The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin

PROLOGUE

Page 3 a draft law on lustratsiya: The full text of the law is available at http://www.shpik.info/statya1.html. Accessed July 14, 2010.

Page 3 she learned that the KGB: Marina Katys, “Polozhitelny itog: Interview s deputatom Gosudarstvennoy Dumy, sopredsedatelem federalnoy partii Demokraticheskaya Rossiya Galinoy Starovoitovoy,” Professional, July 1, 1998. http://www.starovoitova.ru/rus/main.php?i=5&s=29. Accessed July 14, 2010.

Page 3 1991 post–failed-coup decree: Constitutional Court decision citing the decree and overturning its most important provisions. http://www.panorama.ru/ks/d9209.shtml. Accessed July 14, 2010.

Page 4 a decree forbidding protests: In fact, the ban on protests was a one-two punch: the cabinet issued a ban, and Gorbachev followed with a decree creating a special police body to enforce the ban. Both were deemed unconstitutional by the Russian government, whose authority Gorbachev, in turn, did not recognize. http://iv.garant.ru/SESSION/PILOT/main.htm. Accessed July 15, 2010.

Page 6 she immersed herself in an investigation: Andrei Tsyganov, “Seleznev dobilsya izvineniya za statyu Starovoitovoi,” Kommersant, May 14, 1999. http://www.kommersant.ru/doc-rss.aspx?DocsID=218273. Accessed July 15, 2010.

ONE. THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT

Page 14 experienced overall improvement: Andrei Shleifer and Daniel Treisman, “A Normal Country: Russia After Communism,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 19, no. 1 (Winter 2005), pp. 151–74. http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/shleifer/files/normal_jep.pdf. Accessed April 30, 2011.

Page 15 importing used European cars: David Hoffman, The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia (New York: PublicAffairs, 2002).

Page 15 “He was the first bureaucrat”: Author interview with Boris Berezovsky, June 2008.

Page 17 swindled Russia’s largest carmaker: Hoffman.

Page 17 acquired part of a large oil company: Whether Berezovsky was an actual owner of 25 percent of Sibneft and 49 percent of ORT, the Channel One company, is in fact unclear: as this book goes to press, a London court is trying to determine just this. What is uncontested is that he was the sole manager of the television company and drew significant income from the oil company.

Page 18 “someone who is capable of doing it”: Natalia Gevorkyan, Natalya Timakova, and Andrei Kolesnikov, Ot pervogo litsa: Razgovory s Vladimirom Putinym. http://archive.kremlin.ru/articles/bookchapter1.shtml. Accessed Feb. 7, 2011.

Page 20 “Chubais believed”: Tatyana Yumasheva (Dyachenko)’s blog, entry dated Feb. 6, 2010. http://t-yumasheva.livejournal.com/13320.html#cutid1. Accessed April 23, 2011.

TWO. THE ELECTION WAR

Page 24 one hundred people died: Number of victims cited according to the Moscow City Court’s sentence in the case of A. O. Dekushev and Y. I. Krymshahalov. http://terror1999.narod.ru/sud/delokd/prigovor.html. Accessed May 5, 2011.

Page 26 the decree was also illegal: Speech by Duma member Sergei Yushenkov, Kennan Institute, Washington, D.C., April 24, 2002. http://terror99.ru/commission/kennan.htm. Accessed May 5, 2011.

Page 26 “We will hunt them down”: Putin’s Sept. 24, 1999, TV appearance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_PdYRZSW-I. Accessed May 5, 2011.

Page 27 resemblance to Mussolini: Unpublished memo leaked to me by Berezovsky’s team in November 1999.

Page 27 “Everyone was so tired of Yeltsin”: Author interview with Marina Litvinovich, July 1, 2008.

Page 30 “My friends… My dears”: Boris Yeltsin’s address, Dec. 31, 1999. Text: http://stra.teg.ru/library/national/16/0. Accessed May 6, 2011. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvSpiFvPUP4&feature=related. Accessed May 6, 2011.

Page 31 “Russia’s new century”: Vladimir Putin’s address, Dec. 31, 1999. Text: http://stra.teg.ru/library/national/16/2/print. Accessed May 6, 2011. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4LLxY4RPwk. Accessed May 6, 2011.

Page 32 “Berezovsky would keep calling me”: Author interview with Natalya Gevorkyan, June 2008.

Page 33 “He was working directly for the enemy”: Pavel Gutiontov, “Zauryadnoye delo.” http://www.ruj.ru/authors/gut/100303_4.htm. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 34 “This is February 6, 2000”: Transcript of a Feb. 9, 2000, NTV newscast. http://www.library.cjes.ru/online/?a=con&b_id=426&c_id=4539. Accessed May 7, 2011.

Page 35 attempt to break free: Andrei Babitsky, Na voine, transcripts of Russian-language recordings of a book manuscript prepared for a French publisher. http://somnenie.narod.ru/ab/ab6.html. Accessed May 7, 2011.

Page 35 face charges of forgery: Transcript of Andrei Babitsky’s press conference on March 1, 2000. http://archive.svoboda.org/archive/hr/2000/ll.030100-3.asp. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 35 probably been no exchange: Oleg Panfilov, Istoriya Andreia Babitskogo, chapter 3. http://www.library.cjes.ru/online/?a=con&b_id=426&c_id=4539. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 35 “the information he transmitted”: Panfilov, Istoriya Andreia Babitskogo.

Page 35 funded by an act of Congress: Broadcasting Board of Governors FAQ. http://www.bbg.gov/about/faq/#q6. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 35 issued a statement condemning: Congressional Research Service report, “Chechnya Conflict: Recent Developments,” updated May 3, 2000. http://www.fas.org/man/crs/RL30389.pdf. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 36 “The Babitsky story”: Author interview with Natalya Gevorkyan, June 2008.

Page 37 returned to the car and left: For the chronology of events in Ryazan, I have relied primarily on Alexander Litvinenko and Yuri Felshtinsky, FSB vzryvayet Rossiyu, 2nd ed. (New York: Liberty Publishing, 2004), pp. 65–108, which combines many press reports with original reporting, and on Ryazanski sahar: Nezavisimoye rassledovaniye s Nikolayem Nikolayevym, the NTV television program that aired on March 24, 2000. http://video.yandex.ru/users/provorot1/view/54/. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 38 in at least one of the Moscow explosions: “13 sentyabrya v Rossii—den’ traura po pogibshim ot vzryvov,” an unsigned news story on Gazeta.ru, Sept. 10, 1999. http://gazeta.lenta.ru/daynews/10-09-1999/10mourn.htm. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 38 “The more alert we are”: ITAR-TASS, as cited by Litvinenko and Felshtinsky, FSB vzryvayet Rossiyu.

Page 39 “First, there was no explosion”: Ryazanski sahar.

THREE. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A THUG

Page 43 the Siege of Leningrad: Michael Jones, Leningrad: State of Siege (New York: Basic Books, 2008).

Page 44 “Imagine a soldier”: Ales’ Adamovich and Daniil Granin, Blokadnaya kniga. http://lib.rus.ec/b/212340/read. Accessed Feb. 7, 2011.

Page 44 Burzhuikas: Harrison Salisbury, The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad (New York: Da Capo Press, 2003), pp. vii–viii.

Page 44 a wood-burning stove in every room: Oleg Blotsky, Vladimir Putin: Istoriya zhizni (Moscow: Mezhdunarodniye Otnosheniya), p. 24.

