The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep: Russia’s Road to Terror and Dictatorship Under Yeltsin and Putin

Satter (It Was a Long Time Ago and It Never Happened Anyway), an American journalist who was expelled from Russia in 2013, persuasively supplies evidence for his claim that a series of residential bombings in 1999 were part of an elaborate conspiracy orchestrated by Vladimir Putin, who used them as a smoke screen to invade Chechnya and catapult himself to the presidency. Aided by then president Boris Yeltsin, who feared prosecution should liberal democracy take hold in Russia, Putin’s rise led to “a blurring of moral distinctions, a growth of irrationality, and a disregard for the value of human life.” Satter clearly and systematically details how venality and avarice during the transition to capitalism undermined the foundations of the Russian state. He follows this with a litany of Putin’s misdeeds, highlighting his utter indifference to human well-being. During the Beslan school siege, for example, Satter contends that Russian Special Forces indiscriminately killed terrorists and hostages alike, and before the smoke cleared they hauled the debris—and bodies—“to a garbage dump outside of town.” Satter makes it clear that Putin’s regime “will not hesitate to use any means at its disposal to stay in power,” and readers concerned about relations with Russia will be hard pressed to find any silver lining amid the gloom. (June)