That said, Bennetts has an important story to tell. His observations about Russia under Putin are valuable, and there were plenty of moments that were enlightening and thought provoking.
I am curious what I would have thought of this book had I not read From Russia with Blood immediately beforehand. Perhaps I would have been more receptive to its style. Then again, I suspect I still would have landed at roughly the same rating.
Overall, an informative and worthwhile read, but one that never fully came together for me. Three stars.
August 29, 2026
The key word in this title is "witnessing," as the book reads mostly as a collection of journalistic and personal encounters. I personally found the organization to be disorienting and disappointing; the anecdotes jump back and forth in time and only sometimes did the chapters cohere around a theme and evidence/argumentation. In terms of content, the beginning does not offer much for those familiar with Russian politics since the fall of the Soviet Union (1990s as traumatic period of economic chaos, criminality, and humiliation, seeding the field for a strong man ruler; rise in living standards in major cities during Putin's first terms because of global oil price rise; historic themes of political apathy / learned helplessness). Mostly I was disappointed that there was not greater evidence or argument around the "spiral into madness", rather just documentation of its existence. For instance, Bennetts presents the Kremlin's multiple and conflicting narratives and justifications as evidence of muddled thinking or even Putin's declining rationality, when this is a hallmark strategy of misinformation--a feature not a bug.
Critiques aside, many of the anecdotes and cultural references are genuinely striking or surprising, including passages on the lagging standards of living in the regions and Russian spirtualism and shamanism. There are also frightening parallels to the last 15 years of US polarization. He bookends the story movingly and effectively with the ideas of slain opposition leader Galina Starovoitova, who in the 1990s advocated for accountability for Soviet crimes and barring former Soviet officials from government, which may well have led to a more enduring attempt at democracy.
Some quotes....
Regime change and democracy:
Galina Starovoitova: "We can see too many parallels between Russia’s current situation [in the 1990s] and that of Germany after the Treaty of Versailles. A great nation is humiliated and many of its nationals live outside the country’s borders. The disintegration of an empire has taken place at a time when many people still have an imperialistic mentality."
Son of Starovoitova: "The desire for freedom and democracy that appeared after the collapse of the Soviet Union was squandered. It will take decades, at least, to restore the drive for the kind of conscious social change that took place in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, or in Germany, after Nazism. We failed as a society."
Vladimir Kara-Murza, opposition politician in exile: "We need to be preparing for the day after Putin now… There will need to be justice. There will need to be accountability. There will need to be a genuine reflection, a genuine moral cleansing."
Propaganda , misinformation, and education:
“The impact of this constant stream of crude but effective Kremlin propaganda on regular viewers was as predictable as it was disturbing. Inflammatory broadcasts helped to whip up unprecedented levels of hatred… I could barely have a five-minute conversation with my mother-in-law before she steered the conversation towards Ukrainian ‘Nazis’ and the ‘evil’ West. …Not long after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, we stopped speaking entirely and, as she consumed state media’s foulness like a drug, I [a British man] grew in her mind into a grotesque, almost demonic figure.”
“Why was Putin able to get away with portraying Ukraine as a Nazi regime? In part, it’s because for many of his citizens, the words ‘Nazi’ or ‘fascist’ often signify little more than anti-Soviet or anti-Russian. School history books focus on Hitler’s horrendous crimes against the Soviet people, with the slaughter of millions of Jews in concentration camps reduced to almost a footnote.”
Chechen teenagers Bennetts interacts with insist that "Putin saved Chechnya" rather than launching a brutal war against it.
The evolution of political figures spouting misinformation:
“I wasn’t so sure that Zhirinovsky was simply playing a part. Even if this was true at the dawn of his bizarre political career, the irrationality that he deployed as a vote-winning strategy later appears to have consumed him entirely, like an aging actor whose personality has merged so much with his on-screen persona that it is impossible to say where one begins and the other ends.”
Pavlovsky, a ‘political technologist’ involved in Putin’s coronation in the presidency, did focus groups that found Russians thought an ideal leader would like a fictional Soviet-era secret agent. ‘We enacted a whole story about a spy who had ensconced himself among the authorities and then suddenly emerged and went over to the side of the people… It was like a theatrical production, and Putin quickly learnt his role.’ ... The myth that Putin decides everything, that there is no alternative to Putin, we worked on constantly through his first two terms. …For the majority of Russian’s today, Russia is Putin’s state.’ This team also discouraged him from engaging in debates or attending scenes of tragedies, patterns he maintains to this day.
Critiques aside, many of the anecdotes and cultural references are genuinely striking or surprising, including passages on the lagging standards of living in the regions and Russian spirtualism and shamanism. There are also frightening parallels to the last 15 years of US polarization. He bookends the story movingly and effectively with the ideas of slain opposition leader Galina Starovoitova, who in the 1990s advocated for accountability for Soviet crimes and barring former Soviet officials from government, which may well have led to a more enduring attempt at democracy.
Some quotes....
Regime change and democracy:
Galina Starovoitova: "We can see too many parallels between Russia’s current situation [in the 1990s] and that of Germany after the Treaty of Versailles. A great nation is humiliated and many of its nationals live outside the country’s borders. The disintegration of an empire has taken place at a time when many people still have an imperialistic mentality."