Page 44 His parents… had survived the siege: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 45 twice as many women: Yuri Polyakov, Valentina Zhitomirskaya, and Natalya Aralovets, “‘Demograficheskoye ekho’ voyny,” published in the online journal Skepsis. http://scepsis.ru/library/id_1260.html. Accessed Feb. 7, 2011.

Page 45 given him up for adoption: Irina Bobrova, “Kto pridumal Putinu gruzinskiye korni?” Moskovski komsomolets, June 13, 2006. http://www.compromat.ru/page_18786.htm. Accessed Feb. 7, 2011.

Page 45 inclined to believe the story: Author interview with Natalia Gevorkyan, June 2008.

Page 46 the Putins’ apartment: Childhood friend Viktor Borisenko, quoted in Blotsky, Vladimir Putin: Istoriya zhizni, pp. 72, 89.

Page 47 a striking assertion: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 47 the Putins emerge as practically rich: Yevgeniy Putin, quoted in Blotsky, p. 46.

Page 48 “Some courtyard this was”: Viktor Borisenko, quoted in Blotsky, pp. 68–69.

Page 48 “If anyone ever insulted him”: Viktor Borisenko, quoted in Blotsky, p. 68.

Page 49 “The labor [shop] teacher”: Viktor Borisenko, quoted in Blotsky, p. 67.

Page 49 “Why did you not get inducted”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 50 as a sixth-grader: Teacher Vera Gurevich, quoted ibid.

Page 50 “We were playing”: Grigory Geilikman, quoted in Blotsky, p. 160.

Page 50 “We were in eighth grade”: Nikolai Alekhov, quoted in Blotsky, p. 161.

Page 50 “He once invited me”: Sergei Roldugin, quoted in Gevorkyan et al.

Page 51 “Someone picked on him”: Ibid.

Page 52 hand-to-hand combat: Blotsky, p. 259.

Page 52 theme song from the miniseries: “S vyslannymi iz SshA razvedchikami vstretilsya Vladimir Putin,” July 25, 2010. http://lenta.ru/news/2010/07/25/spies/. Accessed Feb. 25, 2011.

Page 52 “When I was in ninth grade”: Blotsky, p. 199.

Page 53 subversive troops: Y. Popov, “Diversanty Stalina.” http://militera.lib.ru/h/popov_au2/01.html. Accessed Feb. 25, 2011.

Page 53 one of only four survivors: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 53 “some intelligence officer for sure”: Ibid.

Page 54 “A man came out”: Blotsky, pp. 199–200.

Page 54 “He surprised everyone”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 55 Putin graduated from secondary school: Blotsky, p. 155.

Page 55 number of cars: http://www.ref.by/refs/1/31164/1.html. Mikhail Blinkin, “Avtomobil’ v gorode: Osobennosti natsionalnogo puti,” http://www.intelros.ru/pdf/arc/02_2010/42-45%20Blinkin.pdf. Accessed Oct. 27, 2011.

Page 55 gave the car to their son: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 56 Putin made a thousand rubles: Ibid.

Page 56 an overcoat for himself: Gevorkyan et al.; Blotsky, pp. 226–27.

Page 56 “All through my university years”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 57 “not particularly outgoing”: Blotsky, p. 287.

Page 57 “He says, ‘Let’s go’”: Ibid., pp. 287–88.

Page 57 “Once I tried”: Sergei Roldugin, quoted in Gevorkyan et al.

Page 58 “That’s how it happened”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 58 a tiny minority: Sergei Zakharov, “Brachnost’ v Rossii: Istoriya i sovremennost’,” Demoskop Weekly, Oct. 16–29, 2006, pp. 261–62. http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2006/0261/tema02.php. Accessed Feb. 27, 2011.

Page 58 “One evening”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 59 such was his cover: Ibid.

Page 59 “I was most amazed”: Ibid.

Page 60 “Only the Central Committee”: Vadim Bakatin, Izbavleniye ot KGB (Moscow: Novosti, 1992), pp. 45–46.

Page 61 Article 190: Bakatin, pp. 32–33.

Page 61 constant surveillance and harassment: Filipp Bobkov, KGB i vlast (Moscow: Veteran MP, 1995).

Page 61 thoroughly familiar with the way it was organized: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 61 A perfectly laudatory memoir: Vladimir Usol’tsev, Sosluzhivets (Moscow: Eksmo, 2004), p. 186.

Page 61 “It was an entirely unremarkable school”: Ibid.

Page 61 Counterintelligence officers in Moscow: Bobkov.

Page 61 assigned to the intelligence unit: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 62 did his job well: Ibid.

Page 63 a little Stasi world: Ludmila Putina, quoted ibid.

Page 63 Putin drank beer: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 64 Putin was assigned: Author interview with Sergei Bezrukov (former KGB agent in Berlin), Düsseldorf, August 17, 2011.

Page 64 Putin and his two colleagues: Usol’tsev, pp. 70–74; author interview with Sergei Bezrukov, Düsseldorf, August 17, 2011.

Page 64 small monthly hard-currency payments: Usol’tsev, p. 36.

Page 65 they made a lot more money: Ibid., p. 30.

Page 65 so unreachable for someone like Putin: Author interview with Sergei Bezrukov, Düsseldorf, August 17, 2011.

Page 65 a former RAF member: Author interview with the man, Bavaria, August 18, 2011; he asked that his name not be printed.

Page 65 every other officer… had his own office: Usol’tsev, p. 62.

Page 66 Former agents estimate: Usol’tsev, p. 105; author interview with Sergei Bezrukov, Düsseldorf, August 17, 2011.

Page 66 Putin’s biggest success: Author interview with Sergei Bezrukov, Düsseldorf, August 17, 2011.

Page 66 The KGB leadership: Bobkov.

Page 66 a public statement condemning secret-police crimes: O. N. Ansberg and A. D. Margolis, eds., Obshchestvennaya zhizn’ Leningrada v gody perestroiki, 1985–1991: Sbornik materialov (St. Petersburg: Serebryany Vek, 2009), p. 192.

Page 68 demonstrations in East Germany continued: Elizabeth A. Ten Dyke, Dresden and the Paradoxes of Memory in History (New York: Routledge, 2001).

Page 69 shoving papers into a wood-burning stove: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 70 “I was scared to go into stores”: Ludmila Putina, quoted ibid.

Page 70 “They cannot do this”: Sergei Roldugin, quoted in Gevorkyan et al.

FOUR. ONCE A SPY

Page 74 “The people of our generation”: Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 502.

Page 75 “stop misinforming people”: Sergei Vasilyev, memoirs published in the Obvodny Times, vol. 4, no. 22 (April 2007), p. 8, quoted in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 447.

Page 75 “It seems, after the dust”: Alexander Vinnikov, Tsena svobody, quoted in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 449.

Page 76 “We all found one another”: Yelena Zelinskaya, “Vremya ne zhdet,” Merkuriy, vol. 3 (1987), quoted in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 41–42.

Page 76 a living page: Vasilyev, quoted in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 447.

Page 76 a group of young Leningrad economists: Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 47, 76.

Page 77 Leningrad saw its first political rally: Ibid., pp. 51, 52, 54, 74.

Page 77 “The rules were, anyone could speak for five minutes”: Ibid., p. 632.

Page 78 start eating their lemons: Ibid., p. 633.

Page 79 a rally in memory of victims of political repression: Ibid., p. 112.

Page 79 the People’s Front: The first meeting of the People’s Front, held in Leningrad in August 1988, was attended by representatives of twenty organizations from different Russian cities and twelve more from other Soviet republics. http://www.agitclub.ru/front/frontdoc/zanarfront1.htm. Accessed Jan. 13, 2011.

Page 79 “An organization that aims”: Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 119.

Page 80 “They would gather”: Andrei Boltyansky, interview, 2008, ibid., p. 434.

Page 81 “With a cigarette dangling from her lips”: Petr Shelish, interview, 2008, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 884 of the online version.

Page 81 conflict erupted between Azerbaijan and Armenia: Thomas de Waal, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War (New York: New York University Press, 2004).

Page 82 solidarity with the Armenian people: Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 115.

Page 82 Armenian children from Sumgait: Alexander Vinnikov, memoir, ibid., p. 450.

Page 82 Karabakh Committee: Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 126.

Page 82 Article 70: Article 70, Penal Code of the RSFSR. http://www.memo.ru/history/diss/links/st70.htm. Accessed Jan. 17, 2011.

Page 82 the last Article 70 case: Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 127.

Page 83 What the censors did not realize: Natalya Serova, interview, ibid., p. 621.

Page 83 a new election law: http://pravo.levonevsky.org/baza/soviet/sssr1440.htm. Accessed Jan. 17, 2011.

Page 83 A committee called Election-89: A flyer put out by the committee Election-89; reproduced in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 139–40.

Page 84 “I have a dream”: Anatoly Sobchak, Zhila-Byla Kommunisticheskaya partiya, pp. 45–48, cited in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 623.

Page 85 “Get that away from me”: Yury Afanasiev, interviewed by Yevgeni Kiselev on Echo Moskvy, 2008. http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/all/548798-echo/. Accessed Jan. 18, 2011.

Page 86 Tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands: Alexander Nikishin, “Pokhorony akademika A. D. Sakharova,” Znamya, no. 5 (1990), pp. 178–88.

Page 86 Thousands of people fell into formation: “A. D. Sakharov,” Voskreseniye, vol. 33, no. 65. http://piter.anarhist.org/fevral12.htm. Accessed Jan. 18, 2011.

Page 87 his last time up on the podium: Alexander Vinnikov, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 453.

Page 87 “The following day”: Marina Salye, interview, 2008, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 615–16.

Page 88 she needed immunity from prosecution: Ibid.

Page 89 “That is not your seat”: Igor Kucherenko, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 556.

Page 90 the first meeting of the first democratically elected: Alexander Vinnikov, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, online version only, pp. 568–69.

Page 90 “It was fantastical”: Viktor Voronkov, interview, 2008, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 463.

Page 90 “an acute sense of democracy”: Nikolai Girenko, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 473.

Page 90 “The Mariinsky took on the look”: Viktor Veniaminov, memoir, Avtobiografiya Peterburgskogo gorsoveta, p. 620, cited in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 449.

Page 90 “People had so longed to be heard”: Bella Kurkova, memoir, in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 552.

Page 91 “I wish someone”: Author interview with Marina Salye, March 14, 2010.

Page 91 “could derail a working meeting”: Vladimir Gelman, interview, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 471.

Page 92 he opposed changing the name: Dmitry Gubin, “Interview predsedatelya Lenosveta A. A. Sobchaka,” Ogonyok, no. 28 (1990), cited in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 269.

Page 92 honored their agreement: Alexander Vinnikov, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 453–54.

Page 92 “We realized our mistake”: Author interview with Marina Salye, March 14, 2010; Vinnikov, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 453–54.

Page 93 “There were officers”: Bakatin, p. 138.

Page 94 “The KGB, as it existed”: Ibid., pp. 36–37.

Page 95 he planned to start writing a dissertation: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 95 “I remember the scene well”: Ibid.

Page 96 “Putin was most certainly”: Anatoly Sobchak, interview, Literaturnaya Gazeta, February 2000, pp. 23–29, cited in Anatoly Sobchak: Kakim on byl (Moscow: Gamma-Press, 2007), p. 20.

Page 97 A former colleague: Author interview with Sergei Bezrukov, Düsseldorf, August 17, 2011.

Page 98 “I told them, ‘I have received’”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 98 the Committee for Constitutional Oversight: Komitet Konstitutsionnogo Nadzora SSSR, 1989–91. http://www.panorama.ru/ks/iz8991.shtml. Accessed March 8, 2011.

Page 98 the KGB ignored it: Bakatin, 135.

Page 98 conducted round-the-clock surveillance: Ibid.

Page 98 he claimed not to report to the KGB: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 99 “It was a very difficult decision”: Ibid.

FIVE. A COUP AND A CRUSADE

Page 102 pogroms broke out in the streets: “Playing the Communal Card: Communal Violence and Human Rights,” Human Rights Watch report. http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1995/communal/. Accessed Jan. 26, 2011.

Page 102 ration cards: Leningradskaya pravda, Nov. 28, 1990, cited in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 299.

Page 103 The city came perilously close: Vladimir Monakhov, interview, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 574.

Page 103 Former dissident and political prisoner Yuli Rybakov: Yuli Rybakov, interview, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 610.

Page 104 sugar disappeared: Vladimir Belyakov, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 425–26.

Page 105 “And we get there”: Author interview with Marina Salye, March 14, 2010.

Page 106 Some people even claimed to know the date: Alexander Konanykhin. http://www.snob.ru/go-to-comment/305858. Accessed March 10, 2011.

Page 108 promises to the people: “Obrashcheniye k sovetskomu narodu,” in Y. Kazarin and B. Yakovlev, Smert’ zagovora: Belaya kniga (Moscow: Novosti, 1992), pp. 12–16.

Page 108 “taking into account the needs”: Kazarin and Yakovlev, Smert’ zagovora, p. 7.

Page 109 Igor Artemyev: Igor Artemyev, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 407–8.

Page 109 no state of emergency: Alexander Vinnikov, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 454–55.

Page 109 a “military coup”: Igor Artemyev, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 408.

Page 110 “We told him that we are planning to go”: Author interview with Marina Salye, March 14, 2010.

Page 110 the arrest did not take place: Bakatin, p. 21.

Page 110 Sobchak called Leningrad: A. Golovkin and A. Chernov, interview with Anatoly Sobchak, Moskovskiye novosti, Aug. 26, 1991, quoted in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 627.

Page 111 “Why did I do so?” Sobchak, memoir, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 627.

Page 111 Moscow’s city council: Kazarin and Yakovlev, p. 131.

Page 111 ordered city services: G. Popov, “Zayavleniye mera goroda Moskvy,” in Kazarin and Yakovlev, pp. 68–69.

Page 111 Moscow’s deputy mayor, Yuri Luzhkov: Center Labyrinth, Luzhkov biography. http://www.anticompromat.org/luzhkov/luzhkbio.html. Accessed March 13, 2011.

Page 112 the Mariinsky Palace: Yuli Rybakov, interview, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 612.

Page 112 “We call on the people of Russia”: B. Yeltsin, I. Silayev, and R. Khasbulatov, “K grazhdanam Rossii,” in Kazarin and Yakovlev, p. 42.

Page 112 He was terrified: Vyacheslav Shcherbakov, interview, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 681.

Page 112 “What the hell did he do?” Ibid.; author interview with Marina Salye, March 14, 2010; text of decree as dictated by Rutskoy and as read by Sobchak, provided by Salye.

Page 114 “the flag was on a corner”: Elena Zelinskaya, interview, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 505.

Page 115 the coup was not what it had seemed: Author interview with Marina Salye, March 14, 2010.

Page 116 “I had pushed five chairs”: Shcherbakov, in Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, p. 683.

Page 117 “But I was not a KGB officer”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 117 ”Kryuchkov simply would not”: Author interview with Arseniy Roginsky, Moscow, June 20, 2008.

Page 118 The meat was delivered: Letter from Marina Salye to Chief Comptroller of the Russian Federation Yuri Boldyrev, dated March 25, 1992, unpublished.

Page 119 Boldyrev had written a letter: Letter from Yuri Boldyrev to Petr Aven, dated March 13, 1992, document #105-177/n.

Page 119 a man with an empty office: Author interview with Irene Commeaut, Paris, June 2010.

Page 119 eager, curious, and intellectually engaged: Ilya Kolmanovsky interview with Alexander Margolis, St. Petersburg, June 2008.

Page 119 “The Putins had a dog”: Marina Yentaltseva, quoted in Gevorkyan et al.

Page 120 “I believed at the time”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 122 a simple kickback scheme: Otchet rabochey deputatskoy gruppy Komiteta po mezhdunarodnym i vneshnim svyazyam, postoyannykh komissiy po prodovolstviyu, torgovle i sfere bytovykh uslug Sankt-Peterburgskogo gorodskogo Soveta narodnykh deputatov po voprosu kvotirovaniya i litsenzirovaniya eksporta i importa tovarov na territorii Sankt-Peterburga, with a resolution of May 8, 1992, #88; Marina Salye, “Putin—prezident korrumpirovannoy oligarkhii!” obtained from the Glasnost Foundation in Moscow, March 18, 2000.

Page 122 “I think the city”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 122 “The point of the whole operation”: Salye, “Putin—prezident.”

Page 123 a three-page letter: “Analiz normativnykh dokumentov, izdavayemykh merom i vitse-merom S. Peterburga,” dated Jan. 15, 1992, bears the notation: “Given to B. Yeltsin on 15 January 1992.”

Page 124 Sobchak was handing out apartments: See, for example, “Rasporyazheniye mera Sankt-Peterburga o predostavlenii zhiloy ploshchadi Kurkovoy B. A.,” 08.12.1992, #1107-R; and “Rasporyazheniye mera Sankt-Peterburga o predostavlenii zhiloy ploshchadi Stepashinu S. V.,” 16.12.1992, #1147-R.

Page 125 “And here are the papers”: Author interview with Marina Salye, March 14, 2010.

Page 125 “This was different”: Ibid.

Page 126 the Supreme Soviet had a presidium: http://1993.sovnarkom.ru/TEXT/SPRAVCHN/VSOVET/vsovet1.htm. Accessed April 2, 2011.

Page 127 a decree dissolving the St. Petersburg city council: Besik Pipia, “Lensovetu stuknulo 10 let,” Nezavisimaya gazeta, April 5, 2000. http://www.ng.ru/politics/2000-04-05/3_lensovet.html. Accessed April 2, 2011.

Page 127 in favor of supporting Putin: Author interview with Marina Salye, March 14, 2010.

Page 129 “a bureaucratic police regime”: “Pokhmelkin, Yushenkov, Gologlev i Rybakov vyshli iz SPS,” unsigned news story, newsru.com. http://www.newsru.com/russia/14jan2002/sps.html. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 129 Yushenkov was shot: “V Moskve ubit deputat Gosdumy Sergei Yushenkov,” unsigned news story, newsru.com. http://www.newsru.com/russia/17apr2003/killed.html. Accessed May 8, 2011.

Page 129 “Sometimes, when we journalists”: Masha Gessen, “Pamyati Sergeya Yushenkova,” polit.ru, April 18,2003. http://www.polit.ru//world/2003/04/18/615774.html. Accessed May 8, 2011.

SIX. THE END OF A REFORMER

Page 132 “could be removed by those very same”: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 133 a European Union event in Hamburg: Vladimir Churov, quoted ibid.

Page 134 The city’s economy was in shambles: Anatoly Sobchak, Dyuzhina nozhey v spinu (Moscow: Vagrius/Petro-News, 1999), p. 72.

Page 135 relative levels of standard of living: Original reporting for Masha Gessen, “Printsip Pitera,” Itogi, Sept. 5, 2000.

Page 135 “There was a concert”: Alexander Bogdanov, interview, Obshchestvennaya zhizn’, pp. 431–32.

Page 136 “Not once during this time”: Radio Liberty interview with Yuri Boldyrev, March 9, 2010. http://www.svobodanews.ru/articleprintview/1978453.html. Accessed Dec. 1, 2011.

Page 137 “There was a show”: Ilya Kolmanovsky interview with Anna Sharogradskaya, June 1, 2008.

Page 138 a brutal attempt on his life: Sobchak, Dyuzhina, pp. 73–78.

Page 138 giving out loans and grants: Boris Vishnevsky, “Kto i zachem kanoniziruyet Sobchaka?” Radio Svoboda, Feb. 25, 2010. http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/article/1968322.html. Accessed Oct. 27, 2011.

Page 139 Almost all the building’s residents: “Lyudi oni horoshiye, no kvartirny vopros ih isportil…” Na strazhe Rodiny, August 14, 1996; Brian Whitmore, “Is a Probe of City Graft a Tool of City Hall?” St. Petersburg Times, April 9, 1998.

Page 140 arranged a good post for him: Gevorkyan et al.

Page 141 all but running to the plane: Ibid.; Boris Vishnevsky, K demokratii i obratno. http://www.yabloko.ru/Publ/Book/Freedom/freedom_054.html. Accessed April 10, 2011.

Page 141 taken verbatim from an American textbook: Julie Corwin, “Russia: U.S. Academics Charge Putin with Plagiarizing Thesis,” RFERL website, March 27, 2006. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1067113.html. Accessed April 10, 2011.

Page 142 the former mayor was aiming: Peter Reddaway, “Some Notes on the Possible Murder of Sobchak, the Political Career and Persecution of Marina Sal’ye, and Some Related Cases,” unpublished paper.

Page 142 “the new Stalin”: Reddaway.

Page 143 The request was urgent: Author interview with Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya, March 2000.

Page 144 he advanced the theory: Arkady Vaksberg, Le Laboratoire des Poisons: De Lénine à Poutine (Paris: Buchet Chastel, 2007).

Page 144 Vaksberg’s car was blown up: Reddaway.

SEVEN. THE DAY THE MEDIA DIED

Page 150 its voter rolls swelled: OSCE Mission report on the March 26, 2000, election, Russian translation. http://hro-uz.narod.ru/vibori.html. Accessed May 17, 2011.

Page 151 over 52 percent of the vote: 2000 election statistics. http://www.electoralgeography.com/ru/countries/r/russia/2000-president-elections-russia.html. Accessed March 17, 2011.

Page 151 Kremlin’s historic Great Palace: Andrei Kolesnikov, Ya Putina videl! (Moscow: Eksmo, 2005), p. 13.

Page 151 suffered a trauma at birth: Movement specialist Brenda Connors quoted in Paul Starobin, “The Accidental Autocrat,” Atlantic, March 2005. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/03/the-accidental-autocrat/3725/. Accessed May 9, 2011.

