The Compatriots: The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia's Exiles, Émigrés, and Agents Abroad

by Andrei Soldatov, Irina Borogan, Nick Sullivan (Narrator)

The authors of 'The Red Web' examine the shifting role of Russian expatriates throughout history, and their complicated, unbreakable relationship with the mother country - be it antagonistic or far too chummy. From the time of the Tsars to the waning days of Communist regime, Russian leaders tried to control the flow of ideas by controlling its citizens' movements. They believed strict limits on travel combined with censorship was the best way to escape the influence of subversive Western ideologies. Yet Russians continued to emigrate westward, both to seek new opportunities and to flee political crises at home. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Russians' presence in Western countries - particularly the United States - has been for the Kremlin both the biggest threat and the biggest opportunity. It sought for years to use the Russian emigre community to achieve Russia's goals - espionage to be sure, but also to influence policies and public opinion. Russia's exiles are a potent mix of the very rich and the very driven, some deeply hostile to their homeland and others deeply patriotic. Russia, a vast, insular nation, depends on its emigres - but it cannot always count on them. Celebrated Moscow based journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan masterfully look at the complex, ever-shifting role of Russian émigrés from the October Revolution to present day. From comely secret agents to tragically doomed dissidents, the story of Russian émigrés is at times thrilling, at times touching, and always full of intrigue. But their influence and importance is an invaluable angle through which to understand Russia in the modern world. '
The Compatriots' provides an intriguing and thought provoking gripping history of Russian score settling around the globe.

©2019 Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Politics, Sociology, Ukraine

Audible Audio

First published October 8, 2019

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few days ago, I first became aware of "THE COMPATRIOTS" from an interview I saw on TV with its authors, Russian journalists Andrei Soldatav and Irina Borogan. I became fascinated with the interview, which was focused on the history of Russian émigrés in Europe and the United States and the influence and control the motherland exerted on them from the Bolshevik Revolution to the rise of Putin's Russia in the present era (since 2000). Shortly thereafter, I put in an order for this book.

In reading this book, I received a thoroughgoing education about the evolution of the complicated relationships between, first, the Bolshevik/Soviet government and the émigré communities abroad. In the early days, influence and control from Moscow on these communities through espionage and assassination (e.g. the brutal murder in Mexico in August 1940 of Leon Trotsky, Stalin's rival, by a Soviet trained agent). Then in the later stages of the Soviet Union, from the Brezhnev era to Gorbachev's era of glasnost and perestroika, Moscow's way of dealing both with its dissidents and the émigré communities abroad involved forced external exile (for its dissidents regarded as too much of a nuisance to be allowed to remain in the USSR), as well as espionage - and when judged necessary and expedient: poisoning of opponents (as evidenced by the murder of Bulgarian dissident/journalist Georgi Markov in London in 1978).

The sections of the book that dealt with the post-Soviet era under both Yeltsin and Putin were highly illuminating as well as fascinating. I LEARNED SO MUCH. In that era, from the breakup of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991, thru the rest of the 1990s - which witnessed Russia's struggle to develop a capitalist, Western-like economy, the rise of the oligarchs, and a democracy all the while Russia itself was in flux --- to the rise of Vladimir Putin, the ex-KGB agent, and his consolidation of control and power in Russia to the present day.

For anyone who wants to have a better understanding of today's Russia and its expatriate community's relationship to it, by all means read "THE COMPATRIOTS."

[Ostap · Rating 4 out of 5]

When reality doesn't meet expectations.

It's a good book that has left me disappointed. I expected a research on Russian emigration of the last 100 years and attempts of Russian secret services to keep the people who had left under surveillance and under control. What I found instead was a collection of loosely connected historical anecdotes.

