Table Of ContentInside Putin’s Russia
ANDREW JACK
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Praise for Andrew Jack’s Inside Putin’s Russia
“A fluent, detailed, and balanced account of Russian power politics,
with a lively emphasis on the Kremlin’s onslaught against independent
mediaand stroppy tycoons.” —The Economist
“In describing the big picture, Jack achieves a fine balance, criticizing
without animosity and making the right allowances for peculiarities of
history and culture.” —Financial Times
“Gives even experienced Russia-watchers a better perspective on the
man and the milieu he operates in. [Jack] writes with care, more like
an historian than an anecdote-laden, self-important journalist à
l’Americaine." —Roger Fontaine, Washington Times
“In the most comprehensive account of Putin’s first term in office now
in print, Jack presents a judicious account of his achievements: tax
reform, balanced budgets, sharply reduced international lending, and
a booming economy. . . . As Jack details in several excellent chapters,
Putin continued a brutal and ineffective war in Chechnya, acquired de
facto control of all major national television networks, turned both
houses of parliament into rubber stamps, arbitrarily jailed or exiled
political foes, rigged regional elections, arrested outspoken journalists,
weakened political parties, and increased the role of the FSB (the suc-
cessor organization to the KGB).”
—Michael McFaul, Washington Post Book World
“Jack’s book is, as the title suggests, an attempt to see Russia from with-
in, to understand it on its own terms. Jack is not sympathetic to the
regime, but he is fascinated by the country. . . . We learn a huge
amount about Putin’s Russia along the way. . . . The restraint and the
skepticism that run through Jack’s book do even more credit to the
author now that Putin’s credentials are going up in smoke.”
—Robert Cottrell, New York Review of Books
“A helpful overview of the Putin era since 2000. . . . Jack, who is
Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, gives us a country with
‘chill breezes returning from the past,’ possibly headed toward a new
political Ice Age.” —Carlin Romano, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A must-read for avid Russia-watchers . . . masterfully reveals the inner
workings of Putin’s Kremlin. . . . Jack draws on extensive first-hand
knowledge from his six years as Moscow bureau chief for London’s
Financial Times to enliven his narrative. . . . Jack’s book is well-written
and meticulously researched, exhibiting refreshingly few of the over-
simplifications that too often pepper popular accounts of contempo-
rary Russian politics. . . . An impressive book that goes a long way
toward improving our collective understanding of what motivates
Russian politics today.” —Juliet Johnson, Globe & Mail
“Jack gives considerable attention to the regime’s takeover of NTV, the
most independent of the Russian television channels, by the state-
controlled energy company Gazprom. This is a story that has been told
before, but what makes Mr. Jack’s narrative particularly useful is that he
describes the extent to which NTV was corrupt itself. . . . Jack provides
valuable background to the Chechen conflict.”
—David Satter, The New York Sun
“Lively, fluent, and well-informed.” —Guardian
“Andrew Jack has been responsible for some of the best coverage of
Russian affairs in recent years. Inside Putin’s Russiais intelligent, meticu-
lously researched and readable: everything a political biography should
be.” —Sunday Times(London)
“Admirable. . . . Jack shows in fascinating detail how [the so-called oli-
garchs] came by their wealth.” —Spectator
“An excellent (and wary) political and economic overview of an often
opaque U.S. ally.” —Publishers Weekly
“Jack’s work argues persuasively that so far Russia’s democracy has been
a ‘virtual democracy’ only and that the Russian people must learn the
basics of democracy to make it work.” —Library Journal
“A clear-eyed, highly readable look at modern Russia, with all its ongo-
ing enigmas and mysteries.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Andrew Jack has given us a vivid, sophisticated picture of Russia’s polit-
ical and economic culture under President Vladimir Putin. Jack offers
a penetrating analysis of Putin’s contradictory path as a modernizer of
Russia—and of where this path might lead.”
—Mark Medish, former senior director for Russian affairs,
U.S. National Security Council
“Inside Putin’s Russiaprovides astute and accurate observations on what
Russia has become under President Putin. In a lucid and highly read-
able book, Jack shows devastatingly how Putin has systematically cur-
tailed democracy in Russia, while capitalism has triumphed. No other
book gives such a clear feel of Putin’s Russia.”
