"Full of insight and informed judgment, former diplomat Anders Åslund takes aim at the 'authoritarian kleptocracy' and the inner circles of power."--John Lloyd, Financial Times "[A] superb book."--Martin Wolf, Financial Times "An excellent read."--Ariel Cohen, Forbes.com Finalist for the Hayek Prize, sponsored by the Manhattan Institute "An insightful and authoritative guide to Russia's economy since the fall of communism by the foremost Western expert on the subject."--Daniel Treisman, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles "Anders Åslund's economic analysis is impeccable. This is a hard-hitting, fact-based account of Putin's Russia."--Paul Gregory, University of Houston and Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University "No one in the outside world has followed and analyzed Russia's economic policies and trajectory since the demise of the Soviet Union as thoroughly as Anders Åslund.

From the early radical reforms to today's stagnating kleptocracy, it's a huge story, and no one tells it better."--Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden "Anders Åslund has tracked Russia's economy since perestroika and has written the definitive assessment of Putin's kleptocratic system--how it functions and why it needs authoritarianism and xenophobia to survive."--Alexander Vershbow, former US Ambassador to Russia "After a decade, Anders Åslund has returned to the subject of Russia and produced an interesting, well-written and challenging analysis of where the economy stands, how it got here, and where it and President Putin may be heading."--Stanley Fischer, Former First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF.