Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West

by Catherine Belton

The hacking of the 2016 US elections. The sponsorship of extremist politics in Europe. War in Ukraine. In recent years, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has waged a concerted campaign to expand its influence and undermine Western institutions. But how and why did all this come about and who has orchestrated it?

This rigorous and revelatory book explains how this happened, Putin’s rise to power, and how Russian black cash is subverting the world.

 In Putin’s People, former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton tells the untold story of the rise of Vladimir Putin and the small group of KGB men surrounding him. Delving deep into the workings of Putin’s Kremlin, Belton accesses key inside players to reveal how Putin replaced the free-wheeling tycoons of the Yeltsin era with a new generation of loyal oligarchs, who in turn subverted their country’s economy and legal system and expanded its influence in the West.

The result is a chilling and revelatory expose of the KGB’s renaissance – a story that began long ago in the murk of the Soviet collapse when networks of operatives were able to siphon billions of dollars out of Russia and into the West. After Putin’s takeover of the economy, some of these networks acquired new flows of cash to realise their goals. Based on many years of research, Belton charts the relentless seizure of private companies and the installation of those closest to Putin into the richest, highest seats of power.

Ranging from Moscow to London, Switzerland and Trump’s America, and introducing a colourful cast of characters, Putin’s People is a gripping and terrifying account of how hopes for the new Russia went astray, with stark consequences for its inhabitants and, increasingly, the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Russia, Biography, Audiobook, Crime

642 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 16, 2020

About the author

Catherine Belton is an investigative correspondent for Reuters. She worked from 2007-2013 as the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, and in 2016 as the newspaper's legal correspondent. She has previously reported on Russia for Moscow Times and Business Week. In 2009, she was shortlisted for Business Journalist of the year at the British Press Awards. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Belton, former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, did TONS of research for this book, and she was able to put together a rather cohesive picture of how modern-day Russia has been shaped by "KGB capitalism". In the book, Putin's rise to power, his tactics to cement his position and his influence on American politics under Trump are shown as the consequence of a whole web of players and events: The members of the KGB, their ability to funnel money out of the collapsing SU, to control oligarchs who became rich off their backs and to bring the whole political system under their authoritarian control. But Belton has one major blind spot: She sees Russia more or less as a closed system, and this approach is rooted in the assumption that Putin and his people are bad. While this might be a valid conclusion for a non-fiction book, it's a terrible starting point, as it results in the whole book being overshadowed by confirmation bias: Let me show you how bad these people actually are! But what about the outside forces that (willingly and unwillingly) helped create this situation, i.e., the West, which means: What about our own responsibility?

Granted, Belton does sometimes mention that Western powers have enabled some of Putin's tactics or even profited from them, but this is not enough: The loss of the Soviet Empire had far-reaching consequences that have shaped real-life politics, as The Light that Failed: A Reckoning proves. These dynamics between West and East, and, consequently, how the West has also failed the East, is a sideshow in Belton's book, when indeed it is still a core factor in current events (as a German, I can re-assure you that more than 30 years after re-unification, the wounds in the East have not healed, and that there is a whole world of experience that I as a West German cannot access). And then, of course, the West tended to overlook Putin's ever-growing antics to secure its own interests in (e.g.) the energy sector - which, as it turns out, didn't secure anything at all and became one of the roots of a historic guilt the West can never make up for: The Ukrainian war.

Putin has helped create a terrible, cynic, self-serving regime that couldn't care less about the well-being of the Russian people - but the fact that the West tends to isolate the problem, portraying it as being solely "Russian" is just way to easy if you really intend to build a better future. The West has to face its own mistakes regarding its behavior towards Russia in order to not repeat them (btw, what Trump has done in the US imitates what happened in Russia). It's a little complacent to write a book that simply starts and concludes with: "Putin = bad".

Still, this book is filled to the brim with meticulously researched information and does a great job putting together a very difficult puzzle, because the KGB has put in quite some effort to hide core pieces. So as a basis for further discussion, this is a great book, but it needs some extra reflection about the greater scheme of things.

[Geevee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Russia has played the West; Russia has played their own citizens.

Catherine Belton's excellent study of Russia as it emerged from the Cold War thru to 2020 is detailed, well-sourced, highly-readable and bleak. Bleak because, as many already know and suspect to varying degrees, Putin's Russia has, much like China, spread its tentacles into western nations and their financial and banking system, their politicians and industries.

This has been achieved by stripping the dying and post-Soviet Russia of its assets, hard currency and collective ownership of the raw materials and the companies their mining, manufacturing and and operating of them. The systems put in their place were firstly made and manipulated by the oligarchs and then by the new Russian state under the steely and firm grip of Vladimir Putin.

It is Putin who looms large in this book, not just as Russian president and statesman, but also his path to power - which if you have read of this previously Ms Belton adds additional insight thru interviews - and the eventual closing down and suffocation of the oligarchies to billionaires who owe their businesses, wealth and indeed lives to Putin and his power. We learn of these people by name - some known to me, others not and we hear why they fell from favour and how their wealth, and in some cases lives ended.

In being able to use numerous interviews Ms Belton is able to chart the fall of the USSR and the circumstances that see Putin climb to power, along with the men who stripped Russia bare whilst making billions are flushing cash around the world. She also shows how Putin and the KGB regained control and rebuilt Russia's international networks of spying, coercion, money-laundering, targeted murder (domestically and externally) and investment coupled with allegiances and political connections: this latter both overt and proper and other improper and covert, or rather perhaps holding Kompromat (compromising material) on political and influential business leaders.

The information and detail is not only fascinating but highlights where Russia has created influence and shaped behaviours - not just in political and foreign policy of others but their compliance, governance and judicial systems. The appropriated cash from Russian assets and pyramid schemes to the collapsing down or passing ownership (meaning forced upon owners who fall foul of Putin and the KGB) from one Russian to another Russian for amounts far below market value to the shell-companies, investments in properties (Trump hotels and gold courses anyone?) and cyber operations show clearly how this vast amount of cash is generating influence and Russian - to use the German word from the 19th century Weltpolitik to transform the tired Soviet Bear to a 21st Russia global power.

Alongside this, to keep Putin in power and Russia beholden to him the analysis of his approach, mindset and grip on power is shown from his rise to Moscow and then as Russia's leader and in essence Tsar. There are some fascinating insights into the invasion of Ukraine, wars or uprisings in Chechnya, Dagestan, Georgia and Transnistria and the use of force to create the conditions for Russian political and military support. This includes the "terrorist attacks" on or in apartment blocks in Moscow and Ryazan, the Moscow theatre hostage crisis and Metro bombings, the South Ossetia Beslan school massacre and Moscow market bombings.

Catherine Belton's book is a clear and illuminating signal for the West that the Russian bear is not sleeping and is actively shaping and colonising every aspect of western political and financial structures to weaken, fragment and dismantle and eventually destroy them.

If this synopsis of mine seems too hyperbolic or alarmist, then I challenge you to pay attention to and dissect world politics, the constant cyber attacks and misinformation programmes, the news channels and investigatory organisations such as Bellingcat who expose details of Russia (and China's) behaviour, and the brave journalists, such as Catherine Belton whose detailed accounts add further colour and depth.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know you’re reading about a frightening individual when the thought crosses your mind, “Is there any chance I could be assassinated just for posting a review of this book?”

It is a pretty ludicrous thought, but the fate of so many in “Putin’s People” allows it to creep in. A lot of what is presented in this book is not entirely proven. It is rumor, supported by evidence, and that’s all it really can be, given the opaque nature of the Putin regime. Some of the allegations are not hard to fathom at all, like the various moves to consolidate power and replace a corrupt and greedy Yeltsin government with an even more unsavory KGB faction. Other allegations are so disturbing that you can only hope they aren’t true, such as apartment bombing Russian citizens to enhance electoral prospects, or staging a terrorist attack on real Russian hostages.

In terms of the writing itself, this book is incredibly thorough, to the point of being almost exhaustive in detail, and unrelenting in the case it builds against Putin. The book starts with a list of 24 people that will be featured in the book and who they are. This is a valuable resource, since there are so many people to keep track of, and very few are described in ways that make them easy to distinguish from others.

This is a book for readers that are very interested in the process and events that happened, more than for readers wanting to unpeel the layers about the characters behind those events. Don’t expect a lot of psychological analysis of how Putin thinks, how he grew up, what drove him to the decisions he makes, or whether he’s conflicted about anything. Him and his associates are essentially portrayed as unfeeling automatons, motivated only by power and wealth. Maybe that’s all there is to them, or maybe there’s more to explore there.