The book is a good read, the stories are captivating, but if you have at least modest knowledge of recent Russian history, they'll add little if anything to your understanding of the phenomena of Russian emigration. On the other hand, if you know next to nothing about the topic, it's a good entry point, and in any case it's an entertaining read.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Investigative journalism: hard won, at the expense of many hours and much shoe leather.
A worthwhile read, detailing the waves of émigrés leaving Russian from the days of late tsarist rule up until Putin’s grasp of the country, be them genuine asylum seekers, political exiles or agents provocateur.
We are told, early-on governments on both sides of the fence paid little notice to how important these individuals might be: that all changing with the cometh of Stalin and then the Cold War.
There is reference to the book, ‘Judgement in Moscow’ and how democratic powers worked the backstairs with their Soviet counterparts (a book I shall now read).
Also, in this we find detail of how the Soviet powers (the KGB) moved shed loads of money, much through Switzerland in the form of gold and precious gems and exchanged this for cash through trusts and banking houses. I was already aware of Soviet henchmen moving money to the West prior to the collapse, but not the detail of how it was done and that this had been happening for many, many years.

[Gergely · Rating 4 out of 5]

What could be more exciting than a book about spooks, traitors, poisonous liaisons, bugs hidden in paper binders, daring escapes across borders, shootings, intrigues and mysteries.

Well, perhaps excitement isn't the right word. This is no fiction. The characters are real, and the theme is current; some of the stories being written about have hardly had time for the ink to dry. Astonishment, alarm and aggravation are the emotions this book is more likely to arouse in its reader.

The writers are two very much still active journalists, not historians, and so perhaps it comes as no surprise that the part covering the post-Communist period comes off much stronger on detail than the preceding seventy-odd years of Soviet rule. I find it puzzling in fact why the authors didn't start their story in the 1980's. The run-through of the preceding era feels rushed, and there are surely at least two separate books to be written here. The last section of the book feels almost like a dedicated biography of Boris Jordan, so perhaps make that three.

On the other hand, it is more than a worthwhile read, and not just for the very exciting nature of the material. Among the themes, they highlight how early in his Presidency, Putin wanted to unite the Russian diaspora to ultimately have more ability to leverage Russian power internationally, with the unification of the Orthodox Church at home and abroad as the cornerstone of this policy. A chapter on the economic elite highlights how successful, "globalised" Russians are caught between a rock and a hard place; not wanting to end up on a Magnitsky style-list by being too cosy with the regime and wanting to keep the jet-set lifestyle, but aware that their businesses in Russia can be taken away at any moment and unable to freely lead the lives they want for themselves. As Lebedev said, "I used to play on many chessboards... (but) the system had changed in such a way that you could only sit in one chess square, not more."

They also argue effectively that the current Russian regime's approach to Intelligence (after a brief hiatus in the 1990's) has picked up where the KGB left off. "In democratic countries... intelligence is about gathering information. Under authoritarian regimes, intelligence is about protecting the regime and policing emigres."

At the end, they suggest that during the last US election campaign, the Foreign Intelligence Services acted with restraint, if anything. "The extensive network of pro-Kremlin compatriots on American soil was, it seems, not activated." Instead, a less risky strategy was employed to try and get "their man" into the Presidency, namely internet hacking.

Overall I felt this was fascinating material, well written, and just a shame the authors had penned only the one book to cover it all.

[Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Захватывающая история спецслужб и эмиграции от советских времён до современной эпохи. Читается большей частью как увлекательный детектив.
Думаю, выйдя на 1 год позже, книга содержала бы ещё как минимум одну интересную главу.

[Dmitry · Rating 4 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Поменяли серпы на кресты
Былинники речистые.
Покупали, продавали, соблюдали посты
Православные чекисты.

Ой, мама-мама-матрица!
Ты будешь молчать, жрать и верить
В золотого тельца от святого отца
Великой империи…

Главным плюсом этой книги является то, что она акцентирует внимание на одной теме – взаимоотношениях Кремля с соотечественниками, живущими за рубежом. Что происходило и что, предположительно, происходит с этими взаимоотношениями и рассказывает книга.

