All the current or former insiders in “Putin’s People” assume that, beneath a thin layer of democratic bluster, Western elites are biddable and buyable
Russian phoenix emerged from the Soviet ashes, Western pundits were divided. Would the new creature sink into chaos, as often seemed inevitable; or, with Western help, would it resurface as a diminished but coherent state? A decade later, when an energetic Vladimir Putin succeeded an ailing Boris Yeltsin, Russia-watchers were seduced by a different false binary. Some thought Mr Putin would press on with creating a law-based, outward-looking market system.
But as Ms Belton shows, the continuity between the Soviet agency that nurtured Mr Putin as a young officer, and the security-based behemoths that bestride today’s Russia lies less in institutions than in mentality. It is a mindset that believes anybody can be turned; that advantage can be sought in any situation, including anarchy; and that collaboration on ever-shifting terms is possible with any partner, from organised crime to Christian clergy.
The book charts the milestones of this process, including the string of lethal bombings that coincided with Mr Putin’s ascent in 1999; later acts of terror in the Caucasus and Moscow; the crash of 2008 that hit Russia hard; Mr Putin’s re-election in 2012; and the intervention in Ukraine in 2014 and ensuing sanctions. In a narrative tour de force, Ms Belton explains how these developments affected the Russian elite.
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