Page 151 Watch for the Left-handed: Shamil Idiatullin and Olga Tatarchenko, “Pora perevodit’ chasy na pravuyu ruku,” Kommersant, May 18, 2000. http://www.kommersant.ru/Doc/148145. Accessed May 19, 2011.

Page 152 white-gold Patek Philippe: “Kakiye chasy nosyat prezidenty i oligarkhi,” unsigned story on newsru.com, posted Feb. 17, 2005. http://www.newsru.com/russia/17feb2005/watch.html. Accessed May 19, 2011.

Page 152 “an old man of short stature”: Kolesnikov, p. 16.

Page 152 “I would like to report”: Vitaly Yaroshevsky, “Operatsiya ‘Vnedreniye’zavershena,” interview with Olga Kryshtanovskaya, Novaya Gazeta, Aug. 30, 2004. http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2004/63/43.html. Accessed May 19, 2011.

Page 153 ”He called me in”: Author interview with Mikhail Kasyanov, Moscow, May 18, 2011.

Page 154 defense spending would be increased: Masha Gessen, “Lockstep to Putin’s New Military Order,” New York Times, Feb. 29, 2000, p. 21.

Page 155 claimed no knowledge: Sergei Parkhomenko, “Besedy na yasnom glazu,” Itogi, May 11, 2000. http://www.itogi.ru/archive/2000/20/111020.html. Accessed May 21, 2011.

Page 158 One thing was clear: Original reporting for Masha Gessen, “Leningradskoye delo,” Itogi, July 18, 2000. http://www.itogi.ru/archive/2000/29/112897.html. Accessed May 23, 2011.

Page 159 “There are no charges”: Author interview with Nina Lepchenko, July 3, 2000.

Page 160 stopped being a threat: Masha Gessen, “Leningradskoye delo,” Itogi, July 18, 2000.

Page 161 release him pending trial: “Glava ‘Russkogo video’ Dmitry Rozhdestvensky umer ot serdechnogo pristupa,” unsigned news story on lenta.ru. http://lenta.ru/russia/2002/06/06/rusvideo/. Accessed May 23, 2011.

Page 163 debts would be forgiven: Mikhail Kasyanov, Bez Putina (Moscow: Novaya Gazeta, 2009), pp. 70–73.

Page 163 but also by the press minister: Dmitry Pinsker, “Ulika nomer 6,” Itogi, Sept. 26, 2000. http://www.itogi.ru/archive/2000/39/114667.html. Accessed May 25, 2011.

Page 163 Gusinsky said publicly: “Gusinsky ne budet ispolnyat’ soglasheniya s Gazpromom, potomu shto oni podpisany pod ugrozoy lisheniya svobody. Ugrozhal yemu lichno Lesin,” unsigned news story on www.polit.ru. http://old.polit.ru/documents/320557.html. Accessed May 25, 2011.

Page 164 Putin refused to interfere: “Putin schitayet, shto konflikt mezhdu Gazpromom i Media-Mostom—spor khozyaystvuyushchikh subyektov, reshat, kotoryi dolzhen sud,” unsigned news item on www.polit.ru.www.polit.ru.http://old.polit.ru/documents/329155.html. Accessed May 25, 2011.

Page 164 reprimanding his press minister: “Kasyanov snova publichno otchital Lesina. Na tom delo i konchilos’,” unsigned news item on www.polit.ru.http://old.polit.ru/documents/334896.html. Accessed May 25, 2011.

Page 166 “Death is on board with us”: Boris Kuznetsov, “Ona utonula…”: Pravda o “Kurske,” kotoruyu skryl genprokuror Ustinov (Moscow: De-Fakto, 2005).

Page 167 confirm there were no survivors: “Gibel atomnoy podvodnoy lodki ‘Kursk.’ Khronologiya,” unsigned item on RIA Novosti. http://ria.ru/society/20050812/41140663.html. Accessed June 1, 2011.

Page 168 “I was screaming”: Author interview with Marina Litvinovich, July 1, 2008.

Page 169 “‘Do you believe that the guys’”: Kolesnikov, p. 35.

Page 170 “‘Cancel the mourning immediately!’”: Ibid., pp. 38–39.

Page 171 “You saw it on television?”: Programma Sergeya Dorenko ob APL Kursk, aired Sept. 2, 2000. http://sergeydorenko.spb.ru/news-1-24.htm. Accessed June 1, 2011.

Page 173 “It sank”: Larry King Live, “Russian President Vladimir Putin Discusses Domestic and Foreign Affairs,” aired Sept. 8, 2000. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0009/08/lkl.00.html. Accessed June 1, 2011.

Page 174 Testifying in a London court: Alexander Voloshin, London Commercial Court testimony, November 14, 2011.

Page 174 “I wrote about an American journalist”: Author interview with Boris Berezovsky, June 2008.

Page 174 “I’ve always told people”: Yelena Bonner, press conference, Moscow, Nov. 30, 2000.

Page 175 “What a shitty time”: Yuri Samodurov, press conference, Moscow, Nov. 30, 2000.

EIGHT. THE DISMANTLING OF DEMOCRACY

Page 177 “In December 2000, I went”: “A Year of Putin,” a roundtable discussion held in Moscow, Dec. 26, 2000. The speakers were Leonid Ionin, dean of applied political science at the Higher School of Economics; Duma deputy Vyacheslav Igrunov; political adviser Simor Kordonsky; philosopher Alexander Tsipko; and Carnegie Center scholar Andrei Ryabov.

Page 180 “I spent six years”: Yuli Rybakov, interviewed by Marina Koroleva on Echo Moskvy, Jan. 17, 2001. http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/13380.phtml. Accessed June 7, 2011.

Page 181 an undercover KGB agent: Leonid Drachevsky worked in Soviet embassies in Spain and Poland.

Page 181 KGB officers from Leningrad: Viktor Cherkesov and Georgy Poltavchenko.

Page 181 a police general: Petr Latyshev.

Page 181 army generals: Viktor Kazantsev and Konstantin Pulikovsky.

Page 182 “I assert that the most”: Boris Berezovsky, “Lichniye svobody—glavny zakon demokraticheskogo obchshestva. Otkrytoye pismo prezidentu Rossiyskoy federatsii Vladimiru Putinu,” Kommersant, May 31, 2000. http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/149293/print. Accessed May 1, 2011.

Page 182 group voting became routine: OSCE Election Observation Mission Report 2004. http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/russia/33101. Accessed June 8, 2011.

Page 183 Darya Oreshkina: Full disclosure: A couple of years after defending her dissertation on the topic, Darya became my life partner.

Page 183 more of their power to decide: Darya Oreshkina, Kartograficheskiy metod v issledovanii elektoral’nogo povedeniya naseleniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii, Ph.D. dissertation defended at Moscow State University in 2006.

Page 184 “a powerful inoculation”: Ilya Kolmanovsky interview with Alexander Margolis, St. Petersburg, June 2008.

Page 184 depended on their vote: Golos press conference, Moscow, March 14, 2004.

Page 188 An exhaustive study conducted: Soyuz Zhurnalistov Rossii, “Predvaritel’niy otchyot o monitoringe osveshcheniya s SMI vyborov Prezidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii 14 marta 2004 g.” http://www.ruj.ru/news_2004/news_040331_1.html. Accessed Dec. 3, 2011.