На самом деле, как показывает книга, и советской власти и постсоветским правителям Российской Федерации было кране важно не только влиять на соотечественников за рубежом (включая политические убийства, что также есть акт влияния на тех, кто живёт не в самой России/СССР), но и управлять ими, а если быть более точным, манипулировать. Если подумать, именно манипулированием СССР добивался многих своих целей (и надо признать, получалось у него это крайне успешно). Так, первая половина книги рассказывает о заказных убийствах совершённых либо сотрудниками советских спецслужб, либо её агентами, т.е. гражданами других стран, которые при этом выполняли приказы, поступающие из Москвы. Разве это не успешная манипуляция иностранцами? Разумеется, многие люди воспринимали тогда СССР как идейный форпост коммунистов, в том смысле, что идеи мирового коммунизма стоят выше личной наживы (денег, роскоши, удобства и пр.) и тяги к власти. Разумеется, реальность была совершенно иной, нежели в головах преданных солдат коммунистического интернационала. В любом случаи факт остаётся фактом: многие иностранные граждане, работающие на Советский союз и в частности на спецслужбы СССР в качестве помощников по ликвидации заметных членов белого движения находящихся за границей, а также любых иных граждан, которых советское правительство посчитали врагами СССР, представляли собой результат политики влияния СССР на граждан за пределами СССР. К слову сказать, авторы книги пишут и про обратную ситуацию, т.е. когда западные страны во главе с США пытались всячески повлиять на граждан СССР из-за рубежа. Как пишут авторы, практически всегда это заканчивалось ничем. Чего нельзя сказать об успехах в этом вопросе со стороны СССР. В общем, в книге даются короткие, но интересные истории того, как агенты спецслужб активно влияли на жизни своих соотечественников за рубежом.

Да, я согласен с некоторыми рецензиями, в которых авторов этой книги укоряют в скудности предложенного читателям материала. Действительно, хотелось бы увидеть более подробную и широкую картину того, как спецслужбы СССР и их агенты среди граждан стран западного мира действовали во времена существования Советского союза. Наиболее подробно авторы разбираю только убийство Троцкого в Мексике в 1940 году. Однако описание агентов Коминтерна в США даётся крайне поверхностное, хотя кажется: неужели в США нет больше материалов на эту тему? Но возможно они всё ещё под запретом и не доступны широкой публике. В общем, в первой части книги мы встречаем историй в большей мере посвящённых физическим устранениям людей, которые рассматривались Кремлём в качестве главных врагов.

А вот вторая половина книги будет посвящена более тонким методам работы спецслужб. Зачем убивать людей, если можно их вербовать – так можно обозначить данную политику Кремля того периода. Я говорю про период постсоветской России, когда якобы демократ Ельцин пришёл к власти, сместив советского руководителя. Как показывают авторы, смена фасада произошла, но работа спецслужб не только не была остановлена и осуждена (как это произошло с восточногерманской Штази), но наоборот, ей дали приоритетное направление. Да, теперь власти не убивали неугодных им людей за рубежом. Теперь они вербовали. Суть заключается в том, чтобы люди видели в постсоветской России черты всего хорошего, что было и в царской России и, как не парадоксально, в советской. В этом смысле Путин стал самым ярким выразителем данной политики. Несмотря на кажущуюся шизофрению, многие люди, проживающие в США и в Европе, увидели в Путине человека, который не только модернизирует Россию на манер Китая (Москва – новый финансовый центр; догнать и перегнать ВВП Португалии и пр.), но и вернёт ей былую мощь. Как показывают авторы, Кремль крайне умело и крайне успешно манипулировал своими соотечественниками в продвижении такого образа. Уж не знаю, были ли использованы засланные казачки или хватило пропаганды и полезных идиотов, но на сегодняшний день даже события 2014 года не смогли полностью сломать эту иллюзию «встающую с колен России».