I found the book very informative, and thought the author made a compelling argument that the KGB’s interest in destabilizing the West started decades prior to Putin taking power, and that the West’s prioritization of unfettered capitalism and taking money from whoever can pay helped allow Putin’s consolidation of power.

Note: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from NetGalley.

[Woman Reading (is away exploring) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ☆

"I want to warn Americans. As a people, you are very naive about Russia and its intentions. You believe because the Soviet Union no longer exists, Russia now is your friend. It isn't, and I can show you how the SVR is trying to destroy the US even today and even more than the KGB did during the Cold War." - Sergei Tretyakov, former colonel in Russian Foreign Intelligence, the SVR

In Putin’s People, foreign correspondent Belton has written a sweeping narrative that began with the 1991 dual collapse of both the Soviet Communist Party and then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the USSR). Insider Sergei Pugachev orchestrated the placement of a little-known former KGB officer, Vladimir Putin, first as Boris Yeltsin's Prime Minister and then as his successor / "malleable figurehead." Putin was initially reluctant to serve as President and had intended to step down in 2008 after one term. Not unexpectedly, the appeal and perks of power Putin has received since 1999 were highly persuasive. In 2019, Putin proposed Constitutional reforms in order to subvert the term limits placed on the President.

[A White Russian émigré] described the philosophy of Putin’s rule as being "like a knot with three elements. The first is autocracy - strong government, a strong man, a papa, an uncle, a boss. It is an autocratic regime. The second element is territory, the fatherland, love of country and so on. The third element is the Church. ... It does not matter whether this is the Church or this is the Communist Party. If you look at the history of Russia, you always had these elements put together."

Putin’s Kremlin had taken over the media and eradicated all political competition. ... in what one analyst, Masha Lipman, later called the Russians' "Non-Participation Pact," they were content to let the Kremlin monopolize political and economic decision-making, as long as it didn't intrude into their own lives. ... It was, Lipman wrote, "the perennial Russian order - the dominant state and a powerless, fragmented society."

They didn't particularly care about the economic well-being of their country's people, as long as the economy was secure enough to allow them to hold on to power - and to project power globally.

The Russian economy has grown tremendously since 1991, but it had a far from smooth progression during the 1990s. During the collapse, organized crime and politicians had quickly taken advantage of the chaos to loot Russia's wealth of natural resources. But as Putin solidified his powerbase and status, the kleptocracy shifted in composition and included more oligarchs who were extensions of Putin’s rule, in essence the moneyed nobility in service to their tsar in Russia's 21st century feudalism.

The system Putin’s men created was a hybrid KGB capitalism that sought to accumulate cash to buy off and corrupt officials in the West, whose politicians, complacent after the end of the Cold War, had long forgotten about the Soviet tactics of the not too distant past.

The KGB playbook of the Cold War era, when the Soviet Union deployed ‘active measures’ to sow division and discord in the West, to fund allied political parties and undermine its ‘imperial’ foe, has now been fully reactivated. What’s different now is that these tactics are funded by a much deeper well of cash, by a Kremlin that has become adept in the ways of the markets and has sunk its tentacles deep into the institutions of the West.

Western markets embraced the new wealth coming from Russia, and paid little heed to the criminal and KGB forces behind it.

Belton described the wide-ranging campaigns of Putin’s Kremlin. Journalists and politicians who had believed in Yeltsin's pro-democracy reforms were imprisoned or died. The initial crop of 1990s oligarchs who resisted the Kremlin's perspectives were not spared the fate of the other dissidents. Putin has sought the return of Ukraine with its strategic location and justified the military action as recovering the fatherland. Russian black cash has been funneled into plots to destabilize the societies of America, Britain, and additional European nations.

Belton had conducted interviews with primary sources and additional research. As a massive tome, Putin’s People felt at times redundant (there was a long parade of oligarchs) and elliptical. I would have found a summary timeline and maps of the USSR and current Russia helpful.

Putin’s People was my first nonfiction book about Russia. I concede that my knowledge of Russia is limited and has come from news headlines. Nonetheless, I don't have to accept every one of Belton's conclusions in order to acknowledge that a benign political view of Russia would be in error. There were reasons as to why the US forced the closure and expulsion of Russian diplomats from the San Francisco and Seattle Consulates in 2017 and 2018. Russia retaliated, and by the end of 2021, the US' official presence in Russia will be consolidated to only its Moscow Embassy.

This was a featured BOTM with the Non Fiction Book Club
-- https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Max Berendsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Just.... wow! The first thing that started to well up inside of me after finishing this book was just pure and utter anger. Anger at how a regime of gangsters and thugs has been able to manipulate a population of 145 million people, stealing their resources (and futures) while using the proceeds to further their own greed and horrifying ambitions. I also feel anger at how this regime now not only victimizes the population of its own country, but currently also decided to wage war against another sovereign nation and destroying the lives of millions of people who never did a damn thing to them in the process. Trying to make the people of Ukraine succumb to the same kind of feudal totalitarianism they force upon the Russian people.

Now that I got that out of my system: "Putin's People" is Catherine Belton's riveting exposé of how ever since the last days of the USSR, the KGB has been setting up financial networks to ensure their own survival and furtherance of their global power structure. While Vladimir Putin has been the central cog in this machine for over two decades now, he's far from the only crucial player in this global network of corruption and depravity.

Belton takes the reader on a journey which spans over three decades and covers a great variety of people and places. From the inner rooms of the Kremlin in Moscow to organized street gangs in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. We learn how former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi used to work as a middleman for the Soviet Politburo, how a Russian-Orthodox fundamentalist got bombarded to billionaire status overnight to further the Kremlin's geopolitical ambitions, Donald Trump's shady connections to Russian black cash which span over three decades, etc.

A must read for every Russia buff like yours truly and ofcourse for everyone interested in fathoming the inner workings of power in Russia and why (I'm very much afraid) they won't change anytime soon. One slight downside to the book is that Belton tends to be repetitive at certain points. Overall though, this is an authoritative account of the current state of Russia and most definitely one of the best books written about Russia in this decade.

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page 443-44 (my book)

The West had always viewed Russia’s economy as a resource-based basket case, incapable of the productivity gains of the West. But to see Russia through that prism was to miss the short-term ambitions of Putin’s security men. They didn’t particularly care about the economic well-being of their country’s people, as long as the economy was secure enough to allow them to hold onto power – and to project power globally.

Vladimir Putin has become the Czar of Russia. All must pass through him. The author explains how the Soviet KGB (to become the FSB after the demise of the Soviet Union) was preparing for changes. They knew that the Soviet Union could not last through the 1980s. They were setting up their networks to adapt to the upcoming new era. They wanted to keep their position of strength. And Putin was a part of that.

The KGB was one of the few institutions in the Soviet Union to have contacts and an understanding of the world outside Russia. They also increased their contacts with the extensive Russian network of organized crime. It became difficult to distinguish the KGB (or FSB) from the Russian mafia.

The author narrates how Putin became second in command in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg was a city steeped in organized crime more so in its Baltic port (Gulf of Finland).

Page 82 – 83 mid-1990s

In the rush to shore up their positions, in the battle to accommodate more wealth, Khodorkovsky and the others didn’t notice that nearby, in St. Petersburg, there was a chill in the air. Things were being run differently there. Isolated from the gold rush of Moscow’s economic boom, the forces of the KGB were exerting far greater control, in a city where the economy was tougher and darker, in the violent scrabble for cash.

The author recounts how Putin rose to power in the wake of Yeltsin’s frenetic 1990s. Once in power Putin then took on the rich oligarchies and subsumed their power and wealth to the Russian government. He used flexible government laws and the Russian mob to do this.

Page 239

If [Khodorkovsky] could be taken down it could happen to any of them.

Khodorkovsky was just one of several hundred oligarchs who were toppled by Putin. It made Putin and his entourage wealthy and in control.

Page 484

They [Putin’s entourage] had become part of a feudal system in which Putin’s role as the ultimate arbiter between rivals fighting for business was the source of his power.

Putin became what Russian society unfortunately requires the most – a tough guy – like Lenin, Stalin, and the Czars before.

Page 165 – Putin

“For Russians, a strong state is not an anomaly which should be got rid of. Quite the contrary, they see it as a source and guarantor of order and the initiator and main driving force of any change.”

Putin and his cronies wanted to exert power through Russia’s resources like oil and gas. The pipeline to Europe passed through Ukraine which Russia always saw as an integral part of their country. This led to problems.

