Russia’s expanded invasion of Ukraine has refocused the attention of the United States and Europe, and indeed the world, on Moscow’s wars in the post-Soviet era. From Chechnya to the Balkans, and from Syria to Ukraine, Russia has asserted its interests through military force on multiple occasions. What these wars say about Russia, about President Vladimir Putin, and the country’s politics and direction is the subject of author Mark Galeotti’s forthcoming book “Putin’s Wars” (out 8 November from Osprey Publishing). A full description of this extremely timely book is below.
Join CSPC for an in-person book launch event with Mark Galeotti on 1 December at 0900-1030. He will be in discussion with the Director of the Mike Rogers Center for Intelligence & Global Affairs, Joshua C. Huminski. For more information on this event, please click the button below.
Mark Galeotti is a long-time Russia-watcher, even though Moscow banned him this year. He is an Honorary Professor at University College London and Executive Director of the UK-based consultancy Mayak Intelligence, and is currently a Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute. He read history at Cambridge and took his doctorate in government at the LSE, and after a stint with the British Foreign Office has been a scholar and think-tanker in New York, Moscow, Prague, Florence and London. A prolific author, his most recent books include the forthcoming Putin’s Wars: from Chechnya to Ukraine (Bloomsbury, 2022), The Weaponisation of Everything (Yale, 2022), We Need To Talk About Putin (Ebury, 2019) and The Vory: Russia’s super mafia (Yale, 2018).
Putin's Wars is a timely overview of the conflicts in which Russia has been involved since Vladimir Putin became prime minister and then president of Russia, from the First Chechen War to the two military incursions into Georgia, the annexation of Crimea and the eventual invasion of Ukraine itself. But it also looks more broadly at Putin's recreation of Russian military power and its expansion to include a range of new capabilities, from mercenaries to operatives in a relentless information war against Western powers. This is an engrossing strategic overview of a rejuvenated Russian military and the successes and failures on the battlefield. Thanks to Dr Galeotti's wide-ranging contacts throughout Russia, it is also peppered with anecdotes of military life, personal snapshots of conflicts, and an extraordinary collection of first-hand accounts from serving and retired Russian officers.
Russia continues to dominate the news cycle throughout the Western world. There is no better time to understand how and why Putin has involved his armed forces in a variety of conflicts for over two decades. There is no author better placed to demystify the capabilities of the Russian military and give a glimpse into what the future may hold.
Putin's Wars is an engaging and important history of a reawakened Russian bear and how it currently operates both at home and abroad to ensure Russia is front and centre on the world stage