Not so long ago, Russia under Putin appeared to be a corrupt state run by an elite mainly interested in their own privileges and wealth: authoritarian but not fundamentally expansionist.The 2022 invasion of Ukraine made it clear that Putin is driven by far more than simply greed. Putin's Russia is, Andrei Kolesnikov argues, in the grip of intense ideological radicalisation, seeking to mobilise its population in support of a form of chauvinistic neo-imperialism using increasingly totalitarian ...

1990: As a new openness sweeps Russia, a talented young physicist, Boris Nemtsov, begins his career in politics. Charismatic, confident, liberal and vehemently opposed to corruption, he swiftly rises to prominence. For the first time, another future seems possible. 2015: Putin holds the country in the grip of tyranny once more. Nemtsov, now his fiercest and most unrelenting opponent, is assassinated on a Moscow bridge. This is the story of how a nation’s dreams of democracy died. Drawin...

They might have said goodbye to the USSR – but can they ever say farewell to Russia? Snow, concrete, the KGB: that’s the cliché of the Soviet Union. But its collapse in 1991 sparked a story at once messier and more compelling than any stereotype. Thirty-five years on, Moscow may brim with champagne bars and blacked-out Mercedes – but what became of the other fourteen states that emerged from the ashes? In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Joe Luc Barnes crossed the former USSR to find...

In “Please Live: The Chechen Wars, My Mother and Me”, Lana Estemirova recalls her mother – human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, abducted and murdered for exposing abuses in Chechnya. Lana’s powerful memoir of love and loss chronicles her childhood amid conflict, mother and daughter’s bond and courage, and the relentless pursuit of truth. A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK  'Please live' were the last words fifteen-year-old Lana said to her mother. Shortly afterwards Natalia Estem...

'More gripping than a thriller' - ANDREY KURKOVBetrayal charts the dramatic collapse of the post-1945 international system. The agreement that nations do not change borders by force is under attack, not just from Russia but America, too. Donald Trump has threatened to seize Greenland and bombed Iran as part of a violent remaking of the Middle East. Vladimir Putin's bloody imperial campaign to seize Ukraine and redraw Europe's map continues. Meanwhile, China eyes up Taiwan.Written in thrilling...

The Essential Anna Politkovskaya is not just a tribute to a remarkable journalist, but a crucial reminder of the power of the written word to challenge authority and inspire change. Twenty years ago Putin's fiercest critic was gunned down.Anna Politkovskaya was one of the great, heroic investigative journalists of the modern era. Shining a light on Russian state corruption, human rights abuses, and the brutal conflict in Chechnya she was renowned for her unwavering commitment to exposing the ...

‘Sometimes funny, frequently harrowing, always illuminating [...] A testament to the humanity Gershkovich refused to surrender, and a prison memoir that doubles as a love letter, not to the dictatorship that imprisoned him, but to the Russia underneath: its language, landscape, literature, and people’ - Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See The revelatory, much-anticipated memoir from the Wall Street Journal reporter who was wrongly imprisoned in Putin’s ...

When Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the West slapped crushing sanctions on Russia. Many expected the country’s elite—prominent liberals and global businessmen—to defend their assets and cosmopolitan lifestyles by forcing Putin to stop the war. Instead, liberal-minded officials rewired the economy for war; corporations obeyed new rules; and only a handful resigned or spoke out. Why? Built on dozens of candid conversations with top Russian officials and businessmen since th...

Vladimir Putin came to power by destroying the Russian oligarchs, the entrepreneurs who grew rich during Russia’s chaotic transition from communism and exercised unseemly influence over the government of Boris Yeltsin. Putin confiscated their companies and used the profits to build the Kremlin’s war chest for the invasion of Ukraine. He and his cronies siphoned off billions for themselves.Drawing on exclusive interviews and explosive new material, in Suing the Kremlin Martin Sixsmith tells th...

In September 2022, Scandinavian seismologists detected what seemed to be a huge undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption. These signals were caused by several devastating explosions that destroyed Nord Stream, the $20 billion pipeline carrying cheap Russian gas to Europe under the Baltic Sea. The mysterious blasts shifted global geopolitics, disrupted European economies and triggered a manhunt that strained relations within the NATO alliance. Despite capturing the imagination of millions, the...