The Kremlin's Noose by Amy Knight

 I have long had a fascination with Russia from reading Sholokhov novels in the late 1960s to several visits to Russia in the 1990s including sailing out of Vladivostok on a fishing boat into Peter The Great Bay and passing by the Russian fleet in complete openness.  How times have changed.

This book was a delight !  The author is an authority on Russian politics with a PhD in the subject from the LSE where she later taught and followed that by a couple of decades at the US Library of Congress as a specialist in Russian and Soviet affairs.  The writing is good and clear and marred by the only occasional 'gotten'.

The book traces Putin's career from his rather less than prestigious days as a KGB Colonel through to his apparently reluctant appointment as Russia's President under Yeltsin's direction up to the present time.  It is not just about Putin however.  It gives us insights into the complex manoeuvrings of Russian politics with a dizzying array of players who rise and fall with an intensity that makes British politics seem incredibly civilised in comparison.  The falls are in a different league from those that we see within western politics - exiles, killings and apparent suicides predominate and the advice not to drink the tea is less of a cliche than a stark reality.

It was interesting to be reminded that Yeltsin was a real advocate for democracy and that Russia was heading in a very good direction in those days when we felt that the world offered real optimism.  Even Putin's early days as President involved constructive meetings with western leaders.  How did it all go so wrong ?  The idea that Russians have a slave mentality was suggested as being a contributory factor and that brings to mind the frustration shown by the protagonist in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

I was puzzled by the reference to the US Congress adopting the Magnitski Act by a surpisingly reluctant Obama.  This act had been promoted by Bill Browder who writes persuasively of its value - so why the reluctance ?  Perhaps I have much to learn !

Despite the clearly negative tale that is told of the Russian decline into authoritarianism this was nevertheless a very uplifting read that showed the command and understanding that the author brought to the subject and the way that she conveyed it so eloquently.