Author(s): Mikhail Zygar

History | Russia | Ukraine | Politics

As soon as the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began, prominent independent Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar took action. He circulated a petition that was signed first by hundreds of his cultural and journalistic contacts and then by thousands of others. That brave act led to a new law in Russia criminalizing criticism of the war, and Zygar was forced to flee his homeland.

A heroic dissident, Zygar has spent years studying the Kremlin's plan regarding Ukraine, drawing on firsthand personal informants at the highest levels of power on both sides of the conflict.

In War and Punishment, Zygar explores how more than 300 years of propaganda, bad historical scholarship, folk tales and fantasy, from the legendary deeds of the Cossacks to 1970s spy novels, led Russia to violence. By unpicking the historical confusions and telling the strange but true stories of Russo-Ukrainian relations over the past centuries, Zygar reveals the origins of Russia's deadly error and points the way out of its self-destructive imperial delusions.

His insights are all the more valuable because of his extraordinary connections. As an expert on Putin's moods and behavior, he has interviewed President Zelensky and had access to many of the major players - from politicians to oligarchs - revealing the secret histories behind the public tragedy.

In clear, chronological order, Zygar explains how we got here and why this war continues to threaten the future of the entire world as we know it.