Главным действующим лицом во всём этом спектакле станут семьи живущие в США, чьи родственники и были теми самыми белоэмигрантами которые бежали из Советской России и которые всю свою жизнь лелеяли планы по возвращении в Россию, но Россию не коммунистическую, а…. Вот тут даже не понятно, какую они Россию видели после того коммунистического эксперимента. Православную? Монархическую? Непонятно. В общем, умело играя на химерах семей белой иммиграции, Кремль создал не только положительный образ постсоветской России, но у успешно использовал его как внутри России, так и за её пределами. В первом случаи, благодаря этим полезным идиотам он успешно отодвинул оппозицию на периферию, демонизировав их так, чтобы они ассоциировались с отщепенцами, неудачниками и людьми, которые не хотят возрождения сильной и великой России (а также православной). Во втором, и тут авторы крайне скупо пишут на данную тему, использовали этих людей в своих интересах для лоббирования в западных правительствах. Да взять хотя бы ситуацию, когда многие американцы и европейцы рассматривают Путина как защитника традиционных ценностей и единственного политика уровня Маргарет Теччер и Рейгана. Особой популярностью Путин пользуется в среде сторонников Трампа. Т.е. как видим, политика в отношении русских живущих за пределами России, довольно успешная. И это не смотря на расследования о коррупции друзей Путина, убийства Литвиненко, войну с Украиной в 2014 и прочее.

Увы, но книга даёт лишь небольшой срез. Не нужно быть экспертом в этой области, чтобы понять, что многое до сих пор скрыто от нас и объединение православных церквей, о котором подробно пишут авторы, лишь один элемент этой успешной политики манипулирования.

И последнее. Как и в книге «Мёртвая рука», в которой автор приходит к выводу, что с крушением СССР ВПК так и не был реформирован и что это именно ВПК совершил гос. переворот в 1991 год (нежели Ельцин), так и эта книга приходит к выводу, что спецслужбы так и не были реформированы после 1991 года. Другими словами, мы в очередной раз видим, что изменился лишь фасад, но главные институты СССР так и остались без изменений, без контроля гражданского общества. Даже более того - они модернизировались на манер XXI века, оставив без изменений свою политику и практику, которая была сформирована и сформулирована в период первых лет СССР, включая пресловутые Особые мероприятия (Active Measures).

P.S. Рецензия была написана задолго до 22.02.2022

The main advantage of this book is that it focuses on one topic: the relationship of the Kremlin to its compatriots living abroad. What has been happening and what presumably is happening with this relationship is what the book tells us.

In fact, as the book shows, both the Soviet and post-Soviet rulers of the Russian Federation not only needed to influence their compatriots abroad (including political assassinations, which is also an act of influence on those who do not live in Russia/USSR), but also to control them, or to be more precise, to manipulate them. If you think about it, it was by manipulation that the Soviet Union achieved many of its goals (and admittedly, it was very successful). The first half of the book tells of assassinations carried out either by Soviet secret service officers or by Soviet agents, i.e., citizens of other countries, who carried out orders from Moscow. Isn't this a successful manipulation of foreigners? Of course, many people at the time perceived the USSR as a communist ideological outpost in the sense that the ideas of world communism were above personal gain (money, luxury, convenience, etc.) and the desire for power. Of course, the reality was quite different than in the minds of the loyal soldiers of the Communist International. In any case, the fact remains that many foreign nationals working for the Soviet Union and in particular for the USSR secret services as assistants in the liquidation of prominent members of the White movement abroad, as well as any other citizens whom the Soviet government considered enemies of the USSR, were the result of USSR policy of influence on citizens outside the USSR. By the way, the authors of the book also write about the reverse situation, i.e., when Western countries, led by the United States, tried in every way to influence Soviet citizens from abroad. As the authors write, it almost always ended in nothing (failure), which cannot be said of the success of the USSR in this matter. In general, the book gives short but interesting stories of how the agents of the secret services actively influenced the lives of their compatriots abroad.

