Acknowledgments
In the writing of this book, I am profoundly indebted to many, many people and two great institutions.
This book simply would not exist without The New York Times , where I have had the privilege to work since 1989. I am grateful to the editors who dispatched me as a correspondent to Moscow in 2002, and again in 2013, and who granted me leave to write the book. They include executive editors Joe Lelyveld, Howell Raines, Bill Keller, Jill Abramson, and Dean Baquet, and foreign editors Roger Cohen, Susan Chira, and Joe Kahn. The bones of this book were formed by my reporting for the Times , but also by that of colleagues past and present in the Moscow Bureau: Steven Erlanger (who first interviewed Vladimir Putin for the newspaper in April 1992), Frank Clines, Serge Schmemann, Felicity Barranger, Celestine Bohlen, Michael Specter, Alessandra Stanley, Michael Gordon, Michael Wines, Sabrina Tavernise, Sonia Kishkovsky, Seth Mydans, Erin Arvedlund, Rachel Thorner, Chris Chivers, Andrew Kramer, Michael Schwirtz, Cliff Levy, Ellen Berry, Andrew Roth, David Herszenhorn, Patrick Reevell, and, finally, James Hill, whose photographs are among those included in the preceding pages. None of our work would have been possible without the bureau’s staff, particularly Natasha Bubenova, Oleg Shevchenko, Pavel Chervyakov, Alexandra Ordynova, and especially, the wonderful translators, fixers, traveling companions, and friends: Nikolay Khalip and Viktor Klimenko. I also thank Maria Goncharova for her assistance on a series of articles in 2014 on the economic pillars of Putin’s rule, written with my colleagues Jo Becker and Jim Yardley.
The other institution is the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., which provided me a place to studyand write within its Kennan Institute, where the atmosphere was serious, nonpartisan, and thoroughly convivial. I thank the center’s director, Jane Harman, as well as Blair Ruble, Robert Litwak, and Will Pomeranz; my research assistant there, Grace Kenneally; and the staff of the center’s library—Janet Spikes, Dagne Gizaw, and Michelle Kamalich—who guided me through not only the stacks of George Kennan’s collection, but also the Library of Congress, which extends the center’s scholars special access.
I relied on research by Almut Schoenfeld in Berlin and Dresden and Noah Sneider in Moscow. Bryon MacWilliams, my old friend, author, translator, and banya compatriot, also scoured obscure sources, while acting as an expert on the nuances of the Russian language and culture. Others read all or parts of the book and shared their insights, advice and encouragement, including Nina Khrushcheva, Geraldine Fagan, Frank Brown, Nathan Hodge, Max Trudolyubov, and Rory MacFarquhar. I also consulted many other experts on Russia, most of whom have published their own books on subjects covered here, including Anders Aslund, Harley Balzer, Karen Dawisha, Clifford Gaddy, Mark Galeotti, Thane Gustafson, Fiona Hill, Oleg Kalugin, David Kramer, Andrew Kuchins, Cliff Kupchan, Andrei Miroshnichenko, Robert Orttung, Peter Reddaway, Andrei Soldatov, and Dmitri Trenin.
There were several officials in Russia and the United States who provided information on condition that I not identify them; I appreciate their confidence. Another source over the years—and a character in this book—was Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated near the Kremlin in February 2015 just as I was finishing. He was a Russian patriot. May justice prevail.
I owe a singular debt to Larry Weissman, the literary agent who reached out more than a decade ago and planted the seed that grew into this book. I would also like to thank the people at Alfred A. Knopf who agreed to publish this book and who helped pull it together, especially a fine editor, Andrew Miller.
Many others have supported me in ways large and small. I hesitate to name them for fear of leaving someone out, but they include Boris Shekhtman,
In the writing of this book, I am profoundly indebted to many, many people and two great institutions.
This book simply would not exist without The New York Times , where I have had the privilege to work since 1989. I am grateful to the editors who dispatched me as a correspondent to Moscow in 2002, and again in 2013, and who granted me leave to write the book. They include executive editors Joe Lelyveld, Howell Raines, Bill Keller, Jill Abramson, and Dean Baquet, and foreign editors Roger Cohen, Susan Chira, and Joe Kahn. The bones of this book were formed by my reporting for the Times , but also by that of colleagues past and present in the Moscow Bureau: Steven Erlanger (who first interviewed Vladimir Putin for the newspaper in April 1992), Frank Clines, Serge Schmemann, Felicity Barranger, Celestine Bohlen, Michael Specter, Alessandra Stanley, Michael Gordon, Michael Wines, Sabrina Tavernise, Sonia Kishkovsky, Seth Mydans, Erin Arvedlund, Rachel Thorner, Chris Chivers, Andrew Kramer, Michael Schwirtz, Cliff Levy, Ellen Berry, Andrew Roth, David Herszenhorn, Patrick Reevell, and, finally, James Hill, whose photographs are among those included in the preceding pages. None of our work would have been possible without the bureau’s staff, particularly Natasha Bubenova, Oleg Shevchenko, Pavel Chervyakov, Alexandra Ordynova, and especially, the wonderful translators, fixers, traveling companions, and friends: Nikolay Khalip and Viktor Klimenko. I also thank Maria Goncharova for her assistance on a series of articles in 2014 on the economic pillars of Putin’s rule, written with my colleagues Jo Becker and Jim Yardley.
The other institution is the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., which provided me a place to studyand write within its Kennan Institute, where the atmosphere was serious, nonpartisan, and thoroughly convivial. I thank the center’s director, Jane Harman, as well as Blair Ruble, Robert Litwak, and Will Pomeranz; my research assistant there, Grace Kenneally; and the staff of the center’s library—Janet Spikes, Dagne Gizaw, and Michelle Kamalich—who guided me through not only the stacks of George Kennan’s collection, but also the Library of Congress, which extends the center’s scholars special access.
I relied on research by Almut Schoenfeld in Berlin and Dresden and Noah Sneider in Moscow. Bryon MacWilliams, my old friend, author, translator, and banya compatriot, also scoured obscure sources, while acting as an expert on the nuances of the Russian language and culture. Others read all or parts of the book and shared their insights, advice and encouragement, including Nina Khrushcheva, Geraldine Fagan, Frank Brown, Nathan Hodge, Max Trudolyubov, and Rory MacFarquhar. I also consulted many other experts on Russia, most of whom have published their own books on subjects covered here, including Anders Aslund, Harley Balzer, Karen Dawisha, Clifford Gaddy, Mark Galeotti, Thane Gustafson, Fiona Hill, Oleg Kalugin, David Kramer, Andrew Kuchins, Cliff Kupchan, Andrei Miroshnichenko, Robert Orttung, Peter Reddaway, Andrei Soldatov, and Dmitri Trenin.
There were several officials in Russia and the United States who provided information on condition that I not identify them; I appreciate their confidence. Another source over the years—and a character in this book—was Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated near the Kremlin in February 2015 just as I was finishing. He was a Russian patriot. May justice prevail.
I owe a singular debt to Larry Weissman, the literary agent who reached out more than a decade ago and planted the seed that grew into this book. I would also like to thank the people at Alfred A. Knopf who agreed to publish this book and who helped pull it together, especially a fine editor, Andrew Miller.
Many others have supported me in ways large and small. I hesitate to name them for fear of leaving someone out, but they include Boris Shekhtman,
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