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Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West Hardcover – Illustrated, June 23, 2020
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Catherine Belton
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"[Putin's People] will surely now become the definitive account of the rise of Putin and Putinism . . . [Belton] adds enough new details to establish beyond doubt that the future Russian president was working alongside the people who set up the secret bank accounts and held the meetings with subversives and terrorists. More important, she establishes how, years later, these kinds of projects came to benefit him and shape his worldview.'" ―Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic
"The cast of supporting characters in Catherine Belton’s study of the Russia of Vladimir Putin is extraordinary and worthy of a Netflix mini-series . . . This is modern Russia in full, horrifying technicolour. In Putin’s People, Belton, a former FT Moscow correspondent, leaves no stone unturned in her exposition of how the Russian president and his “people” dominate the largest country on Earth and how they have come to do so." ―Peter Frankopan, Financial Times
"[An] elegant account of money and power in the Kremlin . . . The dauntless Belton . . . [talked] to figures with disparate interests on all sides, tracking down documents, following the money. The result is a meticulously assembled portrait of Putin’s circle, and of the emergence of what she calls 'K.G.B. capitalism'―a form of ruthless wealth accumulation designed to serve the interests of a Russian state that she calls 'relentless in its reach' . . . Putin's People ends with a chapter on Donald Trump, and what Belton calls the “network of Russian intelligence operatives, tycoons and organized-crime associates” that has encircled him since the early ’90s." ―Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times Book Review
"In her deeply researched new book, Catherine Belton tells a dark tale of Vladimir Putin’s rise to power and his 20 years as leader of Russia . . . Belton, a former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, digs deeper. Hers is a story about Putin, his KGB colleagues, businessmen and mobsters pieced together through interviews with many relevant players." ―Anders Åslund, The Washington Post
"A staggering achievement of reporting . . . The level of depth [Belton] reaches, and the analysis of the details which are, by design, entirely opaque transactions and financial arrangements, is simply incredible. Belton follows the money." ―Joshua Huminski, Diplomatic Courier
“Through meticulous research into financial networks, Belton investigates Vladimir Putin’s political ascent via the KGB ties at the center of her story. She captures the texture of Putin’s government: its approach to power, its ambition, its cynicism, its desire to reverse the defeats of 1989 and 1991 and then to translate KGB formulas into a new international affairs paradigm." ―Michael Kimmage and Matthew Rojansky, The New Republic
"A fearless, fascinating account of the emergence of the Putin regime . . . [Belton] has an unrivalled command of the labyrinthine history of share schemes, refinancing packages, mergers, shell companies, and offshore accounts that lay bare the stealthy capture of the post-Soviet economy and state institutions by a coterie of former KGB officers . . . The result reads at times like a John le Carré novel." ―Daniel Beer, The Guardian
“The plot sounds like a geopolitical thriller. Amid an empire’s collapse, the secret police funnel money out of the country, creating a slush fund to rebuild their old networks. They regain power, become spectacularly rich and turn on their enemies, first at home―and then abroad.” ―Edward Lucas, The Times (London)
"Relentless and convincing . . . This is the most remarkable account so far of Putin's rise . . . Belton offers the most detailed and compelling version [of this story] yet, based on dozens of interviews with oligarchs and Kremlin insiders, as well as former KGB operatives and Swiss and Russian bankers . . . Gobsmacking . . . A superb book." ―Luke Harding, The Guardian
"Relentless and magnificently detailed . . . Putin’s People is a serious, absolutely timely warning. No book has documented the Russian president’s leadership so indefatigably and compellingly. If you want to grasp in full how Russia has become the nation it has in the last 20 years, this is the book you’ve been waiting for." ―Julian Evans, The Telegraph