Page 190 “One cannot but weep”: “Putin obyavil o perestroike gosudarstva posle tragedii v Beslane,” unsigned news item on newsru.com, and the full text of Putin’s speech, Sept. 13, 2004. http://www.newsru.com/russia/13sep2004/putin.html. Accessed June 9, 2011.

NINE. RULE OF TERROR

Page 199 “Just three weeks ago he was”: “Terrible Effects of Poison on Russian Spy Shown in First Pictures,” unsigned story, Daily Mail, Nov. 21, 2006. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-417248/Terrible-effects-poison-Russian-spy-shown-pictures.html. Accessed June 22, 2011.

Page 199 A few hours later… he was dead: Author interview with Marina Litvinenko, London, April 24, 2011.

Page 203 found evidence: Alexander Litvinenko and Yuri Felshtinsky, FSB vzryvayet Rossiyu (New York: Liberty Publishing, 2004).

Page 203 other evidence began to emerge: Alexander Goldfarb with Marina Litvinenko, Sasha, Volodya, Boris… 2nd ed. (New York and London: AGC/Grani, 2010), p. 236.

Page 205 “They were very happy”: L. Burban et al., “Nord-Ost. Neokonchennoye rassledovaniye. Sobytiya, fakty, vyvody,” Moscow, April 26, 2006, Appendix 6.5, “Opisaniye sobytiy poterpevshey Karpovoy T. I.” http://www.pravdabeslana.ru/nordost/pril6.htm. Accessed June 23, 2011.

Page 205 “Esteemed President”: Burban et al., Khronologiya terakta. http://www.pravdabeslana.ru/nordost/1-2.htm. Accessed June 23, 2011.

Page 208 “You are welcome and”: Elaine Sciolino, “Putin Unleashes His Fury Against Chechen Guerrillas,” New York Times, Nov. 12, 2002. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/12/international/europe/12RUSS.html. Accessed June 23, 2011.

Page 208 the video of him lashing out: See, for example, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-6ejE1KG8A. Accessed June 23, 2011.

Page 209 Khanpash Terkibaev: Author interview with Ahmed Zakaev, London, June 6, 2011.

Page 209 gave him all the information: “Litvinenko: FSB ubila Yushenkova za pravdu o Nord-Oste,” unsigned story on grani.ru, April 25, 2003. http://grani.ru/Events/Terror/m.30436.html. Accessed June 24, 2011.

Page 210 Moscow, he said: Anna Politkovskaya, “Odin iz gruppy terroristov utselel. My yego nashli,” Novaya Gazeta, April 28, 2003. http://politkovskaya.novayagazeta.ru/pub/2003/2003-035.shtml. Accessed June 20, 2011.

Page 211 caused by an unknown toxin: “K zaklyuchehiyu kommissionnoy sudebno-meditsinskoy expertizy o pravilnosti lecheniya Shchekochikhina Yuriya Petrovicha, 1950 goda rozhdeniya,” Novaya Gazeta, July 1, 2004. http://2004.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2004/46n/n46n-s05.shtml. Accessed June 20, 2011.

Page 211 possible secret-police involvement: Author interview with Ahmed Zakaev, London, June 6, 2011.

Page 212 Her plan was to act: Sergei Sokolov and Dmitry Muratov, “Anna Politkovskaya otravlena FSB,” Novaya Gazeta, Sept. 4, 2004. http://tapirr.narod.ru/politkovskaya2005.html#OTpaBeлeHa. Accessed June 20, 2011.

Page 216 312 people died: “Pravda Beslana.” http://www.pravdabeslana.ru/pravda_beslana.pdf. Accessed June 26, 2011.

Page 216 not even heightened security: Anna Politkovskaya, “Shto delalo MVD do Beslana, vo vremya i posle,” Novaya Gazeta, Aug. 28 2006. http://politkovskaya.novayagazeta.ru/pub/2006/2006-77.shtml. Accessed June 26, 2011.

Page 219 “Women should not be”: Alexei Chadayev’s blog, March 21, 2006. http://kerogazz-batyr.livejournal.com/365459.html?thread=4023699#t4023699. Accessed Dec. 3, 2011.

Page 220 “We disagreed occasionally”: Alexander Litvinenko, “Annu Politkovskuyu ubil Putin,” Chechenpress, Oct. 8, 2006. http://alexanderlitvinenko.narod.ru/myweb2/article3.html. Accessed June 27, 2011.

Page 220 he encountered a picket line: “V Dresdene Putina nazvali ubiytsey,” unsigned, grani.ru, Oct. 10, 2006. http://grani.ru/Society/Media/m.112666.html. Accessed June 27, 2011.

Page 220 “That journalist was indeed”: Putin speaking at a press conference in Dresden, Oct. 10, 2006. http://www.newstube.ru/Media.aspx?mediaid=511BE4A2-5153-4F4E-BEA2-3086663E96D4. Accessed June 27, 2011.

Page 223 “As I lie here”: Goldfarb and Litvinenko, p. 335.

Page 225 Putin had him killed: Author interview with Alexander Goldfarb, London, June 6, 2011; Sasha, Volodya, Boris…

TEN. INSATIABLE GREED

Page 227 “The… elections… failed”: OSCE PA International Election Observation Mission Statement of Preliminary Findings and Conclusions. http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/russia/18284. Accessed June 14, 2011.

Page 228 condescending but approving editorial: “Russians Inch Toward Democracy,” unsigned editorial, New York Times, Dec. 8, 2003. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/08/opinion/russians-inch-toward-democracy.html. Accessed June 14, 2011.

Page 228 mammoth news story: David Holley and Kim Murphy, “Election Bolsters Putin’s Control,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 8, 2003. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/08/world/fg-russelect8. Accessed June 14, 2011.

Page 228 whole story right in the headline: “Racists, Killers and Criminals Run for Duma,” National Post, Dec. 6, 2003.

Page 228 “a democrat’s nightmare”: “Putin’s Way,” Economist, Dec. 11, 2003. http://www.economist.com/node/2282403. Accessed June 14, 2011.

Page 229 considerably less enthusiastic: “Bush and Putin: Best of Friends,” BBC News, June 16, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1392791.stm. Accessed July 11, 2011.

Page 229 abrogation of an agreement: Robert O. Freeman, “Russia, Iran and the Nuclear Question: The Putin Record,” a publication of the Strategic Studies Institute. http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub737.pdf. Accessed July 11, 2011.

Page 229 several billion dollars a year: See, for example, “Russia Signs Arms Deals with Arab States Totaling $12 Billion,” unsigned news story on pravda.ru. http://english.pravda.ru/russia/economics/22-02-2011/116979-russia_arms_deals-0/. Accessed July 11, 2011.

Page 230 appointed a liberal economist: The economist was German Gref, and the think tank was Tsentr strategicheskih razrabotok (Center for Strategic Initiatives).

Page 232 something remarkable happened: Author interview with Andrei Illarionov, Moscow, June 2011; Andrei Illarionov, “Slovo i delo,” Kontinent, no. 134 (2007), pp. 83–147.

Page 234 “The esprit de corps was like”: Author interview with William Browder, London, May 13, 2011.

Page 235 devising ways to squeeze cash: Hoffman, The Oligarchs.

Page 236 “Those who wanted to make”: Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Leonid Nevzlin, Chelovek s rublem. http://lit.lib.ru/n/newzlin_l_b/text_0010.shtml. Accessed July 16, 2011.

