
Putin's People
How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West
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Narrated by:
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Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
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By:
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Catherine Belton
About this listen
"This riveting, immaculately researched book is arguably the best single volume written about Putin, the people around him and perhaps even about contemporary Russia itself in the past three decades." (Peter Frankopan, Financial Times)
Interference in American elections. The sponsorship of extremist politics in Europe. War in Ukraine. In recent years, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has waged a concerted campaign to expand its influence and undermine Western institutions. But how and why did all this come about, and who has orchestrated it?
In Putin’s People, the investigative journalist and former Moscow correspondent Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and the small group of KGB men surrounding him rose to power and looted their country. Delving deep into the workings of Putin’s Kremlin, Belton accesses key inside players to reveal how Putin replaced the freewheeling tycoons of the Yeltsin era with a new generation of loyal oligarchs, who in turn subverted Russia’s economy and legal system and extended the Kremlin's reach into the United States and Europe. The result is a chilling and revelatory exposé of the KGB’s revanche - a story that begins in the murk of the Soviet collapse, when networks of operatives were able to siphon billions of dollars out of state enterprises and move their spoils into the West. Putin and his allies subsequently completed the agenda, reasserting Russian power while taking control of the economy for themselves, suppressing independent voices, and launching covert influence operations abroad.
Ranging from Moscow and London to Switzerland and Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach - and assembling a colorful cast of characters to match - Putin’s People is the definitive account of how hopes for the new Russia went astray, with stark consequences for its inhabitants and, increasingly, the world.
Financial Times Books of the Year - 2020
The Telegraph (UK) Best Books of the Year - 2020
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
©2020 Catherine Belton (P)2020 Macmillan AudioPeople who viewed this also viewed...
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Overall
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Performance
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Mostly a biography of Steele
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Connects dots.
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Well researched, well written, startling story
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Critical given recent events.
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Very good
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Must read to understand current Ukraine crisis
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other than luberal bias toward trump, this book is near perfect. mafia rules over russia
very good
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This is great insight into Putin, but also into understanding the very convincing positioning of perception that Russia (and, of course, all powerful nations) have engaged in when it comes into portraying themselves to their own people.
Brilliant, clear, highly informative
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solid overview of why russia is the way it is.
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Important to understand thecurrent geopolitical situation vis-a-vis Russia.
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why he is doing what he is doing, and why he can't put on the breaks
understand putin
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