The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the Struggle for Russia

by Angus Roxburgh

Overview

Vladimir Putin has turned Russia from fledgling democracy into a police state, and in 2020 a constitutional change gave him the means to stay in power until 2036. In this acclaimed political biography, former BBC Moscow correspondent Angus Roxburgh charts the dramatic fight for Russia's future under Putin. Roxburgh shows how the former KGB man evolved from reformer to autocrat, how he sought the West's respect but earned its fear and contempt.

Drawing on dozens of exclusive interviews in Russia, where he worked for a time as a Kremlin insider advising Putin on press relations, as well as in the US and Europe, Roxburgh also argues that the West threw away chances to bring Russia in from the cold, by failing to understand its fears and aspirations following the collapse of communism. This updated edition includes new chapters on Putin and Donald Trump, on Russia's wars in Ukraine and Syria, and on Putin's ruthless attempt to rout all political opposition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780755639267
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	09/09/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Angus Roxburgh is one of Britain's most distinguished foreign correspondents. An author and renowned journalist, he was the Sunday Times Moscow Correspondent in the mid-1980s and the BBC's Moscow correspondent during the Yeltsin years. He is the author of The Second Russian Revolution and Pravda: Inside the Soviet Press Machine.
Angus Roxburgh is a respected British foreign correspondent and Russia specialist.

Table of Contents

About the Author

Introduction

1. The Secret Policeman's Ball 1

2. Courting the West

3. The Battle for Economic Reform

4. The Darker Side

5. New Europe, Old Europe

6. Putin Mark II

7. Enemies Everywhere

8. A New Cold War

9. Media, Missiles, Medvedev

10. The Descent into War

11. Resetting Relations with the West

12. The Strongman and His Friends

13. Tandemology

14. Putin Mark III

15. A New Russia

16. President for Life?

Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A solid foreign correspondent narrative of Putin’s behavior" - Bill Keller, The New York Times

"The considerable value of this book lies in his painstaking and empathetic effort to understand how Mr.. Putin came to power, why many Russians still support him today, and how the West's approach to Russia has helped to shape his rule." – The Wall Street Journal

"A serious book that portrays a Russian administration at sea in a world most of its officials did not comprehend. Putin himself emerges as a more complex character than the epithet "strongman" would suggest…Every chapter of this book is worth reading.” – The Independent (UK)

“[A] lively and absorbing study of the Putin years.” - The Guardian (UK)

"As a former adviser to the Kremlin in 2006-09, working for the Brussels based consultancy GPlus, Roxburgh had an excellent vantage point, and here he offers a stellar cast of sources, drawn from those closest to Putin and Western leaders. Their accounts make this is a valuable book." - European Voice

"Roxburgh is a talented journalist and writer...a useful history of the Putin era....with views from Russian politicians, and some of the key players from the world of international politics, it is a book firmly rooted in fact and analysis. This means that Roxburgh’s approach is refreshingly free from some of the usual polemic, and he is to be congratulated for giving credit where credit is due and for underlining Putin’s role in stabilising Russia after the free-fall of the Yeltsin years." - Good Book Guide

Editorial Reviews

…The Strongman is not a biography or an inside-his-head account, but a straightforward chronicle of Putin in power. What Roxburgh delivers is a solid foreign-correspondent narrative of Putin's behavior.
—The New York Times Book Review

Bill Keller

"Roxburgh paints a...compelling portrait. He is sympathetic to what motivates Putin but critical of what Putin has become during his years in power...engrossing." - Foreign Affairs

"A solid foreign correspondent narrative of Putin’s behavior" – Bill Keller, The New York Times

"The considerable value of this book lies in [Roxburgh’s] painstaking and empathetic effort to understand how Mr. Putin came to power, why many Russians still support him today, and how the West’s approach to Russia has helped to shape his rule... Mr. Roxburgh persuasively argues" – Wall Street Jourbanal
 
"Roxburgh is a talented jourbanalist and writer...a useful history of the Putin era....with views from Russian politicians, and some of the key players from the world of international politics, it is a book firmly rooted in fact and analysis. This means that Roxburgh’s approach is refreshingly free from some of the usual polemic, and he is to be congratulated for giving credit where credit is due and for underlining Putin’s role in stabilising Russia after the free-fall of the Yeltsin years." – Good Book Guide

"…an old Russian hand. [Roxburgh] takes us behind the curtain of the Kremlin press section….he is at his best in a chapter on fraught Georgian-Russian relations, capturing the culpability on all sides." – Stephen Kotkin, TLS

"[A]lively and absorbing study.... [Roxburgh] is especially well placed to tell the story of how the west’s early enthusiasm for Putin turbaned sour." – Luke Harding, Guardian 

"[Written] with admirable even-handedness and insight...The Strongman is not only political history; it is informed by the author’s close acquaintance with many of the prime players...Every chapter of this book is worth reading." – Mary Dejevsky, Independent

"Well researched and with many personal observations by an admired and insightful jourbanalist, this will appeal to contemporary Russophiles and Putin watchers." – Library Jourbanal

"Roxburgh’s experience as a public relations advisor to Putin provides the basis for some of the most interesting passages in the book." – David Satter, Literary Review

"...much can be learned about the conduct of Western and Russian international relations from the valuable interviews the author conducted with Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Gerhard Shroder, Mikhail Kasyanov, German Gref as well as David Miliband, George Robinson and Ukraine’s Viktor Yushchenko." – David Lane, London Progressive Jourbanal

"Roxburgh’s book accordingly is a vivid account by a ‘Western’ jourbanalist with excellent senior access of the tumultuous transition of Russia away from Soviet communism to today’s sui generis Russia…Roxburgh offers many vivid, credible anecdotes about Putin and his merciless dealings with top Russians and Western leaders…" – Charles Crawford, EUROPP (European Politics and Politics – LSE Blog)

"We need an insider to give us some insight into what has really been going on since 1999, when Putin went from unknown to acting president. It is fortunate then that we have Angus Roxburgh... fair, nuanced and well written...His account of the complete mutual incomprehension between his employers, Ketchum, and the Russians they worked with is fascinating." – Oliver Bullough, Sunday Telegraph

"[Roxburgh’s book] is powerful...and gives much more attention to the international connect and to Russia’s economy [than Masha Gessen’s book]" – The Age

"As a former adviser to the Kremlin in 2006-09, working for the Brussels based consultancy GPlus, Roxburgh had an excellent vantage point, and here he offers a stellar cast of sources, drawn from those closest to Putin and Western leaders. Their accounts make this is a valuable book." – European Voice

From the Publisher