Putin also recruited the Orthodox Church which had been persecuted and ostracized under communism. This was a good fit. The Orthodox Church (page 258) “spoke to the great sacrifice, suffering and endurance of the Russian people.” It invoked Russia’s imperial past and wanted nothing to do with liberal humanism (gender equality, gay marriage, human rights…) espoused by Western Europe and some in the U.S.

Page 258 a former KGB officer

“This sacred power [surrounding Putin] creates around itself an absolutely impenetrable cordon of guiltlessness. The authorities cannot be guilty of anything. They serve by absolute right.”

Putin was very good, somewhat like Stalin, at fabricating external threats to Russia’s sovereignty. The West saw Russia as a weakling to be exploited. All outside influences were seen as threats.

The West misread Putin and Russia as being weak – and at times Putin, being well-trained by the KGB, could mask his true intentions. The West excused Putin’s lawlessness in usurping the freedom of the oligarchies, the judiciary, and the media. It was only after the annexation of the Crimea that they recognized what was really happening. They saw the spread of Russian “dirty money” in Western financial institutions. Some of these slush funds were being used to support right wing groups and populist fronts across Europe. The author gives evidence of financial support for those who supported Brexit.

Interestingly (I was unaware) the author brings up the infiltration of the London Stock Exchange by Russian funds. In comparison to the New York Stock Exchange there is much less due diligence done on the London Stock Exchange.

The author writes for the “Financial Times” so there is much discussion of financial data and institutions. Also, and sometimes annoyingly, several names can be brought up per page. Don’t read this book to find details of Putin’s personal life.

I did find book giving a frightening view of Russia – and particularly of what Russia wants. She does point out some weaknesses ahead. There is a lot of money invested outside the country. The disparity of income in Russia is tremendous. With the increasing spread of Russian power to the outside world like Syria and Ukraine, plus the ever-increasing military budget – the Russian people are starting to ask questions about Putin and his very super-rich cronies.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update 3/08/2025: See my footnote below.

"This book began as an effort to trace the takeover of the Russian economy by Putin's former KGB associates. But it became an investigation into something more pernicious than that. First research--and then events--showed that the kleptocracy of the Putin era was aimed at something more than just filling the pockets of the president's friends. What emerged as a result of the KGB takeover of the economy [and media]--and the country's political and legal system--was a regime in which the billions of dollars at Putin's cronies' disposal were to be actively used to undermine and corrupt the institutions and democracies of the West."

"For Putin's regime, wealth was less about the well-being of Russia's citizens than about the projection of power, about reasserting the country's position on the world stage."

"The Ukranians had been the first to warn that a resurgent Russia was seeking to sow division in the West. 'Everyone thought the Russians were just stealing.' said Konstantin Batozsky, the aide to the former Donetsk governor. 'But they're working to create their own circle of corrupt politicians. This has been going on for a long time, and Russia will undermine Europe. Russia is laying a huge bomb in the foundations of the European Union. Russia is looking for vulnerable points to split Europe. This is a gigantic risk today. Russian NGOs are working very actively, giving grants to groups on the ultra left and ultra right [to create instability].' "

Belton's extensively researched book, Putin's People, lays out the return of power of Putin's KGB colleagues, beginning with the cooperation of the Stasi in 1980's East Germany and continuing to their public dominance in 2020. She outlines the symbiotic relationship between the KGB and organized crime that helped grow the power of both. And she unflinchingly reminds us that we in the West have been complicit in turning a blind eye to the state plundering of Russian businesses as our corporations have rushed in to benefit financially from these sell offs as well as having laundered billions of dollars of "dirty money."

Belton's account is a challenging read. There are many players, and I struggled to keep all the names straight. I was slowly drawn into her chilling account of how this rise came about. I hope our leaders have read her work and are taking note.

Publication 2020

Footnote 2025: It seems like our leaders have ignored these warnings, now we have a president who has been friends with Putin since the 1970's. Are you as concerned as I am?

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not going to be a review as such, there is far too much data and information in this book to be able to sum it up and quantify it in any meaningful way. I will say that Belton has done a fantastic job in relentlessly and tirelessly sifting through vast amounts of information to try to track what the Putin regime has been doing since he became President.

Money is the key to the way that the regime works, with the vast sums from the energy supplies fund Putin, his men and their chosen oligarchs. Money flows away from Russia into many offshore banks, through nested companies that have no apparent owners to secret accounts. Making this money legal by laundering it is key and Belton explains clearly the methods that they use to make it legitimate.

The ex KGB men also want to fund organisations and people who deliberately are seeking to undermine Western society and they use the black funds over the world to support the far left and right organisations that are responsible for the rise of populism and some terror attacks. The ex-KGB men that make up the current regime have got everything in a tight grip in Russia too. They control the courts, the banks and the security services and any criticism of Putin is treated very harshly.

The West may have thought that they won the Cold War, but reading this shows that their complacency and greed means that they have fallen for the deception that the regime has played over the long term. Belton details the methods that they have used to undermine particular political individuals and tie them into their way of thinking.

How she did this is beyond me as the entire regime is a nest of Russian dolls in a hall of mirrors and with several smoke machines running full tilt. It is not an easy read for many reasons, but if you have the slightest interest in world politics and the way that it is going, especially in the light of current events in 2022, then you should read this.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.bookwormblues.net/2020/08/...

The first thing you need to know, is that I have a massive, huge, just absolutely overflowing obsession with Russia. The whole entire history of it, from the Kievan Rus, to the tsars, to Soviet style communism (Stalin, specifically, keeps me reading), to the fall of the USSR, to now. Russia is a really dynamic, changing country with a long, long history, and I think that’s part of what interests me. To understand why Lenin came to be, you have to understand the system of Tsars, how they started, and what they turned into throughout time. You’ve got to understand how the people functioned under those laws and rulers, and how they were oppressed and how they survived and the like. To understand Stalin, you have to know where he came from, and the various situations that made him who he was. The influences. The tug and pull of politics in his day and age.

Things don’t just happen in a vacuum. In Russia, the cause and effect between people and events are crystal clear, and it’s fascinating.

Likewise, to understand Putin, you’ve got to know where he came from. Life in the USSR, and especially life under its collapse, really formed a lot of who he is today. But to understand the collapse, you have to understand what, exactly what collapsing. You also have to understand a bit of the KGB, and just how many pies it had its fingers in (Honestly, the KGB’s vast, international reach really surprised me.) And while this may seem really heady stuff, Belton does an absolutely magnificent job of boiling it all down, and giving it to readers in nice, digestible chunks.

“The KGB playbook of the Cold War era, when the Soviet Union deployed ‘active measures’ to sow division and discord in the West, to fund allied political parties and undermine its ‘imperial’ foe, has now been fully reactivated. What’s different now is that these tactics are funded by a much deeper well of cash, by a Kremlin that has become adept in the ways of the markets and has sunk its tentacles deep into the institutions of the West.”

That’s what Putin’s People does really well. It draws a line between what was, and what came from it. It paints a picture of how the USSR broke down, and details the various people that came out of the collapse to, often times, take advantage of what was crumbling and become something more. Oligarchs. Real estate moguls. Political power brokers.

Vladimir Putin.

The fall of the USSR was catastrophic for nearly everyone who lived in the region. The economy collapsed and was not ready for the transition to a more open marketplace. People went hungry. There was never enough in the stores. Lots of people started import/export schemes, which made a few people a lot of money, while leaving a lot of people with absolutely nothing. There was job loss, insecurity, sudden and dramatic inequality. Basically, a whole lot of chaos and misery.

Mixed into this was a new class of business person. These people saw a niche and a vulnerability, and knew they could take advantage. There was a whole lot of theft from the state and depletion of resources. A lot of import/export schemes. Crime bosses took over. Oligarchs became a Big Deal. Now, this happened at the fall of the USSR, but even before as well. The author paints an amazing picture of the KGB, and their theft of money from the state, just how they managed it, and how they kept it hidden. As soon as people saw the writing on the wall, even before the collapse of the USSR, those with the knowledge and knowhow to take advantage, were circling the carcass of the old Soviet system, and picking at what it had to offer.

This was Putin’s world. This was what he came to power knowing. This system of espionage and secrecy mixed intoxicatingly with advantageous crime bosses and power brokers.

… ever since the sixties the Soviet Union had found its strength lay in disinformation, in planting fake rumours in the media to discredit Western leaders, in assassinating political opponents, and in supporting front organisations that would foment wars in the Third World and undermine and sow discord in the West.

