‘Robert Service, our pre-eminent Kremlinologist, does not offer a lot of new gossip about Putin. He does not believe in demonising the Russian leader. Rather, in a piece of superb analysis, he sets out how Putin the man was swallowed up by the machine he created.’

The Times

‘Service is too good a historian to attempt to string Putin’s actions into a coherent strategy. Rather, he offers a portrait of a leader cobbling together a response to a series of crises.’

Owen Matthews, Times Literary Supplement

‘[A] nuanced account of Putin in power.’

Victor Sebestyen, Financial Times