Putin's Praetorians contains the stories of some of the people involved in a unique movement to debunk those who would demonize Russia in general and Putin in particular. The ""confessions"" of those labelled as ""Kremlin Trolls"" reveal the psychology behind one of the most effective social crusading moments in history. The colorful personalities and passionate stories in the book also reveal a largely unspoken truth about Vladimir Putin - the real reasons why so many admire and support Russia's leader. The combination of contributions from some of the Internet's most famous and influential media stars, combined with stories from typical Internet aficionados blows holes in the foundations of Russiagate.

Putin's Praetorians contains the stories of some of the people involved in a unique movement to debunk those who would demonize Russia in general and Putin in particular. The "confessions" of those labeled as "Kremlin Trolls" reveal the psychology behind one of the most effective social crusading moments in history. The colorful personalities and passionate stories in the book also reveal a largely unspoken truth about Vladimir Putin - the real reasons why so many admire and support Russia's leader. The combination of contributions from some of the Internet's most famous and influential media stars, combined with stories from typical Internet aficionados blows holes in the foundations of Russiagate. For the sake of authenticity and credibility, the "confessions" featured in this volume are published unedited, as received from the contributors. "Today a war against freedom of the press is being waged by the self-described guardians of democracy. Too few grasp the danger of this war. The book of Phil Butler could open your eyes..." - F. William Engdahl, author, Manifest Destiny: Democracy as Cognitive Dissonance "This book blows up the Russiagate conspiracy and debunks the whole idea that the internet revolution against the demonization of Russia is anything other than a spontaneous popular reaction against what is demonstrably a pack of lies." - Charles Bausman - Editor and Publisher of Russia Insider "Why does the Kremlin need trolls when Google, who everybody gives permission to track all of their internet activity, claims to know what you are going to do before you do? Do you really think anyone but an Intelligence agency would have built such a vehicle?" - Jim W. Dean - Managing Editor of Veterans Today

Ever since Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia, his critics have turned up dead on a regular basis. According to Amy Knight, this is no coincidence. In Orders to Kill, the KGB scholar ties dozens of victims together to expose a campaign of political murder during Putin’s reign that even includes terrorist attacks such as the Boston Marathon bombing. Russia is no stranger to political murder, from the tsars to the Soviets to the Putin regime, during which many journalists, activists and political opponents have been killed. Kremlin defenders like to say, “There is no proof,” however convenient these deaths have been for Putin, and, unsurprisingly, because he controls all investigations, Putin is never seen holding a smoking gun. Orders to Kill is a story long hidden in plain sight with huge ramifications.

This book examines the evolution of Russia’s security policy under Putin in the 21st century, using a critical security studies approach. Drawing on critical approaches to security the book investigates the interrelationship between the internal-external nexus and the politics of (in)security and regime-building in Putin’s Russia. In so doing, it evaluates the way that this evolving relationship between state identities and security discourses framed the construction of individual security policies, and how, in turn, individual issues can impact on the meta-discourses of state and security agendas. To this end, the (de)securitisation discourses and practices towards the issue of Chechnya are examined as a case study. In so doing, this study has wider implications for how we read Russia as a security actor through an approach that emphasises the importance of taking into account its security culture, the interconnection between internal/external security priorities and the dramatic changes that have taken place in Russia’s conceptions of itself, national and security priorities and conceptualisation of key security issues, in this case Chechnya. These aspects of Russia’s security agenda remain somewhat of a neglected area of research, but, as argued in this book, offer structuring and framing implications for how we understand Russia’s position towards security issues, and perhaps those of rising powers more broadly. This book will be of much interest to students of Russian security, critical security studies and IR.

The raging question in the world today is who is the real Vladimir Putin and what are his intentions. Karen Dawisha’s brilliant Putin’s Kleptocracy provides an answer, describing how Putin got to power, the cabal he brought with him, the billions they have looted, and his plan to restore the Greater Russia. Russian scholar Dawisha describes and exposes the origins of Putin’s kleptocratic regime. She presents extensive new evidence about the Putin circle’s use of public positions for personal gain even before Putin became president in 2000. She documents the establishment of Bank Rossiya, now sanctioned by the US; the rise of the Ozero cooperative, founded by Putin and others who are now subject to visa bans and asset freezes; the links between Putin, Petromed, and “Putin’s Palace” near Sochi; and the role of security officials from Putin’s KGB days in Leningrad and Dresden, many of whom have maintained their contacts with Russian organized crime. Putin’s Kleptocracy is the result of years of research into the KGB and the various Russian crime syndicates. Dawisha’s sources include Stasi archives; Russian insiders; investigative journalists in the US, Britain, Germany, Finland, France, and Italy; and Western officials who served in Moscow. Russian journalists wrote part of this story when the Russian media was still free. “Many of them died for this story, and their work has largely been scrubbed from the Internet, and even from Russian libraries,” Dawisha says. “But some of that work remains.”

This book studies the cultural, societal, and ideological factors absent from popular discourse on Vladimir Putin’s Russia, contesting the misleading mainstream assumption that Putin is the all-powerful sovereign of Russia. In carefully examining the ideological underpinnings of Putinism—its tsarist and Soviet elements, its intellectual origins, its culturally reproductive nature, and its imperialist foreign policy—the authors reveal that an indoctrinating ideology and a willing population are simultaneously the most crucial yet overlooked keys to analyzing Putin’s totalitarian democracy. Because Putinism is part of a global wave of extreme political movements, the book also reaffirms the need to understand—but not accept—how and why nation-states and masses turn to nationalism, authoritarianism, or totalitarianism in modern times.

Leaders and leadership continue to dominate Russia's political development. Like his predecessors in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin has made a crucial impact on the substance and style of Russian politics. His efforts to use traditional tools of state power to manage democracy and market capitalism have had mixed effects on both. Leading Russia investigates the ambiguities and contradictions of Putin's rule from four perspectives. The volume first considers his leadership in the context of Russia's convulsive historical cycle of revolutionary transformation, breakdown, consolidation, and stagnation. The study then analyses how normative and institutional components of democracy have fared under Putin's regime of stronger executive control. It proceeds to examine the strengths and weaknesses of presidential power vis-à-vis bureaucratic, regional, and corporate groups. The volume concludes with two assessments of the strategic direction in which Putin is taking Russia. They explore the tensions between bureaucratic-authoritarian trends and Putin's apparent commitment to electoral democracy, market capitalism, and alignment with the West. The book helps to deepen our understanding of the cultural and institutional factors shaping Putin's leadership approach and policy priorities. More widely, it sheds light on the complexity of the relationship between post-communist leadership, democracy, and economic modernization.

Stoliarov reviews the state of affairs in today's Russia as it strives to become a federal democracy securing the rights and liberties of its citizens, contrasting the two ideas of federalism and dictatorship of power.

Post Putin is a cutting edge examination of the factors that could contribute to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s departure from political power, the rise of his successor and the policy options available to that new leader.