Putin is not a nice guy. Let’s be clear about that. A whole lot of people in this book had some very bad endings, poisonings, fatally falling off a yacht, randomly deciding to jump out a window, lots of questionable suicides and convenient deaths. Putin isn’t afraid to clean house. That’s part of what keeps him somewhat untouchable and mysterious to us out here in the West. People are afraid to speak out about what they know, and what they saw or experienced, because so many people who do not toe the line… end. Fatally.

“Pugachev told Putin he should prostrate himself in front of the priest, as was the custom, and ask for forgiveness. ‘He looked at me in astonishment. “Why should I?” he said. “I am the president of the Russian Federation. Why should I ask for forgiveness?’”

This makes the author’s extensive, detailed, incredible research all the more impressive. A lot of her sources are anonymous, for obvious reasons, but she does get a good number of people to tell their stories and stick their names to it. Furthermore, she has done her reading and her archive searching. When considering the obstacle of learning anything in a country that has spent the past mumble-mumble years of its history learning how to hide literally everything from everyone, it’s impressive that she managed to unfold that many secrets and that much information and distill it into one digestible work of nonfiction, as seen here.

There is a new revelation on just about every page of this book, and the authors easy to understand, almost aggressive writing style makes this book read almost like a thriller. I was constantly turning the pages to see what would happen next, and who was doing what, where. That’s quite a mark in the book’s favor, I must say. A lot of nonfiction reads like a textbook, but this one decidedly does not.

This book is, quite frankly, almost too surreal to believe, and there were quite a number of times I was thinking, “no way… there’s NO WAY this is true” but Belton’s research makes just about everything laid out in these pages irrefutable. There’s just too much evidence to not believe all the threads of the stories she’s weaving together. That makes all this espionage, spycraft, deep state, organized crime stuff almost surreal. Like, to the point where I had to take a break a few times and remember I wasn’t reading some fiction book that someone wrote, but this is actually real life. People live it.

Putin’s People isn’t just about internal politics, and the rise of Putin and those near him. It’s also very much about international politics. Belton discusses a lot of modern day international issues and how Putin and his cronies reacted to them. The conflict in Ukraine, various events in the Middle East, why London is such an important city to Russia (I didn’t know Russia had such a big impact in the Vote Leave campaign in the UK), and, of course, its dynamic and ever-changing relationship to the United States, as well as, yes, Trump’s personal connection with a whole lot of prominent Russian oligarchs dating all the way back to the 1980s.

“Yevgeny Dvoskin – Brighton Beach mobster who became one of Russia’s most notorious ‘shadow bankers’ after moving back to Moscow with his uncle, Ivankov, joining forces with the Russian security services to funnel tens of billions of dollars in ‘black cash’ into the West. Felix Sater – Dvoskin’s best friend since childhood. Became a key business partner of the Trump Organization, developing a string of properties for Trump, all the while retaining high-level contacts in Russian intelligence.”

Putin, as I’ve said, is not a nice person, but he has worked in the KGB and spent many of his formidable years flexing his muscles during the collapse of the USSR, navigating its crime-ridden economy, and consolidating his power. Now, he is turning his eye West, and the results of his pressure and influence are obvious, if you know where to look and what to see. Belton paints a very stark, cold, scary picture of one man’s rise to power, his control and mastery over said power, as well as the people around him, and his ability to manipulate events to fall in his favor.

If you need to see where Russia has been to understand where it is now, this book is a fantastic study of how the modern Russia came to be. The story of what comes next remains to be told, but this book gives you some ideas of what to expect, and they leave me cold.

[Kuszma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orosz politika - mintha a Trónok harcát összekevernénk a Monopoly-val.

Érdemes talán ott kezdeni, hogy a Szovjetunió összeomlik. Drezdában egy ismeretlen KGB-tiszt buzgón égeti a kiskályhában a kompromittáló iratokat (őrá mindjárt visszatérünk), miközben odahaza Jelcin rokonai, barátai és üzletfelei megpróbálkoznak meghonosítani a demokrácia nevezetű valamit - persze orosz módon. Ami technikailag azt jelenti, hogy lopnak, mintha nem volna holnap. Ez az oligarchák aranykora: ügyes "vállalkozók" a törvényességi kiskapukat kihasználva olyan vagyonokra tesznek szert, ami legfeljebb az olajsejkekéhez mérhető. Jelcin bácsi pedig hagyja, hisz neki és közvetlen környezetének is csurran-cseppen valami, amiből telik a borókaágyon pihentetett, medvelehelettel tüzesített prémium vodkára. A nép meg persze morog, hogy neki nem ezt ígérték, úgy volt, nekik is jut a gazdagság marcipántortájából. Úgyhogy amikor megjelenik az "erős ember" a rend és az igazságosság ígéretével, boldogan vetik alá magát az akaratának.

És most vissza az ominózus KGB-tiszthez, akit amúgy (mint biztos kitaláltátok) Putyinnak hívnak. És pont azt csinálja, amit a KGB-sek világ életükben csinálni szoktak: megtéveszti a környezetét. (Az oroszok ezt maszkirovkának is mondják, azt hiszem.) Az NDK- ból hazatérve beépül a szentpétervári politikai elitbe, eljátssza, hogy ő a jövő demokráciájának reménye, majd addig-addig ügyeskedik, amíg el nem nyeri az egyre rozzantabb Jelcin bizalmát - és onnan már csak egy lépés az elnöki pozíció. Amit viszont Jelcin (és tanácsadói) nem tudnak, az az, hogy nem egyszerűen kaptak egy tehetséges utódot, akit majd lehet befolyásolni - hanem átadták a hatalmat magának a KGB-nek. (Vagy ahogy újabban hívatják magukat: az FSZB-nek.) Az új seprű kezdetben jól seper: alaposan rendet vág a neomilliárdosok között, visszaszerzi az elrabolt javakat, úgy látszik, Oroszország Anyácska újra nagy lesz. Csakhogy miközben ezen ügyeskedik, mintegy mellesleg felszámolja az amúgy is szerény demokratikus vívmányokat, az ország pedig lassan visszabattyog a cárizmusba. De legalább nem lop, mondja erre az egyszerű proletár - csak épp téved. A különbség a Jelcin-féle vadnyugati demokrácia és a Putyin-féle autokrácia között, hogy amíg az elsőben az ország vagyonának felét szemérmetlenül ellopják, addig a másodikban ugyanúgy ellopják a nemzeti vagyon egyik felét, a másik felét meg arra költik, hogy senkinek ne jusson eszébe megkérdezni, kik.

Jó, hát most picit túloztam, de nem nagyon. A putyini stabilitás kulcsa ugyanis nem pusztán az volt, hogy az elnök erős kezű vezető képét mutatta*, hanem a gazdasági növekedés is. Ami elsősorban tőle független okokból történt (az olaj hordónkénti ára sokszorosára növekedett), de ezzel együtt valóban: az átlag orosz kezdte gazdagabbnak érezni magát. Egészen addig, amíg a növekedés el nem érte azokat a határokat, amelyeket a kontraproduktív diktatúragazdaságok általában el szoktak érni. Mert onnantól a proletár megint azt vette észre, hogy a marcipántortát mások zabálják helyette - viszont arra azért mindig jutott pénz, hogy az FSZB-s feketepénz-alapok csurig legyenek töltve.

Belton könyvének a legnagyobb értéke, hogy elképesztő utánajárással feltérképezte ennek a rejtett FSZB-s gazdaságnak a működését. Amit nem Putyin talál fel - már a KGB-nek is szokása volt nyugati titkos számlákra kiszivattyúzni a milliókat, hogy aztán azokból finanszírozza a hidegháborút. Ugyanez a "kiszivattyúzás" a Szovjetunió felbomlása után is folytatódott, mégpedig ipari ütemben: egyes elemzők 800 milliárd dollárra becsülik az így köddé vált pénzt, ami több, mint a komplett orosz lakosság vagyona összesen. No most a Nyugat ezekkel az összegekkel sokáig úgy volt, hogy hát lopnak az oroszok, viszik ki Svájcba meg Panamára a rubelt, mit érdekel engem, belügy. De a helyzet az, hogy itt nem (csak) lopásról van szó. Hanem egy olyan likvid készpénz-tartalékról, ami fölött csak és kizárólag Putyin és az FSZB diszponál. És bizony ebből a pénzből mindenre jut: lehet finanszírozni a brit Brexit-kampányt, meg lehet menteni a csődtől Trumpot, aki aztán majd nekünk lesz hálás, és persze tokkal-vonóval meg lehet vásárolni az egész fideszt.

