Russia, Band of brothers

An academic investigation into the networks that control Russia.

“PUTIN, thief! Putin, thief!” chanted the protesters who marched through Moscow as Vladimir Putin sought his third term as president.

Since then the rallies have ended. Russia’s swift annexation of Crimea and its subsequent proxy-war in the south-east of Ukraine have turned Mr Putin into a national hero in the eyes of many Russians, including some former protesters.

But they have also led to Western sanctions against Mr Putin’s cronies, and focused attention once more on the issue of theft and corruption, which is the subject of a new book by Karen Dawisha, a political scientist at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. 

“Putin’s Kleptocracy” is a who’s who of the people on the sanctions lists drawn up by America and the EU. It is also a guide to the crony capitalism that grew out of the nexus of Mr Putin’s plutocratic interests, his shady past and authoritarian rule. (Read more)