Russia's Dead End: An Insider's Testimony from Gorbachev to Putin

by Andrei A. Kovalev, Peter Reddaway (Foreword), Steven I. Levine (Translator)

Elite-level Soviet politics, privileged access to state secrets, knowledge about machinations inside the Kremlin—such is the environment in which Andrei A. Kovalev lived and worked. In this memoir of his time as a diplomat in key capacities and as a member of Mikhail Gorbachev’s staff, Kovalev reveals hard truths about his country as only a perceptive witness can. In  Russia’s Dead End , Kovalev shares his intimate knowledge of political activities behind the scenes at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kremlin before the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 and afterward, including during the administration of Vladimir Putin. Kovalev analyzes Soviet efforts to comply with international human-rights obligations, the machinations of the KGB, and the link between corrupt oligarchs and state officials. He documents the fall of the USSR and the post-Soviet explosion of state terrorism and propaganda, and offers a nuanced historical explanation of the roots of Russia’s contemporary crisis under Vladimir Putin. This insider’s memoir provides a penetrating analysis of late-Soviet and post-Soviet Russian politics that is pungent, pointed, witty, and accessible. It assesses the current dangerous status of Russian politics and society while illuminating the path to a more just and democratic future.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction

392 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2017

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

You might not be a poet
But it ought to give you pause
When you see a strip of light
Squeezing out between two doors
- ANDREI VOZNESENSKII

Description: Elite-level Soviet politics, privileged access to state secrets, knowledge about machinations inside the Kremlin such is the environment in which Andrei A. Kovalev lived and worked. In this memoir of his time as a successful diplomat serving in various key capacities and as a member of Mikhail Gorbachev s staff, Kovalev reveals hard truths about his country as only a perceptive witness can do. InRussia s Dead End Kovalev shares his intimate knowledge of political activities behind the scenes at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kremlin before and after the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991, including the Russia of Vladimir Putin.

Kovalev analyzes Soviet efforts to comply with international human-rights obligations, the machinations of the KGB, and the link between corrupt oligarchs and state officials. He documents the fall of the USSR, the post-Soviet explosion of state terrorism and propaganda, and offers a nuanced historical explanation of the roots of Russia s contemporary crisis under Vladimir Putin. This insider s memoir provides a penetrating analysis of late-Soviet and post-Soviet Russian politics that is pungent, pointed, witty, and accessible. It assesses the current dangerous status of Russian politics and society while illuminating the path to a more just and democratic future.



Foreword by Peter Reddaway. Opening: Andrei Kovalev's powerful book argues that Russia's trajectory since 1985 has been circular.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Diplomacy and Democratic Reforms
2. The August 1991 coup: The Breaking Point
3. Anatomy of a lost decade 1992-2000
4. How the system really works
5. Inside the secret police state
6. Strangling democracy
7. The new Russiam Imperialism
Conclusion
Cast of characters
Chronolgy
Notes
Index

The idea that the country is on a circulatory curve back to a specific dark dot, the premise of this author's theory, belies the everyday news that there is a target somewhere along a fast forward trajectory. The comments below highlight news stories breaking as I read the book.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a bit out of my depth with this one, as it’s a long-winded and pretty dense exploration about why Russia is so drawn to authoritarianism and how Putin plays into that idea of a strong leader at the helm. At times it read more like a rant than a measured argument and I’m not knowledgeable enough to know whether all the author’s conclusions and his analyses are in fact correct, although it felt pretty convincing and as he is very much an insider he no doubt knows what he’s talking about. Andrei Kovalev was a diplomat and a member of Gorbachev’s staff, and worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Yeltsin and Putin. He documents the collapse of the Soviet Union and the lead up to Putin’s assumption of control. As a career bureaucrat he had privileged access to state secrets, an in depth knowledge of the Kremlin and, perhaps more importantly, of the way Russians view the world and their role within it. He talks about the Russian “slave psychology” from the time of the Czars to the present. He has little time for Putin and that’s when the book becomes more of a diatribe and a rather tedious one at that. Kovalev currently lives and works in Belgium, and as he concentrates on the period form 1989-2004 it could be that the book is a bit out of date now. However, there’s much here that is thought-provoking and insightful, and although not a book perhaps for the general reader, certainly an important one for those who need to know more about what makes Russia tick.

[Dmitry · Rating 2 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Говорят, эта английская версия книги является переводом с русского оригинала. Трудно сказать, ибо такую книгу я никогда в продаже не видел. Да и об авторе слышу впервые, т.е. автор не очень часто мелькал в независимых российских СМИ.