A szerző konklúziója végtelenül pesszimista: úgy véli, a Nyugat immunrendszere egyszerűen nincs felkészülve arra, amikor valaki ilyen mennyiségű pénzzel fertőzi meg. Azóta viszont kissé felgyorsultak az események, úgyhogy hál'Istennek lehetek egy picit optimistább. Mert az már kiderült, hogy az USA túlélte Trumpot, pedig az orosz vezetés konkrétan arra számított, hogy most aztán padlóra tették - valószínűleg lebecsülték az ottani demokratikus intézmények ellenálló-képességét. És Brexit ide vagy oda, az angolok is bőszen szállítják az ukránoknak a cirkálórakétákat. (A fidesszel kapcsolatban... hát, egyelőre nem látom a fényt az alagút végén. Úgy látszik, mi ilyen vérbeli utolsó csatlósok vagyunk.) Az is világossá vált a háború kitörése után, hogy a fekete számlákra átmozgatott pénzek igenis hiányoznak valahonnan: például a katonai fejlesztésekből. Így fordulhat elő, hogy az oroszok Irántól kénytelenek rakétákat kuncsorogni, és olyan tankokat vinni a harctérre, amelyek legutóbb az '56-os forradalomban voltak szolgálatban. Úgy látszik, olcsóbb prostit csinálni egy Gerhard Schröderből, mint gyártani egy ütőképes tankot. De ez semmit sem von le Belton könyvének értékéből - olyan lelkiismeretes és nagyívű újságírói teljesítmény, aminek nagysága előtt le kell borulnom.

Putyin meg gebedjen meg, továbbra is azt mondom.

* Az "erős kezű vezető"-kép azonban jórészt porhintés. Például a Kurszk tengeralattjáró tragédiájakor Putyin döntésképtelennek bizonyult, a beszlani terrorcselekmények során pedig cinikus rohadék és/vagy hozzá nem értő idióta módjára járt el.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative book about Putin and the modern Russia context, which is more relevant than ever for obvious reasons. This books certainly takes a side, and is not trying to be dry and neutral. Which I think is appropriate in this day and age...

The amount of corruption is staggering. It's easy to get lost in the endless array of names as oligarchs rise and fall from the 90s Yeltsin-era to the present. The saga of Khodorkovsky and Yukos is explained in detail and quite an important chapter for understanding what has happened to Russia and what kind of corrupt system has taken hold.

Published only in 2020, it's very prescient how the book covers Ukraine and even Biden. In retrospect, the latest war shouldn't have been a surprise at all and the author knew it. There's also of course a chapter on the many connections to that last presidential administration, but not too much emphasis on the 2016 election which has frankly already been analyzed enough.

There is still lots of mystery of Putin's rise from the KGB to world's most notorious dictator, and much of the early years must be written about speculatively. The implications of the Moscow theater hostage crisis are particularly horrifying.

In the end, this is a pessimistic take. It's hard to say what to do with all this information. Russia has become more of a pariah than ever, and history will judge whether sanctions will enact change and if the Ukraine resistance will bring about anything better. Perhaps a freer world is on the horizon and authoritarianism will lose, or perhaps not. Either way, in trying to stay informed one would do well to read this book.

[Rennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

He’s going to have been in power more than 20 years by the time he’s done and there’s still surprisingly little that we know about him and his regime, concrete and verified at least. That’s still amazing to me for someone who will have influenced and shaped Russia, and far beyond, really, so much. This is by far the most comprehensive book I’ve read on where he came from (not a full bio, but his KGB background, Yeltsin connection, etc.) and how he came to be “installed” in the Kremlin. And just...sigh. I barely even know what to say. This was quite the rollercoaster, but like a rollercoaster that simultaneously runs through a house of horrors and there’s a demon in a business suit with a pile of money and an offshore account and a devious agenda around every corner. Can you picture it? Truly heart-stopping and also, exhausting. I already feel like I know too much. It’s a bit hard to keep track of all of these pukes because there’s just so many of them (and a few lesser pukes, to be fair) and it’s surreal to simmer in the details of what a corrupt maniacal blatantly manipulative gangster he is while watching our own president pucker to kiss his ass from every possible angle. This provides a wealth of answers and information despite the murky, obfuscated mess it all is (no insignificant feat). I think it’s essential reading for understanding where our relationship with Russia is.

[cypt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karo skaitinys. Sudėtingas tiems ir toms, kur, kaip aš, pernelyg nesidomi Rusijos / SSRS istorija ir politika: žiauriai daug pavardžių, konteksto, nors Belton labai priartina knygą prie neakademinių skaitytojų. Skaitydama susitaikiau, kad iš viso teksto man liks tik bendras vaizdas: pvz, išsinagrinėjau itin detaliai pristatytas pinigų plovimo schemas (Moldovos schema, veidrodinės operacijos, bičiuliškos firmos - pvz Siemens, tai Aušvice, tai jau KGB padeda.... džiaugiuos kad neturiu nieko symensinio), bet po 50psl supratau, kad jau nebeprisimenu, kaip ten viskas išsidėlioja.

Bet net ir nebūnant tiksline knygos auditorija, sveika ir reikalinga ją perskaityti. Ką aš išsinešiau su savo ribotom galimybėm:

1. Kaip viskas yra PINIGAI, o ne kokios nors ten Dugino sapalionės ar didybės manijos. Imperinė politika, stačiatikių bažnyčia, ezoterika - viskas kad pakelt reitingus, kai jau komunizmas nebepelningas. Reitingai - kad tave išrinktų ir kad valdytum (prisiplėštum) dar daugiau turto.

2. Skaičiau ir galvojau, koks vis dėlto pagadintas ir mano protas, kad plėšimai Ukrainoje iš privačių žmonių atrodo nesuvokiami ir anapus bet kokių ribų, o vat įkišti milijardierių į kalėjimą ir perimt jo kompanijas ir akcijas ir milijardus atrodo taip - nu, turtingų žmonių žaidimai. Arba visos mokesčių vengimo schemos. Reikia ir savyje vis gaudyti tą mažą sovietinį putinuką.

3. Žinojau, kad nemaža Londono/UK dalis priklauso rusų oligarchams, bet KIEK. Išpirkti rajonai, nupirktas laikraštis, aukos Kembridžo univerui... ir Rusijos pinigų plovyklos reputacija.

4. Kad ir Putinas, ir Chodorkovskis, ir dar daug kitų augo komunalkėse. Nu ir šuolis...

5. Chodorkovskio visi turtai - iš spekuliacijų, privatizacijų ir KGB pinigų plovimo į Vakarus - kažkaip nebe taip jautru jo ašaros pas Gordoną.

6. Kad Putinas, anot jo ex-draugų, iš tiesų žiauriai nervinasi dėl visų nesėkmių, užsidaro kabinete, neišlenda į lauką, rašinėja atleidimo prašymus. Taip tipo ir per Kursko avariją buvo. Kažkaip įsivaizdavau jį kaip ciniką ir nepramušamą, tokį pochuistą. Gal jis kažkoks su žmogiškesniais bruožais. Bet, tiesą sakant, koks skirtumas?

7. Ant kiek jau seniausiai buvo planuojama, perplanuojama, mintyse dalinama ir kitaip naudojama Ukraina. Nors gerai atsiminiau ir oranžinę revoliuciją, ir 2014 m., bet nebuvau supratusi, kiek ji yra Rusijai "darbinė", "naudojama".

8. Buvo labai egoistiškai gera, suprantant, kad gal tai atsitiktinumas, bet beveik nerasti šitoj knygoj minint LT.

9. Na ir visa kita, kas ir taip žinoma - Putino rankos Nord-Oste, mokykloj Osetijoj, Kurske, Trumpo išrinkime, Nacionaliniam fronte, pas Orbaną. Gerai perskaityti šitą knygą ir užsitvirtinti, kad tai ne paranoja ir ne spėlionės, o dokumentuoti dalykai.

10. Būtų LABAI gerai buvę šitam leidime sudėti vardų rodyklę, lit. sąrašą ir pan., kaip yra irgi Briedžio leistoj McIntyre'o Šnipas, kuris perėjo į kitą pusę.

[Andrew Schirmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

After graduating university in 2010, I worked as an intern at an NGO focused on improving US-Russian trade & business relationships. It was the height of the Medvedev interregnum and full of optimism. The American and Russian administrations had established bilateral working groups focusing a wide array of policy initiatives. Medvedev had visited Silicon Valley the year before, setting up a Twitter account and had recently begun pouring money into what was to be a kind of mirror Russian technology center/startup incubator. All kinds of ideas were being tossed around, from visa reform, Russia joining NATO (why was NATO even necessary any more?). As late as 2012, Obama chided Romney's Russia scepticism during one of the debates: "The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.."

