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Putin's Russia

Life in a Failing Democracy

A Metropolitan/Holt Paperbacks Book, January 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8250-0, ISBN10: 0-8050-8250-6,
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 288 pages,
Trade Paperback, $16.00

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See All Categories Political Science Europe Russian & Eastern European Studies Russian & Eastern European Studies - All Titles

In October 2006, Anna Politkovskaya was killed while working on an expose of Chechnya's Russian-backed leader. Hailed as "a lone voice crying out in a moral wilderness" (New Statesman), Anna Politkovskaya made her name with her fearless reporting on the war in Chechnya. More recently, she turned her steely gaze on the multiple threats to Russian stability, among them Vladimir Putin himself, focusing on the multiple threats his regime poses to Russian stability and on the state of terror that in the end cost Politkovskaya her life.

With a new foreword by Anne Applebaum, Putin's Russia—never published in Russia—depicts a far-reaching state of decay. Politkovskaya describes an army in which soldiers die from malnutrition, parents must pay bribes to recover their dead sons' bodies, and conscripts are even hired out as slaves. She exposes rampant corruption in business, government, and the judiciary, where everything from store permits to bus routes to court appointments is for sale. And she offers a scathing condemnation of the ongoing war in Chechnya, where kidnappings, extra-judicial killings, rape, and torture are begetting terrorism rather than fighting it. Finally, Politkovskaya denounces both Vladimir Putin, for stifling civil liberties as he pushes the country back to a Soviet-style dictatorship, and the West, for its failure to rein in the Russian leader.

Sounding an urgent alarm, Putin's Russia is a portrayal of a country in crisis and the testament of a great and intrepid reporter.

Praise

"The savagery of Russia's actions in Chechnya is not news, nor is the highhandedness of its intelligence services, nor the cynical way Russian politicians and businesspeople mix money and politics. But Politkovskaya, one of Russia's most stridently indignant journalistic voices, has a way of driving the point home with passion drawn from concrete, personal stories. She takes the reader from a distant observation point into the barracks or the courtroom or the street where the deed goes down and then through the tortuous labyrinth where it is consummated, blessed, or concealed. Most of the book is about, as she says, life in Putin's Russia, not Putin's role. Still, she asks, 'Why do I so dislike Putin?' and answers, because of his Chekist mentality, his 'matter-of-factness worse than a felony, his cynicism,' his small-minded pursuit of power—and, most of all, because, by guile or indifference, he presides over a Russia slinking back toward its Soviet past."—Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs

"Politkovskaya, a journalist who [wrote] for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, is a master at depicting horror and suffering. Her book focuses on the Chechen war and ways in which state violence—often against Russia's own people—is defended as a weapon in the war on terrorism. The book derives much of its power from a series of vignettes about families grieving over lost children, including Pavel Levurda, a soldier left behind to die on the battlefield; Misha Nikolayev, a border guard with festering sores, who 'rotted alive under the eyes of his officers'; and 15-year-old Yaroslav Fadeyev, shot, apparently by Russian forces during the 2002 Chechen siege of a Moscow theater. The last story is told by Fadeyev's young mother, Irina, who after identifying his body threw herself into the icy Moscow River and—to her dismay—was pulled from the water. A unifying theme is the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, a former K.G.B. spy. We see, under his watch, a prevalence of sadistic military commanders; 'political psychiatry, with diagnoses to order'; and 'telephone law,' a holdover from Soviet days when a judge reached a verdict after receiving a phone call from a government official. The acts of violence (soldiers accidentally buried alive, suspects injected with psychotropic drugs) make the book a tough read. But, as Politkovskaya says, it may have been pressure from the German Parliament that helped an impoverished Chechen couple get justice for their daughter, 18-year-old Elza Kungayeva, who was kidnapped and strangled by a Russian officer in 2000. The more Westerners know about Putin's Russia, the better."—Tara McKelvey, The New York Times Book Review

"Politkovskaya has been a brave critic of presidents, gang leaders, generals, bureaucrats, and other powerful people in Russian life . . . Her accuracy and sincerity are beyond dispute. So too is her gift for narrative."—The New York Review of Books

"That Politkovskaya herself has withstood poisoning and harassment to tell the truth about Putin's Russia should give even the most pessimistic observer of current Russian affairs some hope."—Michael McFaul, The Washington Post Book World

"The reporting is brave, the style raw. The tale recalls the darkness of the Soviet past, but it should sound alarm bells for today. What this book has to say about hypocrisy, racism, and the war on terror should resonate for us all."—Catherine Merridale, The Observer (London)

"Politkovskaya's most searing critique of the Russian government to date."—The Guardian

"In Putin's Russia, the country's most famous investigative journalist and most outspoken member of an increasingly enfeebled media establishment deploys her legendary blunt prose to great effect."—Andrew Osborn, The Independent

"Politkovskaya, an award-winning journalist for the Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta, makes no excuses for her dislike of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his leadership style, reminiscent of the late Soviet period. Over the past five years, Putin has strived to reverse the centrifugal forces that had acted upon political and state power in Russia during the Yeltsin years. And according to Politkovskaya, his most notorious ploy is the second Chechen war. But the war isn't the only factor in Russia's 'failing democracy.' Corruption at every level of government seems to be the order of the day. Politkovskaya provides anecdotal evidence of provincial oligarchs, corrupt judges, and dozens of horror stories from Muscovites and province dwellers. Politkovskaya has built an excellent case for her premise."—Vernon Ford, Booklist

"At a time when many Westerners are ambivalent about Russian President Vladimir Putin, famed war correspondent Politkovskaya argues that there is little to admire about the man or the country he has remade in his image. By recounting stories of the winners and losers in today's Russia, Politkovskaya portrays the country as a place where decency is punished, corruption rules and murder is simply a means of getting to and staying at the top. 'Putin may be God and Czar in Chechnya, punishing and pardoning, but he is afraid of touching . . . Mafiosi,' Politkovskaya writes. She's an attentive and compassionate storyteller, and the stories she tells are worth reading."—Publishers Weekly

About the Author(s)

Anna Politkovskaya

Anna Politkovskaya (1958–2000) was a special correspondent for Novaya Gazeta. She was honored by Amnesty International and Index on Censorship, and received Russia's prestigious Golden Pen Award for her coverage of the war in Chechnya, as well as the 2005 Civil Courage Prize.

Excerpt

Putin's Russia
MY COUNTRY'S ARMY AND ITS MOTHERSThe army in Russia is a closed system no different from a prison. Like anywhere else, people don't get into the army or into prison unless the authorities want them there. Unlike other places, once you are in, you live the life of a slave. Armies everywhere try to keep what they do quiet, and perhaps this is why we talk about generals as if they belonged to an international tribe whose personality is the same all over the world, irrespective of which president or state they serve.

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