Punishing Putin, Stephanie Baker
Punishing Putin, Stephanie Baker
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Punishing Putin
Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia

Author: Stephanie Baker

Narrator: Jennifer Jill Araya

Unabridged: 12 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/10/2024

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

A “masterful” (Foreign Policy), authoritative, and timely look at the unprecedented economic war the United States and its European allies are waging against Russia after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that “reads like a detective novel” (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)—written by a veteran journalist with unparalleled access to Western and Russian sources.

Undeterred by eight years of timid US sanctions, Vladimir Putin ordered his full-scale assault on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In the hours that followed, Western leaders weaponized economic tools to counter an unprecedented land grab by a nuclear-armed power. What unfolded was an undeniably world-changing financial experiment that risked throwing the globe into a devastating recession. The end goal was simple: to sap the strength of Putin’s war machine and damage the Russian economy—once the eleventh largest on the planet. Here, veteran journalist Stephanie Baker explains in fascinating detail how this furious shadow war unfolded: its causes, how it is being executed, and its ability to affect Russia and the course of history.

Punishing Putin reveals how Washington, Brussels, and London moved to seize superyachts, attempted to manipulate the global price of oil, and tried to block the sale of technology to Russia’s military. The cost of the war mounted, and Baker tells the behind-the-scenes story of the decision to immobilize $300 billion in Russian central bank reserves accumulated in the West, and the fight over whether to use that pot of money for war-torn Ukraine. Baker also shows that the West, by mobilizing an army of white-collar investigators and experts on international law, has finally begun cracking down on illicit Russian money by targeting oligarchs, one superyacht at a time, and their enablers around the world.

Filled with propulsive, fly-on-the-wall details, Punishing Putin takes us into the frantic backroom deliberations that led to a whole new era of carefully calculated “economic statecraft,” and shows how these new strategies are radically rearranging global alliances that will influence the world order today and for generations to come.

About Stephanie Baker

Stephanie Baker is an award-winning investigative reporter at Bloomberg News. She began her reporting career in Moscow during the 1990s, a volatile period that set Russia on its path today. She received her master’s degree at the London School of Economics and her work has been recognized by the Gerald Loeb Awards, the Overseas Press Club, the UK Society of Editors, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, and the UK’s Foreign Press Association.


Reviews

Goodreads review by RF on October 18, 2024

This is an important book. Highly recommended. The audio version was great. Ms. Baker tells a sweeping story of sanction enforcement on oligarchs, companies, and fixers and their never-ending evasion schemes; the pullout of Western firms from Russia; how a variety of countries and intermediaries are......more

Goodreads review by Meghan on November 30, 2024

Fantastic! Was a much needed review and summary of like everything that’s been going on in Russia ~generally, ~since the collapse of the Soviet Union, ~since 2014, ~since 2022, and in the present day with regards to Russia’s economic and political posturing and its efforts to carve out its place on......more

Goodreads review by Richard on November 20, 2024

This is a book about the economic sanctions that the US and European countries have tried to impose on Russia in connection with the invasion of Ukraine. There have been some successes, but also a lot of weaknesses and a general inability to create a punishing system that will effectively bring Russ......more

Goodreads review by David on September 20, 2024

Like many people I have been skeptical about the real effect of sanctions on Russia in the Ukraine War. But maybe that's the problem with so much today — we all want to use a hammer when a scalpel is not only what's available but what's needed. That's the real message of this book — the writer does......more

Goodreads review by Robert on November 02, 2024

A brilliant telling of the efforts made by the West to punish Putin for his invasion of firstly Crimea and then Ukraine. Extraordinary insight into the way in which sanctions work, or sometimes don't, and the way in which the oligarchs have been caught by the sanctions increasingly imposed on Russia......more