Belton's deeply-researched history is a welcome, if belated correction of assumptions regarding the nature of the Putin regime. Hundreds of billions of dollars appropriated from Russian industry/tax coffers not simply for personal enrichment, but for use in active measures undermining financial, legal, and political institutions in the West. Our post-Cold War naivete and grandstanding were only matched by our complicity. A devastating, essential read.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want to know everything - and I mean everything - about the deals that led to Putin and the KGB class taking over Russia after Yeltsin then this is the book for you. However, I wouldn't recommend it as a book for the general reader, even for those of us who are confirmed Russia-watchers. This is because the book focuses almost exclusively on deals. A typical page runs like this: 'Ivan X bought such-and-such a company for a knock-down price from Mikhail Y who had previously worked with Gerhard Z, a Stasi operative who knew Putin in the 1980s. This company then got a massive government contract.' Of course, you might find this sort of thing fascinating - and the first time you read it, it really is - and for people in government I dare say it's important, but it all gets rather repetitive. The most interesting parts of the book for me were those that dealt with, albeit too fleetingly, the Kursk disaster, the Nord-Ost theatre siege, and the Beslan atrocity. Kudos to the author for the huge amount of research she has done on this, including plenty of interviews with some rather unsavoury individuals, but I'd say this is one for die-hards who feel the need to know everything (everything!) about the murky deals that enabled Putin and his associates to cement their grip on power and wealth in modern Russia.

[Titi Coolda · Rating 5 out of 5]

,,...dându-și seama că era mult prea înapoiată tehnologic pentru a câștiga vreo confruntare militară,Uniunea Sovietică descoperise încă din anii 1960 că puterea ei stătea în dezinformare, în plantarea de zvonuri false în media pentru a-i discredita pe liderii occidentali, în asasinarea oponenților politici și în sprijinirea organizațiilor armate care alimentau războaie în Lumea a Treia și subminau sau semănau discordie în lumea occidentală.,,
Foarte bună analiza ascensiunii lui Putin dintr-un rezident KGB la Dresda din vremea lui Gorbaciov la șeful cleptocrației care-nseamnă Rusia din ziua de azi.

[Gergely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in a furious and unrelenting style that reads like 640 page-long undercover report, it had me gripped from start to finish. It covers the same territory as many past books on Putin’s rise and now twenty-year rule, from his days working in foreign intelligence in Dresden, his meteoric rise in 1990s from Deputy Mayor of Russia’s 2nd city to Prime Minister and then President, his corralling of the oligarchic class and later re-structuring and re-assignment of the commanding heights of the economy into the hands of his personal and trusted acquaintances, through to Crimean annexation and the near cold-war status relationship that Russia has with the West today.

The cast is operatic in its scope, from exiled Oligarchs hiding in secret villas, to KGB operatives, well-known New York gangsters, Donald Trump etc. and the writing style more enthralling, the revelations and arguments more sensational than any book on this subject before.

But I would also caution the reader to bare in mind that objective analysis pays a price to the key narrative that it is trying to get across to the reader. In short, 5* for readability, 3* for accuracy.

Where Belton is especially strong is on economics, which is something that most Putin books of the past have avoided. The corruption at the top ends of the Russian political and economic eco-system is hard to imagine, so great is its scope, and for the economically illiterate, like myself, she neatly unwraps and explains the myriad schemes that have been employed to siphon the majority of Russia’s wealth offshore. She is excellent when explaining how none of this theft would be possible without the facilitation provided by Western financial institutions.

On the political side, though, not everything in the book rings true. Belton's key premise is that Putin’s rise and hold on power is the result of a planned and stealthy capture of the county by the KGB, that his emergence was the visible top of a much deeper but hidden fight back of the KGB to take control back over from the Oligarchs like Berezovsky, the political puppet masters who got Yeltsin re-re-elected in 1996.

However, there is no concrete evidence of this planned state capture, and I had a sense of sources being used to fit this narrative that suits a popular and easy to grasp Western view of Putin as the head of a dark and malign force (KGB) whose main focus is scheming about wreaking havoc around the world.

The evidence I have read over the years points to a much less tidy , more complex picture of political development. I think it is more accurate to see Putin as someone who has never had complete loyalty to any one clan (one of the reasons he was initially selected for the role of President by the Yeltsin administration in the first place), and it is precisely due to his position as the ultimate arbiter of conflicts between elites (including between the security services and major businessmen) that he has been able to hang on to power for so long. Although Putin’s entourage of apparatchiks does include many former KGB members, it is far from exclusively drawn from the security services, and the patterns of policy and political change over the last twenty years reflects less the actions of a carefully planning maverick than a reactive judo-player (as Mark Galeotti has aptly termed it in the past), using events to his advantage as they arise.

Further, I see almost the whole political and economic leadership of Russia today as the children of the 1990s. This was an especially lawless decade, when winning and maintaining power and control, whether in business or politics, required a high level of ruthlessness, violence, secrecy and protection. The mindset (and wealth) of many of those in positions of power today, from the heads of major state corporations to the various arms of the government, was made in that period, whether they were from the KGB or not. It is therefore not surprising that the relationship between the elite (both former KGB and otherwise) and the country's citizens is so dysfunctional in today's Russia.

Secondly, there is an issue with a source. Kremlin politics is particularly murky, rife with rumor, almost totally lacking transparency, and so any Russia analyst will struggle to get a total objective picture of exactly "what happened." However, a significant part of the book relies on quotes from Sergey Pugachev, a former billionaire who used to be a close Putin ally before they fell out, exiling himself in France whilst the Russian state came aggressively after the assets he had amassed. From what I have seen and heard reported of Pugachev, he is a man with a deep vendetta against the Russian government and quite an eccentric character, prone to hyperbole. His words need to be treated cautiously. For example, he claims that when he took Putin to church and explained that here he could ask for forgiveness from God, Putin apparently replied “I am the President of Russia, why should I ask for any forgiveness?” Quotes like these suggest Pugachev’s interest in using the book to launch theatrical attacks on Putin to advance his own agenda of political change at the top of Russian government.

So overall a fantastic read, but maybe just a little too fantastical at times.

[Michael Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

As some have commented, this is definitely a TMI book. Her writing is good, there is just too much of it to absorb. Alas, the death of developmental editing! Max Perkins where are you when we need you? I'm not a speed reader, but I found a way to quicken the pace on this one.

Much of Europe believed what they wanted to believe about Putin and it was mistaken, as is only grossly obvious at this point.

I found her coverage of Trump rather restrained. She did not try to create a criminal rap sheet on him. And we know that much more than even when this book was published two years ago.

She presents Trump as he was always known, as a dealmaker in love with money who sought prestige, however gauche.

He was not a very good at business. He experienced multiple bankruptcies, but because he was allying himself with the Russian mafia he did not suffer the consequences. The smaller investors took the hit because the big rollers wanted to stay in good graces with Trump because of his name.

And, of course, he remains a useful political tool for Putin.

more background....

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Dorin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had to recommend one book about contemporary Russia this would be it.

Catherine Belton does a remarkable job at unravelling the complicated web of interests and influence that placed Putin in the Kremlin and the KGB men in power. Her approach is simple: follow the money. Everything is done because of and with money. Money gets you power and money helps you keep that power. With money you can go to war, you can challenge the world order and you can compromise the liberal democracy. The sums are astronomical. Normally, in a democracy, the people in power would use money to the same ends, but at the benefit of their own people: you invest in the economy, build infrastructure, raise wages and social benefits. However, in Russia, it doesn’t work like that. Putin and his KGB cronies developed a mafia state where everything had to be theirs (all the big businesses and all the natural resources; and if not, it is still theirs because they give permission for others to exist in this type of economy) and none of the rules applied. There are no rules, besides the need and obligation of pledging fealty to Putin.

The vast natural resources afforded Putin and his KGB/FSB men to amount vast amounts of cash and black cash, stored around the world using different schemes. This “vault” of cash at their disposal may be as big as the Russia’s GDP. And they can use this cash whenever and however they want. They do not care for 3 million dollars that get a local politician elected in an American local election. They do not care for a few millions to help elect a Czech politician or for a few hundred million to sponsor anti-establishment parties around Europe.