Несмотря на то, что я согласен с авторской оценкой в отношении как советской России 80-х годов, так и в отношении новой России времён Ельцина, тем не менее, читать книгу скучно. У меня создалось впечатление, что я читаю большую политическую колонку в разделе «Мнения», когда автор не пишет о какой-то конкретной проблеме, а рассматривают вопрос в целом. Вот в целом, Ельцин строил авторитарное государство, в котором бы его никто не смог бы смести с должности президента (как показала история импичментов и побед на выборов когда у тебя изначально 2-3%, задача была выполнена на все 100%). Я хочу сказать, что автор просто перечисляет какой бардак в стране устроил Ельцин и насколько тоталитарным/авторитарным был СССР и новая Россия. К примеру, автор долго, но поверхностно рассматривает вопрос борьбы с диссидентами с помощью насильственной госпитализации в психологические лечебницы. Так как автор являлся высокопоставленным чиновником, он ведёт речь как бы с позиции чиновника, который не только видел всю эту несправедливость, но и хотел или даже пытался с эти бороться. Однако читать мне было всё это довольно скучно. Описание чиновничьей работы всегда читать не интересно. Данный факт я подметил ещё в книге бывшего посла США в России Майкла Макфола в его книге «From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia», когда он описывал свои бюрократические будни и особенно коммуникации с президентом США Барак Обамой. У меня возникло еле заметное ощущение, что автор рассматриваемой книги, сначала очень сухо и чуть ли не формально описывает ситуация частью которой был он сам, но как только речь заходила о ситуации участником которой он не был, текст начинает походить на типичный текст представителя оппозиции. И вот это меня удивило, т.е. меня удивило это несильно заметное изменение в стиле, создающее ощущение, что книгу писали два человека.

Когда я говорю, что в какой-то момент автор из бюрократа начинает походить на ярого оппозиционного политика, я имею в виду появление вот такого типа текста:

Deprived of his democratic entourage and constantly in need of guidance (or support) because of his incompetence, Yeltsin fell under the influence of the siloviki and the nouveaux riches, who had no interest in promoting democracy in Russia. All they needed (and what they still need) was the semblance of democracy. Still Yeltsin evidently had absorbed a lesson or two from his tutors during his transformation into an ambiguous symbol of Russian democracy. For example, there were no serious assaults on freedom of the mass media during his administration. During this period, however, gross and massive violations of human rights began, first with respect to Chechnya. The First Chechen War started on December 11, 1994, and was not concluded until the fall of 1996. During the war the entire spectrum of rights, including the right to life, was destroyed for the inhabitants of this republic. From the outset, political rights were effectively suppressed by Yeltsin’s authoritarianism.
During Yeltsin’s term the symbiosis of all levels of power, business, and the criminal world occurred. This was particularly dangerous, given the criminalization of the law enforcement organs that were boldly penetrating the highest levels of state power. They succeeded in doing this in the late Yeltsin era. Corruption at every level became the basic feature of Russian power. Everything was for sale. In Yeltsin’s first term, government officials already began selling their services to business. A few words from the “appropriate” minister conveyed to a particular firm cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Видите? Сколько в этом небольшом отрывке тем? Россия как авторитарная страна, которую намеренно строил Ельцин; Ельцин и силовики; Ельцин и коррупция; Ельцин и война в Чечне; Ельцин и имитация демократии; Ельцин и криминал и т.д. Я хочу сказать, что вся книга, там, где автор не описывает непосредственной свой опыт работы, будучи чиновником, выглядит как поток мыслей обычного гражданина, который недоволен властью. К примеру, дальше автор начнёт писать в каком ужасном положении находится экология в России. В итоге получается каша из тем, а не стройный анализ ситуации. Именно поэтому я и написал в самом начале, что книга напомнила мне колонку политического активиста в какой-нибудь политической газете. Такие книги трудно воспринимать, ибо автор говорит как бы обо всём, но одновременно и ни о чём, ибо создаётся каша из политических тем. И это не говоря о том, что похожих книг было издано огромное множество. Поэтому лучшим определение этой книги будет такое: «большая политическая статья, нежели полноценная книга». Впрочем, я говорю о едва уловимых ощущениях, и возможно другие читатели найдут в этой книге глубокий анализ политической ситуации в России последних 40 лет.

It is said that this English version of the book is a translation from the Russian original. It is hard to say because I have never seen such a book on sale. This is the first time I've heard of the author, i.e., the author has not been featured very often in the independent Russian media.

