The Age of Assassins

In the Times, Oleg Gordievsky reviews a new book by Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Pribylovsky. Entitled The Age of Assassins: the Rise and Rise of Vladimir Putin, it traces the Russian leader's career since 1975, but is also effectively a history of Russia over the past 17 years. From the review's conclusion:

The authors state that it should have become obvious by now that Russia's Government “would henceforth be run and be controlled by people who hated America and Western Europe, who had no experience in building anything, who acted in secrecy while belonging to an organisation of which - as with the Gestapo in Nazi Germany - not a single good word can be said in its defence”. It is difficult to disagree with this judgment.