The West has been complacent for the past three decades. It welcomed Russian money and Russian oligarchs with open arms. It closes its eyes when it could. Only later did it become clear how this money was used, and it was almost too late because it had managed to corrupt everything and everyone it touched. It is already past the point where we can afford to see Russia as anything other than it is: a kleptocracy, a mafia state run by former KGB men. The rules by which the liberal world works do no apply to them. They only care about two things: money and restoring the lost glory of the Russian empire. They have the money and they will do whatever they think needs to be done for the glory.

There are a lot of connections presented, a lot of men in different positions – this mafia state is not made up of just a few individuals – with different tasks and level of access. It may be hard to follow at times. But everything is worth it. Imagine this as being a million times less complicated than the complex schemes and legalese speak that helped these men move money around without anyone noticing, money used to corrupt politicians, influence elections and political decisions, to sponsor war and terrorism.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

In exhaustive detail, with a focus on the financial issues, Catherine Belton documents Putin’s rise to power, how he cemented his control over the country and its economy and then turned to restoring Russia’s territories and settling scores with the West.

Benton shows how Putin’s KGB posting in Dresden was not some backwater middle management job. While the bulk of international intelligence was placed in Berlin, Dresden, below the radar, was the center for stolen and smuggled technology, KGB recruitment (particularly from the waning Stasi) and funding terrorists and others fomenting anti-western sentiment around the world, particularly in the middle east. That Putin performed important services can be documented by his KGB pension which is paid at a “heros” rate.

Belton shows how by taking similar drab sounding positions in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Putin has able to bask in the glow of the perceived reformists Anatoly Sobchek, Mayor of St. Petersburg and Boris Yeltsin who benefited from the very popular move to a market economy. Benton shows how state owned industries sold cheaply at a dizzying pace, but only the elite had cash to get in the game. Fortunes were made.

The circumstances show how Putin, a seemingly behind the scenes functionary, was the a consensus pick of the Yeltsin insiders to take the reins. Once installed, he employed typical KGB moves to stay in power… taking over the press, capitalizing on (and most likely creating) terrorist incidents, changing elected governance and judicial positions to appointed and using or creating governmental levers to promote friends and destroy enemies.

The highlight of the book (for me) is the step by step telling of Putin’s first defining action: the takeover of Yukos and the imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. This set the pattern for the kleptocracy that is Russia today. What follows are more deals and incidents that consolidate financial control such that would be owners are merely caretakers who keep their positions as long as Putin is satisfied.

The sections on the Ukraine, the insinuation of Russian money into England and the courtship of Donald Trump were disappointing because they are told through deals and incidents. Some deals are hard to follow and some have vague references to “organized crime” which at this point is not fully distinguishable from the Putin government.

The book ends with glimpses of the public’s dissatisfaction with Putin and the entrenchment of his power.

I recommend this for the first 2/3 which explains the rise to power. The ending, for me, was a blur of names, deals and incidents.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by a former Moscow correspondent of the Financial Times this is a superb work of investigative journalism – detailed, clearly written, accessible and a treasure trove of information about the emergence of the Putin regime and his rise to power. I stand in awe of the amount of research the author has done and impressed by the way she has managed to make the information easy to understand for a less well informed readership. Based on testimony from Kremlin insiders, diplomats, intelligence officers and oligarchs plus independent research, the book is endlessly fascinating and often horrifying. There are revelations on almost every page, and I learnt an enormous amount. Essential reading for anyone interested in Putin, Russia and its role in international affairs.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non-fic pub 2020
3 stars
Belton clearly did A LOT of research and talked to A LOT of people to accomplish the writing of this book. The text is well-documented and contains many direct quotes and figures/facts. She would painstakingly prove some details and set up an argument but then try to make a conclusion that wasn't necessarily supported and doesn't logically follow from the premises IMHO. I was impressed by the thoroughness of her reporting. She hides the 'very well could be true' theories among hard facts and direct quotes as if the reader isn't smart enough to see the difference. She should have done a better job of defining the jumps she made because there is room for them as theories.

Part I- I enjoyed learning more about the end of USSR and transition to Russian Federation as it's something I've read just enough about to know that I need to know more. Putin's 'early days' are discussed here, but I enjoyed the broader background more than the specifics about him here.

Part II- This is about his rise to power. Belton continuously describing every position he had as not impressive or important got a little repetitive. Most politicians start somewhere and aren't necessarily known nation-wide or world-wide from a young age. She was pressing a point that he came out of 'nowhere' and then weilded so much power all of a sudden and this should be suspicious in and of itself.

Part III- This is probably the section most readers are interested in. After getting used to her style during Part I and Part II this was the best section IMO. I got through this part about 2x as quickly. The premises for the arguments didn't seem as diconnected/distant from one another and I was more familiar with the global background and context of this time than the earlier decades.

If you're looking for the most interesting read on this topic or a 'light read' to expand your understanding, this is NOT for you. If you appreciate thoroughness and an investigative journalism/scholarly pursusit hybrid then this IS for you.

Don't misunderstand my frustrations as signs of the author's lacking authority or not 'doing the work' to discover the truth. She really does pack a lot of info in there. There is a lot to be learned from this. I really feel this would be 5 stars for me if she did a more honest job of differentiating her theories from the actual facts and pared down some of the superfluous data, or perhaps had organized the book differently.

I read this with Non-Fiction Book Club BotM April/May 2021.

Some quotes:

Description of Communist USSR: "There was no private ownership, or even any understanding of what profit was. In stead, the government handed down production quotas to each and every enterprise, controlled all earnings and fixed prices for everything. There was no motivation for anyone, and the system just didn't wor. Consumer goods prices were fixed at incredibly low levels, but because of this there were acute shortages of everything - freom bread, sausages and other foodstuffs, to cars, televisions, refrigerators and even apartments. The shortages meant queues and rationing, sometimes for months on end."

Putin becoming president: "Never before had there been such splendour at a Kremlin inauguration - it was the first time the newly restored palace halls had been opened for a state even - and never before in the history of the country had there been a peaceful handover of power from one presdient to another.

"Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality" was Nicholas I themes being repeated.

On Putin after rising to power: "When he came to power, he started out saying he was no more than the hired manager. But then he became the controlling shareholder of all of Russia. First, they gave him a stake and then he took control. It's a shareholder company of the closed type."

On modern Russia populace: "It was, they said, the tragedy of Russia that its people did not want to participate in politics - indeed, they didn't know how to."

On international meddling: "...there was widespread disbelief in the West that Putin's Russia could penetrate its political and economic institutions. Despite its apparent success in splitting Ukraine, this was largely seen by the West as a Pyrrhic victory."

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never thought that Putin was an angel but this book made my hair stand up. How do we deal with a proud heir of mongol hordes who has been allowed to enter and deal with the west as if he was a civilised human being representing a civilised nation? What it says about the west, is not flattering either…

[Katie.dorny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Mind blowingly and unnervingly detailed, this book detailing the very beginning of Putin’s rise to power and the tactics deployed to steamroll Russia and then the world.

This is a heavy book and doesn’t give you the option of reading lightly.

[Rosenkavalier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Follow the Obschack

Per sapere come si è arrivati alla situazione odierna in Russia, questo è ragionevolmente il libro da leggere. Dettagliato e documentato, come si conviene se si vuole evitare l'ormai consueto fuoco di fila di cause intentate a fini intimidatori dai personaggi del clan putiniano (o meglio, della gang), è un resoconto anche storico interessante che parte, a sorpresa, dalla prima metà degli anni 80.
Sì, perchè secondo la ricostruzione di Belton, confermata anche da altre fonti e racconti, è nei primi anni 80 che una fazione di alti ufficiali del KGB si rende conto dell'ormai inevitabile collasso dell'URSS e inzia a pianificare una via d'uscita per salvaguardare le reti di influenza costruite negli anni e soprattutto gli ingenti fondi segreti accumulati presso società di comodo estere.

Sono gli "obschack", parola russa che indica la "cassa comune" delle gang malavitose (sì, c'è di mezzo anche la mafia russa, da sempre "strumento" dei servizi).

Con la caduta del regime comunista, in una prima fase questa attività viene apertamente osteggiata da Yeltsin e dai famosi oligarchi di prima generazione (tutti finiti male), ma a fine anni 90 la situazione si inverte e compare sulla scena nazionale un più o meno sconosciuto politico e amministratore di secondo piano, che riesce a guadagnarsi la fiducia (o la complicità) di Yeltsin mentre mantiene i contatti con i suoi vecchi compagni cekisti, fra i quali l'ex primo ministro Primakov, già capo del famigerato Primo Direttorato del KGB, quello destinato agli affari esteri (ossia, il Karla di Le Carré).
Il resto si sa (più o meno), ma il libro lo racconta molto bene, sia pure con inevitabili lungaggini e una mole di nomi impressionante.
Sicuramente una lettura che richiede motivazione o specifico interesse (ne esiste ora una traduzione in italiano pubblicata da La Nave di Teseo), ma di grande valore, soprattutto nel momento presente.

