This book would never have been written had it not been for the tremendous friends and family who helped and supported me as what began as a two-year project became an odyssey of writing and investigation. Research started long ago in Moscow and St Petersburg where this book was spurred and made possible by hours of conversations I had with Vladimir Milov, the former deputy energy minister whose relentless tracking of the business dealings of Putin’s inner circle provided a roadmap for the asset-siphoning of the Putin regime; as well as with Andrei Illarionov, the former presidential economic adviser, whose powers of forensic analysis and insights provided an early spark for part of the book’s thesis. Pavel Voshchanov, the former Yeltsin spokesperson and investigative reporter at Komsomolskaya Pravda, opened a window onto a long-forgotten world of asset-siphoning by the KGB at the Soviet fall. Outside Russia, Sergei Kolesnikov, the brave whistleblower who fled Putin’s tight-knit inner circle, shared documents and spurred further research, while Felipe Turover, the former KGB operative who was the informant sparking the investigation into the Mabetex Kremlin reconstruction contracts, was a source of revelatory insights. Tommy Helsby, the former Kroll chairman of investigations who died too soon in 2019, was a generous source of inspiration and valuable investigative leads. He is missed.
Vladimir Yakunin generously spent many hours explaining the point of view of the tight-knit clique of St Petersburg security men surrounding Putin, first in St Petersburg and then in London over many pots of tea. Valentin Yumashev, Yeltsin’s former chief of staff and son-in-law, also spent hours explaining his version of how it was Putin came to power, while in Moscow Yury Skuratov, the former prosecutor general at the centre of the investigation that partly led to Putin’s rise, shared the dramatic story of his probe and the Yeltsin Family’s counterattack. Mikhail Khodorkovsky met with me soon after his release from ten years in a Siberian prison camp and then continued to do so as he helped me make sense of his standoff with the Russian state.
Many other current and former Russian state officials – including former senior Kremlin officials, as well as Russian tycoons, former senior KGB operatives, and senior Moscow bankers – and the current and former associates of Gennady Timchenko – generously shared dozens of hours of their time explaining how the Putin system worked. Most of them did so anonymously because of the obvious sensitivities – and I am eternally grateful for the risks they took. My deep thanks too to N. and G.
It would of course also have been impossible to put this together without the faith shown in me by the Financial Times, for which I was Moscow correspondent for six years. My time with the FT enabled me to further deepen contacts with Russia’s oligarchs, as well as with current and former Kremlin and government officials, forming the foundations for my reporting in this book. It was then that I was first able to meet and interview many of those closest to Putin, including Igor Sechin, Arkady Rotenberg, Viktor Ivanov and Sergei Chemezov. For the great opportunity to write for the FT and take this ringside seat, I am grateful most of all to Lionel Barber, Neil Buckley and John Thornhill, who hired me and then continued to support me, as well as to my colleagues in Moscow and then in London – Charles Clover, Courtney Weaver, Cynthia O’Murchu and Michael Stott – who all guided and inspired me and brightened my day. In addition, I am deeply grateful to the FT for partly funding a reporting project that became part of this book after I departed on book leave, while I owe a great deal to the warm insights of Elena Kokorina and Ekaterina Shaverdova of the FT’s Moscow bureau who continued to help craft interview requests even after I went on book leave.
It would also have been impossible to understand any of these Russian influence and cash networks without the trailblazing and fearless work – and the assistance – of my Russian comrades at the country’s few remaining investigative outlets. Roman Anin of Novaya Gazeta generously shared documents on the operations of the St Petersburg sea port and provided a crucial contact. Anastasia Kirilenko at the Insider led the pack in reporting on the organised-crime networks connected to Putin, sharing documents and crucial contacts, while Roman Shleynov of Novaya Gazeta and then Vedomosti, shared documents on a probe into Putin’s activities as St Petersburg’s deputy mayor and produced some of the most important early work on the business dealings of Putin’s inner circle. The uniquely well-connected Irina Reznik, formerly of Vedomosti and currently of Bloomberg in Moscow, also generously shared invaluable contacts. Without the pioneering investigative articles of these four journalists long before me, it would have been impossible to even begin to put the pieces together. The late Vladimir Pribylovsky, who maintained a database of the connections of Putin’s men, was also a crucial source of information.
In addition, the late Jürgen Roth, the German investigative journalist, long ago provided valuable documents and a heap of inspiration. Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times through his former book research assistant Almut Schoenfeld in Berlin shared another crucial contact. I benefited, too, initially from conversations with colleagues in the US, including Andrew Weiss and Eugene Rumer at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Thomas Graham, the former senior director for Russia on the National Security Council. In the UK, Christian Michel was an early source of inspiration.
Felicity Bryan MBE believed in the book’s potential and agreed to become my agent, securing a deal with William Collins in the UK and Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the US. I am grateful for her efforts and for the great patience and belief in the project demonstrated by my editors – Arabella Pike, publishing director at William Collins, and Alex Star, executive editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Fainter-hearted editors would have long given up! I had the immense fortune to have Alex Star’s sharp observations and editing advice that helped improve this book many times over. Arabella’s drive and patient understanding of the sensitivities propelled the book from manuscript into reality, while I am also extremely grateful to her team at William Collins – Jo Thompson for her wise read and suggested cuts, to Robert Lacey for a careful smoothing of the copy, and to Iain Hunt for his patient work on the final text. A deep bow too to the legal team.
Along the way, I was extremely fortunate and honoured to receive encouragement and endless patient advice from David Hoffman, the contributing editor and former Moscow bureau chief of the Washington Post, who carefully read chapters and whose 2002 book The Oligarchs stands not only as inspiration but as a model for the art of narrative non-fiction and the foundation for all future reporting on Russia’s troubled transition to a market economy.
Even with all this superb professional assistance, I would never have made it to the end without the great friends who supported me all the way. Some, including Brad Cook, Miriam Elder, William Flemming, Gina Skilbeck and Emma Wells, not only offered friendship but also shared their homes when I needed a place to stay for reporting trips. Others, including Ellen Barry, Catherine Bell, Richard and Charles Emmerson, helped me maintain sanity through this marathon.
I’ll always be grateful to Chris for his moral support. My deepest thanks go to my parents, Marjorie and Derek, as well as to Richard and to Catherine Birkett. Without their indefatigable support, none of this would have been possible.