Son of Starovoitova: "The desire for freedom and democracy that appeared after the collapse of the Soviet Union was squandered. It will take decades, at least, to restore the drive for the kind of conscious social change that took place in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, or in Germany, after Nazism. We failed as a society."
Vladimir Kara-Murza, opposition politician in exile: "We need to be preparing for the day after Putin now… There will need to be justice. There will need to be accountability. There will need to be a genuine reflection, a genuine moral cleansing."
Propaganda , misinformation, and education:
“The impact of this constant stream of crude but effective Kremlin propaganda on regular viewers was as predictable as it was disturbing. Inflammatory broadcasts helped to whip up unprecedented levels of hatred… I could barely have a five-minute conversation with my mother-in-law before she steered the conversation towards Ukrainian ‘Nazis’ and the ‘evil’ West. …Not long after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, we stopped speaking entirely and, as she consumed state media’s foulness like a drug, I [a British man] grew in her mind into a grotesque, almost demonic figure.”
“Why was Putin able to get away with portraying Ukraine as a Nazi regime? In part, it’s because for many of his citizens, the words ‘Nazi’ or ‘fascist’ often signify little more than anti-Soviet or anti-Russian. School history books focus on Hitler’s horrendous crimes against the Soviet people, with the slaughter of millions of Jews in concentration camps reduced to almost a footnote.”
Chechen teenagers Bennetts interacts with insist that "Putin saved Chechnya" rather than launching a brutal war against it.
The evolution of political figures spouting misinformation:
“I wasn’t so sure that Zhirinovsky was simply playing a part. Even if this was true at the dawn of his bizarre political career, the irrationality that he deployed as a vote-winning strategy later appears to have consumed him entirely, like an aging actor whose personality has merged so much with his on-screen persona that it is impossible to say where one begins and the other ends.”
Pavlovsky, a ‘political technologist’ involved in Putin’s coronation in the presidency, did focus groups that found Russians thought an ideal leader would like a fictional Soviet-era secret agent. ‘We enacted a whole story about a spy who had ensconced himself among the authorities and then suddenly emerged and went over to the side of the people… It was like a theatrical production, and Putin quickly learnt his role.’ ... The myth that Putin decides everything, that there is no alternative to Putin, we worked on constantly through his first two terms. …For the majority of Russian’s today, Russia is Putin’s state.’ This team also discouraged him from engaging in debates or attending scenes of tragedies, patterns he maintains to this day.
June 4, 2026
Marc Bennetts went to Russia as a young journalist and ended up marrying and spending over two decades in the country with his family. What he witnessed was the country devolve from the possibility of democracy to the reign of an increasingly maniacal despot. This was a fascinating and terrifying glimpse from the inside of the country. It is very hard not to draw some parallels to happenings inside our own which whether meant or not created a scary cautionary tale. This book does jump around quite a bit in time (especially 2014 and 2022) and I wasn't always sure which time period was being discussed. This probably didn't matter in the long run but was a bit frustrating. Overall, if you want an overview of the situation in Russia leading up to the invasion of Ukraine, this is a good book to start. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Review of advance copy
What stood out most to me was how personal the book feels. The author’s conflicting emotions toward Russia add a layer of authenticity, making the narrative feel deeply human rather than purely historical or analytical.
Even as someone who has read extensively on this subject, I found a surprising amount of new and thought-provoking material. This is where the book distinguishes itself—rather than simply retelling familiar events, it offers a more nuanced and original perspective.
Even as someone who has read extensively on this subject, I found a surprising amount of new and thought-provoking material. This is where the book distinguishes itself—rather than simply retelling familiar events, it offers a more nuanced and original perspective.
August 25, 2026
A harrowing and insightful report into russia's spiral into putin's ever more psychopathic system and the people cynically or gleefully helping him along.
And yet, a work full of humanity and the struggle of many, including the author, to make sense of the brainwashing of relatives, the regime's breathtaking, beastly crimes - and what to make of the hatred that so naturally must in response come to those who dont close their eyes.
5/5
And yet, a work full of humanity and the struggle of many, including the author, to make sense of the brainwashing of relatives, the regime's breathtaking, beastly crimes - and what to make of the hatred that so naturally must in response come to those who dont close their eyes.
5/5
Review of advance copy
I felt when reading it was unsettling. How can a civilised country descend into what Russia has become? I can’t answer that and I doubt anyone can. But I feel ashamed to be a human being after reading about the atrocities inflicted. Some say Russia is a brutal conspiracy but but you be the judge. Read the book and decide
June 24, 2026
Love how the book is written – although there's nothing really new in it.
It's a chronicle of how Russia went mad in 20-25 years.
Not much of an explanation/theory (from the author) on what caused it.
It's a chronicle of how Russia went mad in 20-25 years.
Not much of an explanation/theory (from the author) on what caused it.
June 9, 2026
Truly horrifying and scary.
July 3, 2026
Good primer to the topic weakened by the author's dogmatism in interviews. Overall a very good overview of Putin's Russia and the drivers behind the war.
August 9, 2026
It's been done before
May 30, 2026
As someone who lived in Moscow for 10 years, I have long been awaiting an account based equally on the every day and the symbiotic relationship of that with federal level politics. They are indivisible. If you want to know what it was like to live in Russia as a foreigner, and also understand the wider world as it changed on a sixpence around us, this is the book. For this reader, utterly readable and cathartic in equal measure.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews