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Putin’s People

How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘An outstanding exposé of Putin and his criminal pals’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Her much-awaited book is the best and most important on modern Russia’ THE TIMES

A chilling and revelatory expose of the KGB’s renaissance, Putin’s rise to power, and how Russian black cash is subverting the world.

In Putin’s People, former Moscow correspondent and investigative journalist Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and his entourage of KGB men seized power in Russia and built a new league of oligarchs.

Through exclusive interviews with key inside players, Belton tells how Putin’s people conducted their relentless seizure of private companies, took over the economy, siphoned billions, blurred the lines between organised crime and political powers, shut down opponents, and then used their riches and power to extend influence in the West.

In a story that ranges from Moscow to London, Switzerland and Trump’s America, Putin’s People is a gripping and terrifying account of how hopes for the new Russia went astray, with stark consequences for its inhabitants and, increasingly, the world.

‘A fearless, fascinating account … Reads at times like a John le Carré novel … A groundbreaking and meticulously researched anatomy of the Putin regime, Belton’s book shines a light on the pernicious threats Russian money and influence now pose to the west’ Guardian

Eastern Europe Freedom & Security Politics & Activism Politics & Government Presidents & Heads of State Russian & Soviet World Espionage Russia Soviet Union War Scary Imperialism Socialism Money Capitalism

Critic reviews

‘This is the most remarkable account so far of Putin’s rise … Groundbreaking … several hair-raising revelations … Relentless and convincing. There are gobsmacking moments … This is a superb book’
OBSERVER

‘A fearless, fascinating account … Reads at times like a John le Carré novel… A groundbreaking and meticulously researched anatomy of the Putin regime, Belton’s book shines a light on the pernicious threats Russian money and influence now pose to the west’
GUARDIAN

‘Modern Russia in full, horrifying technicolour … this riveting, immaculately researched book is arguably the best single volume written about Putin, the people around him and perhaps even about contemporary Russia itself in the past three decades’
PETER FRANKOPAN, FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Books about modern Russia abound … Belton has surpassed them all. Her much-awaited book is the best and most important on modern Russia. It benefits from a meticulous compilation of open sources, but also from the accounts of disillusioned Kremlin insiders, former business cronies and some remarkably candid people still high up in the system. The result is hair-raising.
THE TIMES

‘An outstanding exposé of Putin and his criminal pals … [A] long-awaited, must read book’
SUNDAY TIMES

‘Arguably the biggest story of the 21st century so far. In forensically unravelling it, journalist Catherine Belton has done a great service, producing a book that western experts on modern Russia acknowledge as vital to our understanding of the Putin phenomenon’
DAILY MAIL, BOOK OF THE WEEK

‘A serious, absolutely timely warning. No book has documented the Russian president’s leadership so indefatigably and compellingly’
DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Meticulously researched and superbly written; terrifying in its scope and utterly convincing in its argument … The Putin book that we've been waiting for’
OLIVER BULLOUGH

‘An extraordinarily important book’
CHRIS PATTEN

All stars
Most relevant
A dense fact laden book charting the rise of Putin the KGB officer and the figures surrounding him in there infiltration of the Russian state by the judicious use of the FSB and mobsters to control and effectively own the state and the Oligarchs that shamefully raped the state of its assets and made Putin’s task possible.
Initially the aim was self enrichment which has been successful and has now morphed into the corruption and undermining of the Western Democracy’s
It is also an inditement of the greed of the West and it’s shameful turning of a blind eye to the obvious wrongdoing in respect to our laws and institutions.
There is also the most chilling account of the probable corruption of Donald Trump she Catherine Belton treads a very fine line for obvious legal reasons but the old adage there is rarely smoke without fire would seem to fit in this case.
There is a conspiracy under way and it’s definitely not a theory, Putin has clearly demonstrated that with amongst others actions in Georgia, Crimea, Ukraine, MH17, Alexander Litvinenko and the Salisbury attack on Skripal.
Putin is prepared more and more openly to advance his cancerous ideology wherever he wants, and we in the West cravenly allow this to happen.
Every politician should read this and feel ashamed and every citizen should should shout from the rooftops why have you allowed this to happen.

Chilling expose of Putin’s People and there control and abuse of Russia

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The book is extraordinary in the detail and the facts. The last chapter about Donald Trump should really give us nightmares.

A truly amazing account.

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There is currently a concerted effort by Russian oligarchs to have this book banned. Catherine Belton is an award-winning journalist for the Financial Times, and this book is as meticulous, well research and well-written as you would expect from a writer with that background.

Read this while you can

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No doubt a man that will bring Russia back to the Stalin era and has pulled a dark and deceitful veil over the western world - a excellent read

A must read to alert you of the dark mindset of a dangerous man

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In a genre and on a subject where much of the narrative is around western victory and a failed system this is one of the few books that outlines how active the Soviet Intelligence Community were in engineering the downfall of their own system, retreating into the background only to re-emerge when Western powers thought they could be complacent. Fantastic book.

Simply fantastic and eye-opening

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