An insider’s account of Soviet and Russian politics from Gorbachev’s democratizing reforms in the 1980s to the current authoritarian Russia of Putin.

Andrei A. Kovalev is a former member of the secretariat of President Mikhail Gorbachev. He worked in the Soviet and Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the staff of the Security Council of the Russian Federation during the Yeltsin and Putin administrations. He is the author of two books on Russian on politics.

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Diplomacy and Democratic Reforms
2. The August 1991 Coup: The Breaking Point
3. Anatomy of a Lost Decade, 1992–2000
4. How the System Really Works
5. Inside the Secret Police State
6. Strangling Democracy
7. The New Russian Imperialism
Conclusion
Cast of Characters
Chronology
Notes
Index