Chi volesse un bigino (assolutamente di parte) può cercare su PrimeVideo il documentario su uno dei pochi oligarchi della prima ora sopravvissuti, Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, cui va riconosciuto che si rifiutò di scappare quando ne aveva l'opportunità, fu condannato in un processo farsa e poi scontò otto anni di carcere durissimo in Siberia.
Ora vive a Londra e credo che, ogni volta che gira un angolo di strada, si chieda chi gli comparirà davanti.

https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Cit...

[Dimitar Angelov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Добре е повече хора у нас да прочетат книгата. За съжаление в наши дни, особено в нашата страна, шества възгледът "всеки си има мнение" и много хора ще отхвърлят заключенията на Белтън, въпреки колосалния ѝ труд и масата цитирани източници.

Поуката на заден фон от тази книга е, че не Путин, а самата Русия е проблем. Тя и населяващите я (с малки изключения в големите градове в западните ѝ части) са спрели своето обществено-политическо развитие на ниво ХIX в. И това ги устройва... Нашият проблем е, че са на няколкостотин километра от нас :(

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

February 2025 Update:
What a brilliant “negotiator.” Offer the other side everything they want before you even sit down at the table. No wonder he managed to bankrupt a gambling casino. He’s a complete idiot. Also, from the fact that he is now repeating old Russian talking points, it is clear he is either a foreign agent, or, has sh*t for brains and no f**king clue (excuse my “French”, but I think it is warranted in this case).

Godspeed, Everyone.


October 2024: One presidential candidate foolishly thinks he can appease Russia.

Or he is outright lying.

Do not be fooled.

Vote.

*******

A great tale. It turns out Russia is all about, and has always been about, hurt pride, revenge and greed (but not necessarily in that order).

This book provides detailed and exhausting documentary and testimonial evidence of the origins and germination of the network of the Putin regime, the rise of the Russian oligarchs, and the collapse of the Yeltsin regime. Nearly forty years of Russian political history in a devastating indictment. What is it about Russia that every government they get turns into some version of a Tsarist regime, complete with rampant bribery, blackmail, contract killings, fixed trials, political prisons and secret police?

It would be nice if there were an abridged version of this book for the average reader, who, judging from some of the reviews here, do not have the stomach for all of the careful detail of financial shenanigans.

But at the end of the day, this tale is all about the money—the Tsarist (or ex-KGB, if you prefer) Russian criminals who stole money from the Russian people on the pretext of patriotism to Russia, made themselves rich, and used the excess stolen funds to sow divisions in Western Democracies, in order to destabilize them and win back “Soviet” Russia’s Empire. Here is wishing them all a good long BURN IN HELL!

AND, in light of the successful investigations into Russian influence of politicians in The Czech Republic, Germany and Belgium of late, I think we need to do the U.S. Congress as well. I am not leveling anything against any specific members of congress, though I have suspicions, but lets say a bunch of rich Russian businessmen showed up in a place like Destin, which is the home of a major Air Force Base, Eglin AFB, and Pensacola, which has a major Navy Base, and just started throwing money around, started buying up real estate, and investing in all the big hotel and tourist spots. It wouldn't take much for these Russian businessmen to get in tight with the local Chambers Of Commerce in these towns.

Then you start partying, introducing local politicians to young women, maybe a few that are underage so that you have kompromat, or young men, because this would make the local religious right if it got out, it wouldn't take much to soon own enough of the political class in those places, that you controlled how their congressman voted, rather he was compromised directly or not, to have the local police on your side, so they can tip you off if the FBI is investigating, and to even infiltrate the bases themselves through your local contact network, and no one in those places would have the sophistication to really stop you. Especially if you sold yourself off as good Russian Christians who shared their conservative values.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather riveting reveal of Vladimir Putin's rise from a minor KGB operative to deputy mayor of St. Petersburg to Prime Minister to the President of the Russian Federation repeatedly (he was re-elected after Medvedev served for a 4-year term).

But the real - horror, I guess would be the word - is the revelation regarding how the KGB prepared for the collapse of the Soviet Union and used the West's own greed for investments to infiltrate the economy and political hierarchy of dozens of countries. Putin definitely lost respect for the West when it became obvious that investors were more interested in a 'slice of the pie' than any impacts the KGB/Putin's action had on the Russian democracy.

As the author goes further into the depths of Putin and his KGB backers, hidden facts regarding Russian resources and huge corporations originally though to be bought by canny oligarchs was uncovered. The businesses were just being run by these men and if told the companies assets were to be exchanged and shuffled about to create more 'black cash', they had to obey or face trumped up charges of unpaid taxes amounting in the billions. Even the wealthiest Russians - who can have their own fortunes - must be prepared to contribute hundreds of millions into a 'slush fund' that gives the appearance of a economically strong and vibrant Russia.

By this point, Putin seems to become a rather shadowy figure, making personal appearances only when necessary. Otherwise, the book goes deeply into how the KGB (or maybe they should be called former-KGB) operatives have carefully developed a web of wealth accumulation that would likely boggle the mind of the reader. Seriously, we're talking billions of dollars, euros and other script.

When the West has actually confronted Russia regarding the illegal - or questionable - activities, they were denied, completely ignored or respond with a chilling commentary that their discoveries were meaningless. At least to the West. If the KGB knew the cause of the leak or informant, the reaction was usually death threats against the individuals and their families or outright murder.

The West believed when the Soviet Union collapsed and the Russian Federation was created, that Russia would become part of capitalistic globalization and a democracy that would only look forward and not back. The West was wrong. Russia has not forgotten that they were at the top and with the BRIC countries learning to use Western greed to their advantage, Putin and his allies are striving to make their way back to the top especially if it gets to be on the corpses of the West, especially the United States.

Definitely a chilling look at the world economy as well as a prediction of what the world can expect in the years and decades to come.

2021-112

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a non-fic by the Financial Times journalist about Putin and his regime. I read is as a part of monthly reading for April 2021 at Non Fiction Book Club group.

The book gives a lot of facts about Putin and his circle, as well as some hypotheses about possible twists in Putin’s career. Audioversion has more than half of surnames with wrong stress. It is a good summary of what kind of state capitalism and a kind of Russian messianism the world faces now, but I guess its meticulously gathered details will be soon forgotten by most readers and therefore it could have been much shorter.

Main points:
1. Putin work in Germany – most likely a usual paper pusher but maybe more, like a link to far-left terrorists or overseer of getting western tech to the USSR. I don’t see the need for these hypotheses
2. Putin work as a deputy to st. Petersburg mayor Sobchak in the 1990s, cooperation with organized crime that held ports, channeling money outside Russia under humanitarian programs, Dacha consumer cooperative "Ozero" and Putin’s circle
3. Coming to state power, PM term, terrorist attack and explosion of several buildings in Moscow (possibly a fake flag attack by KGB/FSB)
4. Creating state / crony capitalism, were oligarch are set by Kremlin, giving them right to plunder Russia in return using their companies to fund operations in the country and outside.
Weak parts – attempts to seasonalize, like linking Trump to KGB, Brexit, etc. Definitely, KGB/FSB actively works against the west, but it is more a death by thousand cuts strategy than brilliant decade-long plans perfectly executed.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an epic investigatory report, on the finances of the Modern Russian state and its architect, little Vlad Putin, the boy who wanted to be a spy and a tough guy. But it has none of the bitter drama of that description. It's a clear-headed, well-documented economic report, and most if not all of the overarching dramatic threads must be drawn by the reader.

This took me all of last summer to read and it was absolutely worth it. No one knew then, that The Littlest Czar would pull an international wobbly and go face down in the historical chip-dip. But he has. This book would take a twelve-page review to sum, analyze and draw conclusions from all the material included. But a funny thing has happened on the way to that necessity--- because Vlad has skipped the exposition and proceeded straight to the spoiler, with his Ukraine misadventure.

This was a great book in many instances, and clearly required grueling sky-high amounts of data and historical archaeology to produce. It's also a great book to have absorbed prior to Vlad's cross-border road trip. As such, probably best to leave this one to the economists and historians and not the casual readers. Be assured that the evidence is damning.