Sarah Rainsford shares the best books to explain Vladimir Putin's Russia

The BBC's Eastern Europe correspondent on books that explain Putin's Russia. She'll discuss her book "Goodbye to Russia" at the Stratford Literary Festival on 27 October.

A Dirty War

Anna Politkovskaya, 2001

In 2022, it was a shock to many that Russian troops in Ukraine could act with such brutality, but Politkovskaya had documented the same in Chechnya, years earlier. A journalist of immense courage and conscience – both intimidating and inspiring – she told that story like no other. She was murdered in Moscow in 2006.

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Between Two Fires

Joshua Yaffa, 2020

A thought-provoking insight into the complexities of life in an authoritarian system. Putin's Russia is a twisted world that warps minds and morals. These evocative portraits capture the nuance as Yaffa explores how far his characters are willing to compromise in order to succeed, or even survive.

Available on The Week Bookshop

Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West

Catherine Belton, 2020

The clue to this book's importance is in its subtitle. Putin and his clan went to war with the West long before we woke up to the danger, as Belton explains so eloquently. A must- read for any Russia watcher, which should be all of us.

Available on The Week Bookshop

The Language of War

Oleksandr Mykhed, 2024

If you're seeking to understand today's Russia, it's important to understand what it has done to Ukraine. This visceral work by a Ukrainian writer captures the fury and hatred created by Russia's ruinous war – by the things you can "never forget. Or forgive," as Mykhed puts it.

Available on The Week Bookshop

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 1962

Mykhed (above) doesn't want us to read Russian literature any more, deeming it part of a "repressive imperial machine". I get that. But Solzhenitsyn's prison-camp novel, one of the first I tackled in Russian, is a reminder that the repression inside Russia itself, the hunt for enemies within, has dark precedents.

Available on The Week Bookshop