"The single best book to explain the present-day Kremlin . . . Putin's People is must reading for anyone trying to understand Putin and the challenge of dealing with modern Russia." ―John Sipher, The Cipher Brief
"Catherine Belton, a talented reporter and fluid writer, offers a detail-rich narrative of Putin’s dictatorship and gangland beneficiaries . . . Belton’s sleuthing . . . imparts fresh colour to Putin’s ascent, just as her digging into Putin’s days as a KGB operative in East Germany turns up a fuller account of that formative period . . . Belton populates her engaging panoply of shell companies and fatal defenestrations with captivating characters . . . Indefatigably exposes a criminal regime spilling over its borders." ―Stephen Kotkin, Times Literary Supplement
"How [Putin's fellow] “operatives” got into power and what they did with it is the subject of this long-awaited, must-read book by Catherine Belton, a former Moscow reporter for the Financial Times who spent years investigating the most sensitive subject in Russia ― the business dealings of Putin and his circle of cronies (or siloviki). By following the money and diving deep into the squalor, she has pieced together a disturbing picture of a criminalised regime whose methods are more like the mafia than a state." ―Arkady Ostrovsky, The Sunday Times
"As Catherine Belton's powerful and meticulously reported new book shows, the apparent anarchy of the post-Soviet world has instead given way to a massive concentration of wealth and power, which is used by the new Russian elite to quash dissent at home and project force abroad . . . A narrative tour de force." ―The Economist
"[Catherine Belton's] book is fast-paced, thoroughly researched and packed with new―or at least not widely known―facts . . . This is the best kind of journalist's book, written with an eye for a well-turned story and compelling characters, and steering mercifully clear of academic theorising. And what tales Belton has to tell." ―Owen Matthews, Spectator
"A book that western experts on modern Russia acknowledge as vital to our understanding of the Putin phenomenon . . . Belton draws on published sources and deep-throat contacts to plot a course through the maze of crooked financial manoeuvres―the sleights of hand, the back-room deals, the ‘loans’ from state banks, the kick-backs on contracts―that Putin and his courtiers got up to as they systematically drew the wealth to themselves as inexorably as iron filings to a magnet." ―Tony Rennell, The Daily Mail
"Insightful . . . it is the details unearthed by [Belton's] interviews with an extensive collection of insiders that make her arguments so convincing and the book such a gripping read." ―Lynn Berry, Russia Matters
"Drawing on extensive interviews with Kremlin insiders and dispossessed oligarchs such as Sergei Pugachev and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Belton paints a richly detailed portrait of the Putin regime’s tangled conspiracies and thefts . . . A lucid, page-turning account of the sinister mix of authoritarian state power and gangster lawlessness that rules Russia." ―Publishers Weekly
"Catherine Belton is quite simply the most detailed and best-informed journalist covering Russia. One hears so much grand punditry about the country, but if you want to know the terrifying facts, from the nexus of KGB, business, and crime which was Putin's petri dish to the complex reality of the relationship with Trump―and if you want to see how all this combines into a whole new system―then this is the book for you." ―Peter Pomerantsev, author of This Is Not Propaganda and Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible
"Putin's People is meticulously researched and superbly written, terrifying in its scope and utterly convincing in its argument. It is a portrait of a group of men ruthless in their power and careless of anyone else. This is the Putin book that we've been waiting for." ―Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland and The Last Man in Russia
“Putin’s People is a ground-breaking investigative history of the rise of Vladimir Putin and a revealing examination of how power and money intersect in today’s Russia. Catherine Belton has pulled away the curtain on two decades of hidden financial networks and lucrative secret deals, exposing the inner workings of Putin & Co. in remarkable and disturbing detail. A real eye-opener.” ―David E. Hoffman, author of The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia
“Catherine Belton deftly tackles one of Russia’s biggest mysteries―how did an undistinguished, mid-level former intelligence operative like Vladimir Putin catapult himself to such lofty heights? Her deeply researched account digs into unexplored aspects of Putin’s rise to power as well as the experiences of longtime Putin friends and allies who have harvested most of the benefits from his 20 year reign.” ―Andrew S. Weiss, James Family Chair and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment
About the Author
Product details
- Item Weight : 2 pounds
- Hardcover : 640 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0374238715
- ISBN-13 : 978-0374238711
- Dimensions : 6.26 x 1.97 x 9.36 inches
- Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Illustrated edition (June 23, 2020)
- Language: : English
- Best Sellers Rank: #6,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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By Catherine Belton
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020
500 pages of text, 32 illustrations, 96 pages of defining notes, 35.00 USD
Reviewed by Ben Robinson
In 1990 two things happened on Earth. The Gorbachev 80’s came to a crashing halt, and Donald Trump was visited by Russian gangsters who partied with him at 3am in Atlantic City at his Taj Mahal casino which he claimed to spend over one billion dollars on. Apparently the NJ Gaming Commission was therefore completely surprised when this self-styled billionaire (he wasn’t), was suddenly facing bankruptcy and many violations for not reporting transactions by one person for more than $10,000 in one 24-hour period. Russian pop stars filled the gaudy Taj halls with people who’d spend $100,000 in less than a weekend. Don’s place became the place to party with oligarchs looking to spend a weekend sacrificing virgins with no questions asked about the dead fourteen-year-old in the tight dress in a dumpster. “What do you care? She was a hooker!” those arrested and then let go were heard to say. Welcome to Trump nightlife 90’s style. The Russian lock step to dominating America was only beginning with murdered teen hookers.
What do you know? Birds of a feather do flock together, and no, there is no honor among thieves. Donald Trump over-spent, went under and then stood defiantly before the NJ Gaming Commission and threatened to “put 2500 people on the streets tomorrow if you don’t give me time, restructure my debt and eat part of what you say I owe.” Sound familiar? He screws up and it is everyone else’s fault and responsibility. And that was in 1990! Uh, oh—what is past is prologue.
So, Trump gets in deep with the guys from Little Odessa (that’s NYPD slang for Brighton Beach, Brooklyn). Lot of toughies come out of there. Hell, they even make Law & Order SVU episodes about people down there that traffic girls from the Ukraine and later sand their faces off. One such character became an informant for the FBI and seemingly kept very good records of his old school mate, Vladimir Putin. (By the way, that informant, he did ten years for kidnapping, assault and drug trafficking—helluva guy. When he went to work for the Feds, his payment was a reduced sentence.)
Putin, everyone’s favorite KGB operative, formerly the East German Stasi liaison from the 80’s when he had more hair, is well documented since before his ass was kicked in a judo fight where his opponent broke his nose. Putin is a man of pride, unyielding patriotism, and can duly be called a hero. A real hero. He saved Russia, over and over. First from Communism. Then the oligarchs he put in jail in Siberia all kowtow to his black ops badassness because, well, Ms. Belton describes his world as “the Kremlin KGB brand of capitalism.” Late in the book, they all break down and claim Russian sovereignty is actually their right in the world. You could have seen that coming from the vast pipelines of Gazprom, Russia’s natural gas giant run by people drunk on power. Tough life when a billion just ain’t what it used to be.
It gets better. Shell companies all over the world in some very attractive places: London, Paris, Geneva, New York—the fun gets rolling when the Bank of New York somehow just doesn’t remember to find out who is investing money or what their business is. Some businesses called themselves “FL Securities” for being based in Florida, and whadya know…that was good enough to open an account with all those perks “little people who pay taxes” (to quote billionaire Leona Helmsley) know nothing about because their checking balance is just shy of the three billion needed for a checking account without penalty. Forget the free toaster, Russian cash flows like the world’s oceans are connected; silently, without dispatch nor anyone else looking too closely at the gift that keeps on giving.