Page 236 “I would go to our oil rigs”: Ludmila Ulitskaya and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, “Dialogi,” Znamya, no. 10 (2009). http://magazines.russ.ru/znamia/2009/10/ul12.html. Accessed July 16, 2011.

Page 237 “Until that point… I saw”: Ibid.

Page 238 “Before Pricewaterhouse came along”: Author interview with Pavel Ivlev, New York City, July 2, 2011.

Page 238 “We would set up”: Author interview with Charles Krause, New York City, June 30, 2011.

Page 239 I had heard it once: This talk was given in Zvenigorod on Oct. 27, 2002.

Page 240 Khodorkovsky told Litvinovich to return to Moscow: Author interview with Marina Litvinovich, December 2009.

Page 241 two to three times those in the government sector: “Korruptsiya v Rossii—tormoz ekonomicheskogo rosta,” a slide presentation acquired from the Khodorkovsky Press Center in Moscow, June 2011.

Page 241 “Everyone thinks”: Kolesnikov, Ya Putina videl!, p. 284.

Page 242 He got the same smirk on his face: Video footage of the meeting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KLzF3_-ShU&NR=1. Accessed July 17, 2011.

Page 242 “It took three or four attempts”: Author interview with Mikhail Kasyanov, Moscow, May 2011.

Page 242 had “of course” been cleared by the Kremlin: Author interview with Leonid Nevzlin, Greenwich, Conn., July 1, 2011.

Page 243 “He did not go”: Author interview with Andrei Illarionov, Moscow, June 2011.

Page 243 “We should… fully support [Putin]”: Moscow Times, Jan. 21, 2004. Full text: http://hermitagefund.com/newsandmedia/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=312. Accessed July 17, 2011.

Page 247 he argued he should be released: Sergei Magnitsky court testimony, unpublished document.

Page 248 more corrupt than 86 percent of the world: Transparency International, Global Corruption Reports 2003 and 2010. http://www.transparency.org/publications/gcr. Accessed July 17, 2011. The actual rankings are 86 for 2003 and 154 for 2010, but because of the changing total number of countries in the reports (133 in 2003 and 178 in 2010), I give the figures here as percentages.

Page 248 “Everyone had their own turning point”: Author interview with Andrei Illarionov, Moscow, June 2011. Illarionov’s subsequent comments are from the same interview.

Page 249 “different set of rails”: Andrei Illarionov, “Drugaya Strana,” originally published in Kommersant, Jan. 27, 2006. http://www.liberal.ru/anons/312. Accessed July 17, 2011.

Page 250 he fired his cabinet: “Kasyanov, Mikhail,” unsigned Lentapedia dossier. http://lenta.ru/lib/14159606/full.htm. Accessed July 17, 2011.

Page 252 To visit their client: Author interview with Karina Moskalenko, Strasbourg, July 5, 2011.

Page 253 now run by Putin’s former deputy: “Miller, Alexei,” an unsigned Lentapedia dossier. http://lenta.ru/lib/14160384/. Accessed July 18, 2011.

Page 253 lasted all of two minutes: Yelena Lubarskaya, “‘Yuganskneftegaz’utopili v ‘Baikale,’” lenta.ru, Dec. 20, 2004. http://lenta.ru/articles/2004/12/20/ugansk/. Accessed July 18, 2011. Denis Skorobogat’ko, Dmitry Butrin, and Nikolai Kovalev, “‘Yugansk’ kupili ludi iz ‘Londona,’” Kommersant, Dec. 12, 2004. http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/534631?isSearch=True. Accessed July 18, 2011. “Russia to Hold Yukos Auction Despite US Ruling,” unsigned news story on MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6726341/. Accessed July 18, 2011.

Page 254 in the course of a rigged auction: “‘Rosneft’ kupila ‘Baikalfinansgrup,’ poluchiv control nad ‘Yuganskneftegazom,’” unsigned news story, newsru.com. http://www.newsru.com/finance/23dec2004/rosneft.html. Accessed July 18, 2011.

Page 254 net worth at $40 billion: Luke Harding, “Putin, the Kremlin Power Struggle, and the $40bn Fortune,” Guardian, Dec. 21, 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/dec/21/russia.topstories3. Accessed July 18, 2011.

Page 255 “we knew this was not money”: Author interview with Sergei Kolesnikov, Helsinki, June 2011.

Page 257 the Black Sea project existed: Roman Anin, “Dvortsovaya ploshad 740 tysyach kvadratnykh metrov,” Novaya Gazeta, Feb. 14, 2011. http://www.novayagazeta.ru/data/2011/016/00.html#sup. Accessed July 19, 2011. Pavel Korobov and Oleg Kashin, “Vot chego-chego, a kontrollerov u nas khvatayet,” Kommersant, April 20, 2011. http://www.kommersant.ru/Doc/1625310. Accessed July 19, 2011.

Page 257 “Either you have me help you”: Author interview with Yuli Dubov, London, June 6, 2011.

Page 258 Putin pocketed the 124-diamond Super Bowl ring: Jacob Gershman, “Putin Pockets Patriots Ring,” New York Sun, June 28, 2005. http://www.nysun.com/foreign/putin-pockets-patriots-ring/16172/. Accessed July 19, 2011. Donovan Slack, “For Putin, It’s a Gem of a Cultural Exchange,” Boston Globe, June 29, 2005. http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2005/06/29/for_putin_its_a_gem_of_a_cultural_exchange/. Accessed July 19, 2011; “Vladimir Putin poluchil persten s 124 brilliantami,” unsigned news item, Kommersant, June 30, 2005. http://www.kommersant.ru/news/984560. Accessed July 19, 2011. Putin’s comment that he “could kill someone with this” was recounted by Robert Kraft’s wife, Myra; see “Myra Kraft: Putin Stole Robert’s Ring,” Jewish Russian Telegraph, March 18, 2007. http://www.jrtelegraph.com/2007/03/myra_kraft_puti.html. Accessed Oct. 31, 2011.

Page 258 New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: Art consultant Nic Iljine recounts the incident in his essay “Guggenheim 24/7,” in Laura K. Jones, ed., A Hedonist’s Guide to Art (London: Filmer, 2010); see, for instance: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/book-details-strongman-vladimir-putins-artful-ways/story-e6frg6so-1225978192724.

Page 258 costs about $300 in Moscow: Here, for example, it is listed for 8,200 rubles: http://www.alcoport.ru/katalog/products/vodka/vodka-kalashnikov/vodka-kalashnikov-1l. Accessed July 19, 2011.

Page 259 Andrei Illarionov discovered: Author interview with Andrei Illarionov, Moscow, June 2011.

ELEVEN. BACK TO THE USSR

Page 262 the Russian blogosphere consisted: Interview with Bruce Eitling and John Kelly, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Nov. 7, 2008.

Page 264 editors pulled their stories: In March 2011, Dozhd, an Internet TV channel, canceled the program Grazhdanin Poet over a sketch skewering Medvedev. General Director Natalya Sindeeva explained in a statement that she did not want to insult Medvedev personally. http://tvrain.ru/teleshow/poet_and_citizen/. Accessed Nov. 10, 2011. I had several similar experiences as editor of www.snob.ru, where the publisher, for example, made me remove a reference to a British newspaper article in which Medvedev was called “Putin’s assistant.”