Although I agree with the author's assessment of both the Soviet Russia of the 80s and the new Russia of Yeltsin's time, it is nevertheless boring to read the book. I got the impression that I was reading a big political column in the "Opinions" section when the author does not write about any particular problem but looks at the issue as a whole. On the whole, Yeltsin was building an authoritarian state in which no one would be able to remove him from the presidency (as the history of impeachments and election victories showed, when you initially have 2-3%, the task was 100% accomplished). My point is that the author simply lists the mess Yeltsin made in the country and how totalitarian/authoritarian the USSR and new Russia were. For example, the author takes a long but superficial look at the issue of dealing with dissidents by forcibly hospitalizing them in psychological hospitals. Since the author was a high-ranking official, he speaks from the position of an official who not only saw all these injustices but also wanted to or even tried to fight them. However, I found it all rather boring to read. Descriptions of bureaucratic work are never interesting to read. I noticed this fact in the book "From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia" by former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul when he described his bureaucratic routine and especially his communications with U.S. President Barack Obama. I had a faintly noticeable feeling that the author of the book in question, at first, very dryly and almost formally describes the situation of which he himself was a part but as soon as it comes to the situation of which he was not a participant, the text begins to resemble a typical text of a representative of the opposition. This surprised me, i.e., I was surprised by this not very noticeable change in style; creating the feeling that the book was written by two people.

When I say that, at some point, the author goes from being a bureaucrat to an ardent opposition politician, I mean the appearance of this type of text:

Deprived of his democratic entourage and constantly in need of guidance (or support) because of his incompetence, Yeltsin fell under the influence of the siloviki and the nouveaux riches, who had no interest in promoting democracy in Russia. All they needed (and what they still need) was the semblance of democracy. Still Yeltsin evidently had absorbed a lesson or two from his tutors during his transformation into an ambiguous symbol of Russian democracy. For example, there were no serious assaults on freedom of the mass media during his administration. During this period, however, gross and massive violations of human rights began, first with respect to Chechnya. The First Chechen War started on December 11, 1994, and was not concluded until the fall of 1996. During the war the entire spectrum of rights, including the right to life, was destroyed for the inhabitants of this republic. From the outset, political rights were effectively suppressed by Yeltsin’s authoritarianism.
During Yeltsin’s term the symbiosis of all levels of power, business, and the criminal world occurred. This was particularly dangerous, given the criminalization of the law enforcement organs that were boldly penetrating the highest levels of state power. They succeeded in doing this in the late Yeltsin era. Corruption at every level became the basic feature of Russian power. Everything was for sale. In Yeltsin’s first term, government officials already began selling their services to business. A few words from the “appropriate” minister conveyed to a particular firm cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

You see? How many themes are there in this small passage? Russia as an authoritarian country that Yeltsin deliberately built; Yeltsin and the siloviki; Yeltsin and corruption; Yeltsin and the war in Chechnya; Yeltsin and the imitation of democracy; Yeltsin and criminality, and so on. I want to say that the whole book, where the author does not describe his direct experience as an official, looks like a stream of thoughts of an ordinary citizen who is dissatisfied with the government. For example, later, the author will start writing about the terrible environmental situation in Russia. The result is a mishmash of topics rather than a coherent analysis of the situation. That's why I wrote at the beginning that the book reminded me of a column by a political activist in a political newspaper. Such books are difficult to read because the author talks about everything, but at the same time about nothing, because he creates a mush of political topics. And this is not to mention the fact that a great number of similar books have been published. Therefore, the best definition of this book would be: "a big political article rather than a full-fledged book." However, I am talking about subtle feelings, and perhaps other readers will find in this book an in-depth analysis of the political situation in Russia over the last 40 years.

[Scott Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Interesting and insightful book detailing the inner workings of elite Russian politics and the state and how/why the democratic reforms failed to take hold. It's telling that 5 years after release the reactionary factors/forces would lead them into their largest "adventure" yet (Ukraine in 2022), the result of which may end the Russian state. A bit long winded and meandering but fascinating first hand accounts and I was blown away by the ignorance and ineptitude of the system he describes. Very good summary of why the Russian state after 1991 has taken a totalitarian route and has failed it's citizens.

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt it was time to finish this one, and I wish i had earlier. The chapter on Russian Imperialism really explains well the reasons behind this recent seismic change in global politics and overall this gives a clear explanation of important events leading to the collapse of the USSR and where we are now.
Weighty but largely readable.

[Virginprune · Rating 4 out of 5]

The strengths and drawbacks of this book are in the subtitle. It is refreshing and highly illuminating for being an account by a direct participant. He could however usefully employ editorial assistance in giving the book a little more structure and to smooth over some rough, personal edges.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read, providing readable detail on the tortuous process the author and his colleagues went through to try and democratize and liberalize post-USSR, mostly failing, and then the demoralizing backslide that almost immediately occurred. It helped provide some perspective on the sheer overwhelming scope of what was needed to make that change, and thus helped illuminate why it didn’t work. My major lightbulb takeaway though was his explication of the environmental devastation that has not been addressed throughout the former USSR. This is not the land of environmental
protection agencies, to say the least. The implications are horrifying.