“Why sure Mr. Kalashnikov, I’ll take your seven billion dollars. So, you need a good restaurant tip tonight? I hear the blintzes at Veselka remind you of the homeland.” The leatherneck gangsters smiled, dropped off their seven large and that money was then used for “military intelligence compartmentalized operations.” Black cash. Thomas Harris could not have written this story better of international shadow finance and the opposition neatly disposed of through a gunning down blocks from the Kremlin, or those that suddenly commit suicide. This is a thirty-year war we witness and suffer from the book’s subtitle: How the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West. That the EU and NATO severely underestimated Russia returning with less than a limp after the Cold War and after the disintegration of the Soviet Federation is one for the “You think we should have looked at this a bit more closely?” file. Joe Biden seems to step up with a warning about all of this sometime in 2005, but American and British intelligence don’t seem to come on board with Russia’s campaign to world dominance until shortly after 2010. What was that about the world moving slowly, but it moves? “Which direction?” is what most people ask, and in Putin’s People, the answer is clear—as Putin and his KGB cohorts see it, you are either with them or against them. It is an organized crime state of mind.
Donald Trump Jr. makes an appearance and somehow forgets that when one runs for President of the United States that overtures from foreign powers is a campaign infraction, much less Trump campaign officials and managers not realizing that not registering as a foreign agent is illegal. But Trump’s children (Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka) have wildlife to slay and mount on their walls and tariff-free brands to pursue, so why bother with all those silly little campaign finance laws, “after all, it’s Daddy we’re supporting!”
“Damn the aeroramps” Macbeth mentioned and so it is for these “leaders” in Putin’s People who lead with greed, graft, murder and malfeasance. Life is cheap and murder is just like filing up your car; you go further with a little jolt of new energy; even if you have to knock off the head of an energy company. Only those that make, and in some cases, buy into, the myths created by the Kremlin, survive. For now.
In 1989 Gorbachev ran to seclusion prompting The New York Times to publish a front page story titled “Gorbachev as Houdini.” If Putin escapes the global pandemic, he gets the vote for baddest bad guy. Of course, six months into this pandemic Putin has a vaccine. Forget that it isn’t tested, he has a vaccine! This pretty well sums up Russian efficiency; long on boast, short on aid to others. But then again, empathy for the common man wasn’t how Russia was built. Putin’s People makes the case that Russia was always a tsarist land and always would be; it was the way Russians liked it. And when it comes to Putin’s People, if you don’t like it, they’ll direct you to a gulag where your face will be sanded off.
In the text Ms. Belton quotes Russian operatives mentioning that Americans only care about money and anyone can be bought. So much for a moral society. The dumbing down of America since WWII has been the breeding ground for Russia’s heretofore unexamined march to clobber the West with a new economy and prove that democracy is a quaint idea left over from the 18th century. It should noted that Hedrick Smith’s The Russians (1980) well sets the stage for this tome’s ripsaw episodes.
And woe is the poor chump who disagrees with Putin and his men; not toeing the party line in the name of the state is justification for death, dishonor and the need for a quick getaway from Mother Russia. Anyone know a good plastic surgeon who can provide a new face? Some of the characters in this book have the cash and the need for it. One day they are the richest in all of Russia, the next, they are on the outs with Putin, referred to as “number one” and “Papa” by those that believe his myth. Belton somewhat explodes Putin’s calm demeanor with many descriptions of his impatience and rage. What is termed his “closed door panic” seems to this reader to be the military mastermind hibernating looking for a solution to the apartment bombings in Moscow. Such is neatly laid at the door of Chechen terrorists, rather than the state-sponsored assassinations later leaving more than 117 dead and hundreds injured from the gas attack on a school. This showed the first chink in Putin’s armor. Putin, like his protege Trump, is never at fault—in this case the dog didn’t eat his homework, there was never a need of due process; that’s a waste of time, right? Is this America I refer to; or, Russia? Seems murky (to quote Belton), at best. To Putin and his people, the world is one large oyster bar and the owner is the KGB Kremiln with their distaste for being questioned or opposed. The Russian Bear bites with Grizzly Steppe (read The Mueller Report).