Yes, I agree with some of the reviews reproaching the authors of this book for the paucity of material offered to readers. Indeed, I would have liked to see a more detailed and broader picture of how the USSR secret services and their agents operated among the citizens of the Western world during the existence of the Soviet Union. The authors deal in most detail only with the assassination of Trotsky in Mexico in 1940. However, the description of Comintern agents in the U.S. is extremely superficial, although it seems: isn't there more material on this subject in the U.S.? But perhaps they are still forbidden and not available to the public. In general, in the first part of the book, we encounter stories devoted more to the physical elimination of people who were seen by the Kremlin as major enemies.

But the second half of the book will be devoted to more subtle methods of work of the secret services. Why kill people when you can recruit them - that's how you can define this policy of the Kremlin of that period. I am talking about the period of post-Soviet Russia when the alleged democrat Boris Yeltsin came to power after ousting the Soviet leader. As the authors show, the change of the facade took place, but not only was the work of the secret services not stopped and condemned (as happened with the East German Stasi), but on the contrary, they were given priority. Yes, now the authorities weren't killing people they didn't like abroad. Now they were recruiting. The idea is to make people see in post-Soviet Russia the traits of all the good things that were in tsarist Russia and, paradoxically, in Soviet Russia. In this sense, Putin has become the clearest exponent of this policy. Despite the seeming schizophrenia, many people in the U.S. and Europe saw in Putin a man who would not only modernize Russia in the manner of China (Moscow as a new financial center; to catch up with and overtake the GDP of Portugal, etc.) but also restore it to its former strength. As the authors show, the Kremlin very skillfully and successfully manipulated its compatriots to promote this image. I don't know if agents were used or propaganda and useful idiots were enough, but so far, even the events of 2014 have failed to completely break this illusion (of Russia rising from its knees).

The main character in this whole spectacle will be the families living in the United States, whose relatives were the same white emigrants who fled Soviet Russia and who all their lives have cherished plans to return to Russia, but not communist Russia, but..... Here it is not even clear what kind of Russia they saw after that communist experiment. An Orthodox Russia? Monarchical Russia? It is not clear. In general, skillfully playing on the chimeras of white immigrant families, the Kremlin has created not only a positive image of post-Soviet Russia but used it (successfully) both inside and outside Russia. In the first case, thanks to these useful idiots, he has successfully relegated the opposition to the periphery, demonizing them so that they are associated with renegades, losers, and people who do not want to revive a strong and great Russia. In the second, and here the authors are extremely sparing in their writing on this topic, they used these people to their advantage to lobby Western governments. For example, many Americans and Europeans view Putin as a defender of traditional values and the only politician on the level of Margaret Thatcher and Reagan. Putin is particularly popular with Trump supporters. In other words, as we can see, the policy towards Russians living outside of Russia is quite successful. And this is in spite of the corruption investigations of Putin's friends, the Litvinenko murder, the war with Ukraine in 2014, and so on.

Alas, the book provides only a small snapshot. One does not need to be an expert in the field to realize that much is still hidden from us, and the unification of the Orthodox churches, about which the authors write at length, is only one element of this successful policy of manipulation.

One last thing. Just as in the book The Dead Hand by David E. Hoffman, in which the author concludes that with the collapse of the USSR, the MIC was never reformed and that it was the MIC that carried out the coup d'etat in 1991 (rather than Yeltsin), so this book concludes that the intelligence services were never reformed after 1991. In other words, once again, we see that only the facade has changed, but the main institutions of the USSR remained unchanged, without civil society control. Even more - they modernized in the manner of the XXI century, leaving unchanged their policies and practices, which were formed and formulated during the first years of the USSR, including the notorious Active Measures.

