On Russia: A Neighbour’s experience

by Vilis Vītols

While there are many books published in English about Russia, the vast majority of them are written from the perspective of Western academics and journalists. Very few studies are conducted by people who live at the frontiers of this newly constituted Russian empire, under the leadership of Vladamir Putin. Face to Face with Russia offers this critical perspective to English-speaking audiences worldwide.

247 pages, Hardcover

Published May 9, 2022

Reviews

[Perbrisis]

En väldigt subjektivt färgad beskrivning av Ryssland och dess historia. Även om den inte är helt utan poänger bör den nog läsas med en någorlunda kritisk blick för att få med sig något som går bortom författarens högst personliga analyser.

[Sebastian]

As a Latvian and a person that holds master degree in international relations I can say that this book is pretty harsh, but true. I cannot but agree with Vilis that the West does not understand Russia, it has been played by it and countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom are and have been leeching on Russian money for decades, weakening the democracy of the European Union and Europe in general. Catherine Belton has written a good investigative piece about this in her ''How the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West''.

Likewise, I cannot but stress the Russian doctrine of war that has not changed since the cold war - the war has never stopped, its just the means on how war is carried out during the time of ''peace''. V. Vītols has emphasized Russian hybrid warfare tactics and how skillfully they have been employing them, especially by weaponizing energy, thus creating corruption in Europe's economic strongholds and conducting cyber-attacks, trying to gain favorable outcomes.

Lastly, this is an easy to read book, simple ideas and history have been laid out before the reader. This book is a good starting point for anyone who is interested in revanchist Russia.

[Neil H]

Here you have a book written by someone who has no professional experience but who feels a deep seated desire to pen his opinion on a subject of Russia. The sense of ill will and existential threat which Russia poses to t VV must be said to be affecting his choice of examples. Saying that the mistake of Japan for not attacking United States and Russia during WWII and leading Russia to hand the death knell to Hitler's Germany was just too much for me. Yes, I get Russia has questionable ideological pursuits leading from their historical threats and desires for world domination. Yes, we would do better to be a lot less tolerant to the threats Putin poses to democratic institutions. But to channel counterfactual scenarios of who should have attacked whom when there was no equivalence to the horrors Japan brought on the world at WWII is indeed the official opinion of a man who is saddled with resolute hate. Big countries have a selected mentality to be big, to commensurate size with power. Lest VV forget, China with its massive economic, budgeted focus on soft power will rely strategically to be less benign then otherwise focused on here. The fallacy is to think that size alone is an end all. ASEAN is a economic entity that pulls its weight and with its affiliates should slow down the inexorable encroachment of China. Perhaps the baltic countries will consider a similar coalition?

[Mārtiņš]

This book will read almost as a prophecy in the wake of russia’s full scale invasion on Ukraine in 2022, but in fact it is just a framework on how to think about russia that will not disappoint, gained through hundreds of years of collective experience dealing with this enemy.

The view of the Baltic states and Poland should have been taken into account more and maybe the war could have been avoided. It should be listened to closely now, as it will guide to the best outcome possible.

Some details in this book are too detailed for the intended audience in the west, some are not relevant, but overall a good book to read.

[Jana]

As being Latvian myself, sometimes I had to put down this book and take a pause for some days as the harsh reality really makes you thoughtful and angry all at once. The book is well written, of course containing a lot of subjective opinions, but the author never tries to hide it and writes from his own perspective. Even though you can feel the harsh language and hopelessness in some aspects, you cannot argue that any of it is not true. I really recommend this book for everyone who want to get to know and learn, how is it being russian neighbour.

[Flavia]

Well this is just biased and racist…
The author is very opinionated and just lists all the negative examples he could find. Often not looking at the events in a historical context but just mentioning all the ‘evils’ russia did in his opinion. Please don’t read this book, or if you do, read others on that topic too just so that you won’t get the wrong picture.

[Jessica]

A good overview of Russian history, but the final 100 pages could easily be cut from the book. The latter half of the book repeats the same two or three talking points, with the odd islamophobic outburst sprinkled throughout. Very much gives the “old man yells at cloud” vibe.