Border countries to Russia are not forgotten in the text. The situation with the Ukraine will make heads spin, because just when you think there is a champion of justice on page 113, you are again disappointed to learn the fix was in a few pages later and the good guys were in bed with the bad guys; another lost hope of decency. The “black cash” repeatedly referred to in this detailed book washes through Earth like a disease of consumer culture. The Russian middle class emerges disregarding totalitarianism for a new car, a decent current computer and if the technology is stolen and they did not have to pay for it—so much the better! Russia first at any cost is the not-too-hidden message of this book.
The 2016 US Presidential election is the finale of this masterful work, and darn it if that statement by Shakespeare didn’t just come bite you outright. All of a sudden it is 2014 and metal merchant billionaires are sidling up to Donald Trump. Before you know it, they’ve got him on tape in hotel rooms at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow looking like the cat that just ate the canary. Those canaries names were Katrina and Svetlana, nuff sed, wink, wink, nudge nudge…what do you expect from a man who reads (if at all) at a fourth grade level?
So, there is a paper trail. It turns out the Mueller investigation was impeded to stay away from Russian finance. But, Mr. Trump finds himself a wannabe Hitler puppet in a world conspiring to flaunt a 21st century brand of fascism including politicians in: Russia, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Syria and let’s not forget that chap with the hair cut in North Korea.
The good news: they’re all in on it. The bad news: they’re all in on it. So we have Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen fearing he will end up like Jeffery Epstein. Who, by the way, left behind some incredibly well organized digital files currently in the hands of INTERPOL, the FBI, the NYPD and other assorted unmentionable caches of need-to-know and those wondering where they will now run? Bill Clinton in a dress is a painting found in Epstein’s mansion, and all New Yorkers wonder is why it wasn’t Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York, who proudly shuffled his mascara and wobbly bustle over to the Junior League one Summer night, and then reminded the thousand accomplished women he addressed that his hips were not what they used to be. You could hear the wretching in the audience.
Rudy Giuliani is Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and has been monkeying around with a shadow foreign policy of the Gambino crime family since the 1980’s. He put away the goombahs as a US Attorney and special prosecutor. Giuliani regularly brags to New York tabloids that he “will not go down with Trump because I have an insurance policy.” Hmmmn, what could the former New York Mayor have on the former New York (he changed residences to Florida) real estate developer? Might it be that Donald Trump has been in heavy with the Russian mafia, names of which bear omertà, yet, I’m betting Rudy also has as tidy records as Mr. Epstein (who apparently hanged himself in a secure facility in New York City).
And where does this leave our title hero at the end of the book? Well, Vladimir Putin has been on the job in Russia since 2000 and while his aims might have been valiant, he seems like a guy that would cheat at cards and think that we should let him. You see, in the world of totalitarianism, or what he and his “men” refer to as “the strong state of controlled democracy” which is their translation for closing down elections, picking local ministers and being able to yank anyone and throw them in jail because the KGB-controlled Kremlin threw away the rule book of law long ago. If you do not see it their way like the former FSB operative Alexander Litvinenko, you’ll end up like him with some exotic poison in your afternoon tea. No joke! They did it to a guy who criticized Putin widely —“the opposition daring to speak”— and he was detained until he was so sick someone from Germany sent him a plane to see if they could help him in Berlin. That was August 2020.
So, totalitarianism seems to have had its day the author concludes. Yet the evidence is that the damage done will last longer than anyone wishes. Freedom is simple. That is what totalitarians fear. Especially because they cannot make any cash out of it.
The chapter on Donald Trump raises too many “maybes” clearly trying to tie Trump to Putin and the Kremlin. If this were true the Democratic party or many of Trump’s enemies would have already uncovered this. The author steps into muddy waters and it’s a bit of a shame.
Overall I enjoyed the book, could have been shorter and less political about Trump, but if you’re very interested in Putin and Russian politics it’s worth reading.
Having made it through those pages I’m happy to report it gets better—much better— even though we have to live with a lot of maybe Putin did, and maybe he didn’t (intentionally bomb his own people, blackmail Trump, stuff like that). But it’s a great read and many of the holes are unavoidable and reflect good, if horrified, journalism.