P.S. The review was written long before 2/22/2022

[Ronak Shah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting but also was kind of stale after a bit. Hard to keep track of all the names. Russia is a nightmare regime. The authors still live in Moscow? Wildly brave. Covers 100 years from fall of the Tsar to Putin but does it well. And they do a really good job of citing their sources which I appreciate.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid and unfussy history of the endless stream of people escaping Russia for over a century to escape the Bolsheviks, the Soviets and Putin's goons. Long depressing story of people having to escape a country that seems incapable of finding a solid dependable centre for itself and thereby can't create a proper functioning country where people actually want to live. The war against Ukraine in the past few weeks has seen a massive outlfow of journalists, academics, entrepreneurs and anyone else who can get out and so diluting the kind of people who you need to create a decent country. Back to the drawing board Russia? When on earth will they realise that there aren't easy solutions to creating a functioning society that it takes lots of hard boring work and following the rules.

[Ingrid Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Compatriots is hands down one of the best books I've read this year and possibly this decade. Not only does it apply a level of rigour to its research that puts many western investigative journalists to shame, it captures the human stories at the heart of an often inhuman autocracy.

Having read a number of histories of Russia focussed entirely on those in the seat of power (most of them, for better or worse born into that role) it was refreshing to be able to bookend the widely publicised and acknowledged narrative with that of those who existed, often uneasily, alongside them.

Besides being thoroughly engaging, enjoyable, and accessable in style, The Compartiots has something for experts and novices alike. If you're a keen foreign policy boffin curious about the role which the reunification of Russia's 'white' and 'red' orthodox churches played in shaping the modern state, this book is for you. If there's a gaping hole in your knowledge of Russian politics where the last 30 years leading up to the invasion of Ukraine should be, and you were under the impression no-one but Alexei Navalny has ever attempted to mount an effective opposition to Putin's regime, this book is also for you.

Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan (it annoys me no end the Soldatov is frequently credited as the sole author) are so fearless in their commitment to the truth, and steadfast in their ability to put the tough questions to a number of high profile dissidents, oligarchs, and former mermbers of the intelligence services, that at times I feared for them. But then, legend has it Soldatov has been interrogated by the FSB on four separate occasions, like all great investigative journalists, they refuse to be cowed.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

My dislike of this book is because it is misleading, it is not in any way a '...history of Russia's exiles emigres and agents abroad' the pre-revolutionary period get such a nugatory mention that I would insist anyone who wants context goes back to E H Carr's 'Romantic Exiles' and even the post revolutionary period is perfunctory through Stalin and really only there to provide the setting for a very skimpy retelling of the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years so that the authors can move onto what they are really interested, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of Vladimir Putin. We are not dealing with history but journalism. I am sorry to appear dismissive but you only have to go back and read the books which were written at the time of Stalin's show trials to understand how often what we think is the truth is grotesquely wrong (never mind the many things journalists knew but didn't report about the Soviet Union in the 1930's such as famine. For anyone who doesn't know what I am referring to then please read, at least, the Wikipedia entry for Walter Duranty the New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_...).

There is nothing wrong with writing books about Putin's Russia, what is wrong is writing a book on Putin's Russia and pretending it is part of a broader study of how Russia's regimes have kept track of dissident Russian voices abroad and used agents to keep track of and eliminate them.

The book is fraudulent in its presentation and I am sure there are better and more up-to-date books on the grisliness of Putin's dictatorship.

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Compatriots: Dissidents, Hackers, Oligarchs, and Spies - The Story of Russia's Uncontrollable Emigres by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan is an excellent survey on the relationship between the Russian State and its diaspora. One of the more interesting themes in the text is the idea of the diaspora being both a tool of state power, and a major source of vulnerability. Lenin returned to lead a revolution as a member of the diaspora, and Stalin was obsessed with threats from overseas. It is interesting to read how Russian emigres were necessary for making modern day Russia more economically prosperous, only to see them become increasingly targeted and isolated from Moscow. A particular irony of note is how the Russian emigres can be counted among those who resist pressure from the Kremlin, with one such emigre rapidly uncovering the influence of 2016.

