The Kremlin's Noose: Putin's Bitter Feud with the Oligarch Who Made Him Ruler of Russia

by Amy Knight

Overview

In The Kremlin's Noose Amy Knight tells the riveting story of Vladimir Putin and the oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who forged a relationship in the early years of the Yeltsin era. Berezovsky later played a crucial role in Putin's rise to the Russian presidency in March 2000. When Putin began dismantling Boris Yeltsin's democratic reforms, Berezovsky came into conflict with the new Russian leader by reproaching him publicly. Their relationship quickly disintegrated into a bitter feud played out against the backdrop of billion-dollar financial deals, Kremlin in-fighting, and international politics.

Dubbed the "Godfather of the Kremlin" by the slain Russian-American journalist Paul Klebnikov, Berezovsky was a successful businessman and media mogul who had an outsized role in Russia after 1991. Worth a reported $3 billion by 1997, Berezovsky engineered the reelection of Yeltsin as president in 1996 and negotiated an end to the 1995–96 Chechen war. Despite his own wealth, power, and influence, once he became Putin's enemy, Berezovsky was forced into exile in Britain, where he waged a determined campaign to topple Putin. Kremlin authorities responded with bogus criminal charges and demanded Berezovsky's extradition. Death threats soon followed. In March 2013, after losing a British court battle with another Russian oligarch, Berezovsky was found dead at his ex-wife's mansion outside London. Whether he died from suicide or murder remains a mystery.

The Kremlin's Noose sheds crucial new light on the Kremlin's volatile politics under Yeltsin and Putin, helping us understand why democracy in Russia failed so badly. Knight provides a fascinating narrative of Putin's rise to power and his authoritarian rule, told through the prism of his relationship with Russia's once most powerful oligarch, Boris Berezovsky.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501775086
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2024
Series:	NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

Amy Knight earned her PhD in Russian politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has taught at the LSE, Johns Hopkins, SAIS and Carleton University. She worked for eighteen years at the US Library of Congress as a Soviet/Russian affairs specialist. She is the author, most recently, of Orders to Kill.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Offspring of the Soviet System
2. A Meeting in St. Petersburg
3. Elections and Beyond
4. Behind Kremlin Walls
5. Turmoil
6. An Heir to the Throne
7. Putin's Path to Victory
8. A Clash of Titans
9. The Outcast versus the Tyrant
10. The Kremlin on the Offensive
11. A Life Falling Apart
12. Berezovsky's End

What People are Saying About This

Andrei Soldatov

Putin casts a larger shadow over Russia's fate than anyone expected when he became president and so do those who got him to the Kremlin—Berezovsky first among them. Their roles in Russia's history must be investigated. A veteran Russia watcher, Amy Knight is perfectly equipped to do this.

Mark Galeotti

This is a deeply researched book, undeniably the best and most detailed examination so far of how important it is to beware what you wish for, and how Berezovsky elevated and then fell foul of Putin.

Michael McFaul

As one of the world's most careful observers of Russian elite politics, Knight has written another compelling book of how Berezovsky and other members of Yeltsin's inner circle failed to comprehend the perils of putting Putin in power, a horrific miscalculation for Urkainians first and foremost, but also for all those around the world who believe in democracy and peace and have been paying ever since.

Editorial Reviews

A definitive study of Berezovsky's life and flamboyant times. Knight – a Soviet and Russian affairs specialist – has written an invaluable primer on Moscow's transformation from semi-democracy under Yeltsin into today's "closed fortress".

The Guardian

An in-depth examination of the rise and fall of a Russian oligarch, Knight's thorough research and broad comprehension of Russian politics since the Soviet era allows her to deftly draw linkages between the events that led to Berezovsky's downfall as she also notes aspects of Berezovsky's personality that contributed to his demise. A chilling, compellingly written exploration of Russian politics.

Starred Review Kirkus Reviews

Knight tells the riveting story of the Russian tycoon and political operator Boris Berezovsky and his role in the rise of Vladimir Putin to the presidency in 2000. Readers are sure to enjoy her narrative, which covers the tumultuous political developments in Russia in the 1990s and the first decade of the next century, replete with terrorist attacks, hostage takings, wars, and vicious political intrigue, including an especially murky period preceding Putin's anointment as Yeltsin's successor.

Foreign Affairs

★ 2024-05-18
An in-depth examination of the rise and fall of a Russian oligarch.

Russian scholar Knight, author ofOrders To Kill: The Putin Regime and Political Murder (2017), here delves into the role of ill-fated oligarch Boris Berezovsky in aiding the rise of Vladimir Putin to power. The son of a Jewish civil engineer, Berezovsky’s relatively comfortable upbringing allowed him to pursue a career in scientific research, a background the author contrasts with Putin’s hardscrabble childhood. While Berezovsky parlayed his scientific knowledge into business partnerships with Russian automobile manufacturers, Putin saw his path to advancement in working for the KGB. Knight traces the two men’s separate careers to the point of their first encounter in October 1991 and their subsequent influence with Boris Yeltsin. (Using his wealth to gain control of television networks and print media, Berezovsky was instrumental in helping Yeltsin deflect accusations of corruption and stay in office, thereby ensuring the rise of Putin, Yeltsin’s handpicked successor.) Knight’s thorough research and broad comprehension of Russian politics since the Soviet era allows her to deftly draw linkages between the events that led to Berezovsky’s downfall as she also notes aspects of Berezovsky’s personality that contributed to his demise: “…Putin seems to have wisely grasped that such cautious behavior was the only way to survive—and get ahead—in the highly dysfunctional and unpredictable Kremlin. Such wisdom eluded the mercurial Berezovsky.” The author details how Berezovsky’s support of Kremlin whistleblower Alexander Litvinenko and his public chiding of Putin in the media were countered by a steady effort to destroy Berezovsky’s already shady reputation abroad. The result, as Knight astutely points out, was that Berezovsky’s warnings about Russian authoritarianism went largely unheeded: “His ambition took precedence over concerns about Russia’s democratic development, and his hubris blinded him to the dangers of Putin’s rise to power until it was too late. But he was far from alone in failing to recognize Putin for who he was.”

A chilling, compellingly written exploration of Russian politics.

Kirkus Reviews