Top reviews from other countries
The KGB used to funnel funds all over the world to spread its influence from funding wars to bribing officials to become spies. When the USSR collapsed and that structure fell apart, the USA took full advantage and spread its power as the only superpower left via NATO as the Warsaw Pact vanished. The Russians being a very proud nation and losing their pre-eminence on the world stage were desperate for a strong leader and along comes Putin. (Is there a parallel i ask myself with Germany in the 30s). A major point she makes in the book is that when Gorby ended the Cold War the West let their guard down. She makes it very clear that it is now in Cold War Mark 2 under Putin and that Russia is winning. Putin aims to destroy the West's alliances and that Russia becomes a superpower again. She explains that Trump had a lot of contacts with Russia from 2001 and when he won the Presidency the Russian Parliament was delighted. They were proven correct as most of Trump's foreign policy ties in perfectly with Putin's aims.
When Putin came to power there was a royal battle with the oligarchs to become top dogs. The richest oligarch at that time was Khodorkovsky. Putin used him as a scapegoat by stitching him up via the legal system which was controlled by him. K. got 10 years in jail and the ECHR stated, "that the court violated K's human rights". This was letting the oligarchs know who was in charge and do what i say or finish up in jail. There is a lot of evidence that Abramovich is in his back pocket. He was told to buy Chelsea FC to enter the UK. This he did amongst many other things rather than have his empire taken off him by the state ie. Putin as happened to K. The author provides plenty of evidence showing that the oligarchs do as he tells them. Lots of money that they have is now used to fund and finance activities that was done previously by the Communist State Party. Thus the FSB now carries on the work that the KGB used to do. Russian oligarchs move into Chelsea, London and Brighton Beach, USA. The whole purpose is to destroy by being the enemy within. Reading the book, J Biden comes out of it very well due to his knowledge of how Putin operates. Putin operates through his people so has PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY, ie. you can't touch me. She shows that a lot of the Dirty Money is funneled into London and some of it to the Conservative Party. ie. illegal money mostly.
Another main point in the book is that Russia is now a criminal state. The murders carried out all over the world from Litvinenko in London to the slaughter of Chechens in the war that Russia carried out there. The legal system is totally under the control of Putin and the oligarchs too. Criminal gangs are used by Putin for what he sees are the benefit of the nation. He has broken and altered the constitution so that he keeps in power for as long as he wants. A lot of circumstantial evidence that Trump was financed by Dirty Russian money via Deutsche bank which suggests that he is compromised by Putin. In other words, Putin has so much power over Trump that he has to abide by what he wants. As Pelosi said " when it comes to you Donald, everything leads to Putin". The things he does certainly make it seem so. M Cohen and F Sater (Joe Pesci in the future film) were big friends for decades and the go-between for Trump and Putin. Putin uses and discards his people when he no longer needs them such as Sergei Pugachev and B Berezovsky, as does Trump eg. M Cohen and J Sessions.
Excellent read, very detailed, very brave. Hopefully Americans will read this book, ( those that are left after Trump's pathetic Covid-19 policy) and realize that the USA can't take another 4 years of Trump. If they want a leader who believes in Putin more than their Intelligence Agencies, then they need to get rid of them and reduce their taxes.
If you want to know about how a Moscow Organised Crime Gang has links both to Trump and Boris Johnson and more importantly why, then this book will explain it all.
Too often, in recent times ,it’s been easy to get lost in a list of complex companies, foreign names and supposedly detailed plots surrounding Russia. But, in reality, just follow the money and bids for power. This book, written by a former Financial Times Moscow Correspondent will help you do this.
Read this book, it will open your eyes to what has been going on.
There is not a single honourable character (excepting the occasional brave journalist and, more rarely, lawyer). There are just constantly shifting sands of allegiance between self interested criminals, who fight each other for gold and power. Some victors, some losers, but we all know who the real victims are.
Profoundly depressing, even disturbing, but Ms Belton has done the world a great service with this magnificent expose. I just hope she doesn't suffer from nightmares.
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