This book is a history and descriptive. Its very good for establishing a historical conception of how Russia approached Russians overseas. I wish it could have went a little more though, as while the anecdotes and the overall arguments are great, there could have been some underlying analysis that could have been really useful to add onto it.

Overall, this is well worth a read.

92/100

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Compatriots by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan is an interesting and thoroughly-researched book (nonfiction) depicting an in depth timeline and look at expatriates and also Russian government involvement from the end of the Tsars through relatively current times.

It was an in-depth read that surprised me (andI have a fairly decent background of Russian government operatives and espionage) of the lengths the government went to keeping tabs and involving themselves into many facets of current citizens, past citizens, and other governmental operations in the hopes of controlling what could be controlled and kept under tabs. It was also interesting to see how citizens responded to government changes and regimes as they altered throughout the last century.

The authors clearly did their research. This is definitely not a quick, easy read, but very interesting nevertheless.

4/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Public Affairs for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion

[Jeanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting topic, but it felt like the authors did not know how to effectively weave the stories they had with the overall narrative. They also inserted themselves at random which was distracting and unnecessary.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

“This was the way the Russian empire was built: the expansion of Russia was the result of a long process, in which the Russian people fled Russian power, and the power chased the people.”

The Compartiots is a history of Russian expatriates over the past 100 years. It parallels the tumultuous history of modern Russia, describing the types of people who were leaving/seeking assylum, where they went and what they did. I bought it after seeing it as a reference to how the oligarchs took power after the fall of the USSR, which proved a small part of the book as a whole. The Compatriots is part of series of histories, including a history of the KGB/FSB and of the Kremlin's control of the internet.

The Compatriots starts describing the expat community of White Russians after the Bolshevik revolution. To the White Russians are gradually added a motley mix of Trotskyites, the victims of Stalin's purges, economic asylum seekers, Soviet diplomats, Jews, Putin's rivals, KGB operatives, enemies of the state, and Gary Kasparov.

These characters build an international community of Russian expats, with their own Russian-language TV stations, Orthodox Church, and online community, all of which Putin of course comes to dominate from the Kremlin. It starts with some biographies of KGB agents and their hijinks, then develops into more of a history with a focus on the past two decades. It's a little superficial at times, on purpose to keep the book concise and interesting, which is a fair tradeoff as it does move well. Soldatov and Borogan tell real people's stories, and as the book goes on they often include personal anecdotes from having been on the scene themselves. It was a quick read and I look forward to the reading their "Red Web" at one point.

[Mart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puts the Scandinavian banks money laundering in the Baltics in a broader perspective. Effectively, the Scandinavian banks profited hugely from siphoning Putin's money, and Estonia was thus caught in the crosshairs of anti-Putin forces. What are the chances of the Scandinavian banks' HQ-s not being aware of this? Significant profits just going unnoticed? The Estonian FSA notified its counterparts in Sweden and Denmark... but they too somehow dropped the ball? Considering that the Danish FSA is known to be especially strict? Interesting book that raises some interesting questions.

[Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

What is the purpose of this book? I just don't get it.
It reads like a drunk friend's description of his sexual exploits. There is not thread that weaves it together, just random stories.
I liked the tiny morsels about friends and acquaintances but otherwise, so not good!

[Ivar Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishing! So interesting, so well-written, ranging from bird’s eye view of events down to intimate details in the lives of agents in Russia, US, Europe and elsewhere. Compulsory stuff!

[Dоcтоr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and trough analysis of Russian and Soviet history

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book. Want to read more about the Russian psyche. The writing style left something to be desired. I’m surprised the authors were able to write this book.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[K. V. Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story of f Russia's historical efforts to control Russian diaspora.

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting, very well written, and very relevant today. It reads like an action novel, could not put it down. Great journalism all around.

[Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insights into history of Russian emigres and their love hate relationship with their country. As well as efforts to control them.

[Ondra Soukup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating reading on very complicated and often contradictory relations between Krmelín and Russia diaspora.