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
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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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
-
Disarming Hezbollah: Lebanon's risky missionTalking Point Iran-backed militia has brought 'nothing but war, division and misery', but rooting them out for good is a daunting and dangerous task
-
Woof! Britain's love affair with dogsThe Explainer The UK's canine population is booming. What does that mean for man's best friend?
-
Sudoku medium: August 31, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Woof! Britain's love affair with dogs
The Explainer The UK's canine population is booming. What does that mean for man's best friend?
-
8 hotels that show off the many facets of JapanThe Week Recommends Choose your own modern or traditional adventure
-
Millet: Life on the Land – an 'absorbing' exhibitionThe Week Recommends Free exhibition at the National Gallery showcases the French artist's moving paintings of rural life
-
Thomasina Miers picks her favourite booksThe Week Recommends The food writer shares works by Arundhati Roy, Claire Keegan and Charles Dickens
-
6 laid-back homes for surfersFeature Featuring a home near a world-renowned surf spot in Hawaii and a house built to withstand the elements in South Carolina
-
Say farewell to summer at these underrated US lakesThe Week Recommends Have one last blast
-
Twelfth Night or What You Will: a 'riotous' late-summer jamboreeThe Week Recommends Robin Belfield's 'carnivalesque' new staging at Shakespeare's Globe is 'joyfully tongue-in-cheek'
-
Hostage: Netflix's 'fun, fast and brash potboiler'The Week Recommends Suranne Jones is 'relentlessly defiant' as prime minister Abigail Dalton