Page 264 “We know they are now lying low”: “Putin poruchil spetssluzhbam ‘vykovyryat’ terroristov so dna kanalizatsii,” unsigned news item on www.lenta.ru, March 30, 2010. http://lenta.ru/news/2010/03/30/drainpipe/. Accessed Nov. 10, 2011.

Page 265 “We don’t spread our legs”: “Putin obidelsya na sravneniye Obamy: My ne umeyem stoyat’ ‘vraskoryachku,’” unsigned news item on www.newsru.com, July 3, 2009. http://www.newsru.com/russia/03jul2009/raskoryachka.html. Accessed Nov. 10, 2011.

Page 265 “I understand that an illness”: Petr Mironenko, Dmitry Butrin, and Yelena Kiselyova, “Rvyot i Mechel,” Kommersant, July 25, 2008. http://www.kommersant.ru/Doc/915811. Accessed Nov. 10, 2011.

Page 265 “to be hit over the head with a stick”: “Putin predrek oppozitsioneram ‘otovarivaniye dubinkoy,’” unsigned news item on www.lenta.ru, Aug. 30, 2010. http://lenta.ru/news/2010/08/30/explain/. Accessed Nov. 10, 2011.

Page 265 topless photographs of him vacationing: “Vladimir Putin Goes Fishing,” photo gallery, Guardian, Aug. 14, 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2007/aug/14/russia.internationalnews. Accessed Nov. 10, 2011.

Page 265 coverage of his diving: “Vladimir Putin, nashedshiy amfory VI veka, stal obyektom dlya nasmeshek rossiyskikh bloggerov I zarubezhnykh SMI,” unsigned item on www.newsru.com, Aug. 11, 2011. http://www.newsru.com/russia/11aug2011/putin_amf.html. Accessed Nov. 10, 2011.

Page 265 planted there in advance by archaeologists: Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, later admitted that the vases had been planted. See Stepan Opalev, “Peskov pro Putina: Amfory nashel ne sam,” www.slon.ru, October 5, 2011. http://slon.ru/russia/peskov_pro_putina_amfory_nashel_ne_sam-684066.xhtml. Accessed Nov. 10, 2011.

Page 265 increase the presidential term to six years: “Medvedev vnyos v Gosdumu zakonoproekt o prodlenii prezidentskikh polnomochiy,” unsigned news item on www.lenta.ru, Nov. 11, 2008. http://lenta.ru/news/2008/11/11/medvedev/. Accessed Nov. 11, 2011.

Page 266 Every year, Russia slid lower: Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index. http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results. Accessed Nov. 15, 2011.

Page 266 15 percent of the Russian prison population: Ludmila Alekseeva speaking at the Yegor Gaidar Prize ceremony, Moscow, Nov. 14, 2011.

Page 266 five gold wristwatches: “Zolotiye chasy dlya upravleniya delami Voronozhskoy oblasti. Prodolzheniye,” Rospil blog, Oct. 6, 2011. http://rospil.info/news/p/983. Accessed Nov. 11, 2011.

Page 266 technical documentation on a planned railroad crossing: “Recheniye komissii FAS po zakazu s tsenoy kontrakta boleye chem 11.5 mlrd rubley,” Rospil blog, Oct. 11, 2011. http://rospil.info/news/p/999. Accessed Nov. 11, 2011.

Page 266 two beds and two bedside tables: “MVD zaplatit 25 millionov rubley za otdelanniye zolotom krovati,” unsigned news item on www.lenta.ru, Aug. 19, 2008. http://lenta.ru/news/2009/08/19/gold/. Accessed Nov. 11, 2011.

Page 266 “An actual politician”: Anna Kachurovskaya, “Alexei Navalny: Tol’ko, pozhaluysta, ne nado govorit’: ‘Navalny sravnil sebya s Obamoy,’” Snob, Nov. 2010.

Page 266 a New Yorker profile: Julia Ioffe, “Net Impact: One Man’s Cyber-Crusade Against Russian Corruption,” New Yorker, April 4, 2011. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/04/110404fa_fact_ioffe. Accessed Nov. 11, 2011.

Page 267 an all-time speed record: “Proekt ‘Rospil’ sobral perviy million na ‘Yandex-den’gakh’,” unsigned news item on www.lenta.ru, Feb. 3, 2011. http://lenta.ru/news/2011/02/03/million/. Accessed Nov. 11, 2011.

Page 270 Medvedev would be his prime minister: “Putin vydvigayetsya na prezidentskiye vybory 2012 goda,” unsigned news item on www.gazeta.ru, Sept. 24, 2011. http://www.gazeta.ru/news/lastnews/2011/09/24/n_2022837.shtml. Accessed Nov. 12, 2011.

EPILOGUE: A WEEK IN DECEMBER

Page 274 just over 23 percent of the vote: Aleksei Zakharov, “Rezultaty vyborov na tekh uchastkakh, gde ne byli zafiksirovany narusheniya,” www.slon.ru, Dec. 5, 2011. http://slon.ru/calendar/event/723777/. Accessed Dec. 11, 2011.

Page 275 “‘Democracy is in action’”: David Herszenhorn, Ellen Barry, “Majority for Putin’s Party Narrows in Rebuke from Voters,” New York Times, Dec. 4, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/world/europe/russians-vote-governing-party-claims-early-victory.html?n=Top/News/World/Countries%20and%20Territories/Russia?ref=russia. Accessed Dec. 11, 2011.

Page 280 Mikhail Gorbachev has called for a revote: “Mikhail Gorbachev—Novoy,” Novaya Gazeta, Dec. 7, 2011. http://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/49918.html. Accessed Dec. 12, 2011.

Page 280 “The problem with the Soviet regime”: Masha Gessen, “When There’s No Going Back,” International Herald Tribune, Dec. 8, 2011. http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/when-theres-no-going-back/?scp=2&sq=masha%20gessen&st=cse. Accessed Dec. 12, 2011.

Page 281 “irritated urban communities”: Natalya Raybman, “Surkov: Nuzhno sozdat’ partiyu dlya razdrazhennykh gorozhan,” Vedomosti, Dec. 6, 2011. http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/1444694/surkov_nuzhno_sozdat_partiyu_dlya_razdrazhennyh_gorozhan. Accessed Dec. 12, 2011.

Page 283 “inciting enmity against a specific social group”: Olga Korol’, “Ex-press-sekretaryu prezidenta Tatarstana Murtazinu dali real’niy srok,” Komsomol’skaya Pravda, Nov. 26, 2009. http://www.kp.ru/online/news//577494/. Accessed Dec. 12, 2011.

Page 285 “Why does everything in this country”: Boris Akunin blog entry, “I Could Not Sit Still,” Dec. 9, 2011. http://borisakunin.livejournal.com/45529.html. Accessed Dec. 12, 2011.

Page 289 Protests were held today: Konstantin Benyumov, “Vstavay, strana ogromnaya! Mitingi protesta 10 dekabrya proshli v 99 gorodakh Rossii,” onair.ru. http://www.onair.ru/main/enews/view_msg/NMID_38499/. Accessed Dec. 13, 2011.

Page 289 the government has no comment: “Dmitry Peskov ne kommentiruyet miting na Bolotnoy ploshchadi,” unsigned news item, www.gazeta.ru, Dec. 10, 2011. http://www.gazeta.ru/news/lenta/2011/12/10/n_2130194.shtml. Accessed Dec. 12, 2011.