—Anders Åslund, Senior Associate,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“Andrew Jack’s work is a valuable contribution to the literature on
Russia at the start of the 21st Century: intelligent, fair-minded, and
enlivened by the author’s experiences as a journalist in Russia, and by
his meetings with some of the leading figures there.”
—Anatol Lieven, author of America Right or Wrong:
An Anatomy of American Nationalism
INSIDE PUTIN’S
RUSSIA
ANDREW JACK
Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that
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Copyright © 2004 by Andrew Jack
Epilogue © 2006 by Andrew Jack
First published in Great Britian by Granta Books, 2004
First published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 2004
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
www.oup.com
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 2006
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-518909-4
ISBN-10: 0-19-518909-4
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The Library of Congress has catalogued the cloth edition as follows:
Jack, Andrew, 1967–
Inside Putin’s Russia / by Andrew Jack.
p. cm.
“First published in Great Britian by Granta Books 2004”—T.p. verso.
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-517797-8
ISBN-10: 0-19-517797-5
1. Russia (Federation)—Politics and government—1991–
2. Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952–
I. Title.
DK510.763.J33 2004
947.086’092—dc22
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
CONTENTS
Dramatis Personae vii
Foreword to the US Edition xiii
Introduction: In the Kremlin Library 1
Coming to Terms 7
The Man From Nowhere 42
Prisoner of the Caucasus 88
Shooting the Messenger 131
Autumn of the Oligarchs 174
The Price of Reform 216
A Bridge Too Far 255
Towards Liberal Authoritarianism 297
Epilogue 341
Index 353
v
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DRAMATIS PERSONAE
ABRAMOVICH, ROMAN
(b. 1966). An intensely secretive orphan who became a successful oil
trader during the 1990s. Through friendship with Boris Yeltsin’s
‘Family’ and a series of business deals in association with Boris
Berezovsky, he emerged as the multi-billionaire owner of an oil, alu-
minium and food empire before selling off many of his assets and
acquiring Chelsea Football Club.
AUSHEV, RUSLAN
(b. 1954). Former Soviet army officer who became president of Russia’s
North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia in 1993, steering a more peaceful
course than was pursued in neighbouring Chechnya. His policies clashed
with those of Putin’s Kremlin, and he stepped down in 2002, clearing the
way for the election of an FSB (the Russian successor of the KGB) officer.
BEREZOVSKY, BORIS
(b. 1946). Fast-talking academic turned tycoon with wide business
interests, including media outlets which he used for political objec-
tives. The éminence grise of Boris Yeltsin’s second term in 1996–9, he
was secretary of the Security Council and the Commonwealth of
Independent States. He helped promote Vladimir Putin to president
but then became a strong critic and fled into exile abroad.
vii
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
CHERNOMYRDIN, VIKTOR
(b. 1938). Energy ministry executive with tight contacts to the state-
backed monopoly Gazprom, he was named a compromise prime
minister by Yeltsin in 1992 after the turmoil of early market reforms.
He remained in power until his sacking in 1998, and was appointed
Putin’s ambassador to Ukraine in 2001.
CHUBAIS, ANATOLY
(b. 1955). Economist turned ruthless ‘Bolshevik’-style architect of
1990s market reforms, including privatizations which created a class
of oligarchs. He helped mastermind Yeltsin’s re-election in 1996, and
was named head of UES, the state electricity monopoly, in 1998. He
continued to pursue political ambitions as a key figure behind SPS,
the liberal democratic Union of Right Forces.
DZERZHINSKY, FELIX
(1877–1926). Founder of the ruthless Cheka, the All-Russian
Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and
Sabotage, the forerunner of the KGB, the Soviet-era secret police, and
its Russian successor, the FSB. Dzerzhinsky’s name is synonymous with
the Red Terror he launched on behalf of Lenin, but his reputation
has enjoyed a revival along with that of the KGB.
DUDAYEV, JOKHAR
(1944–96). Soviet air-force commander who became the first
Chechen general in the Soviet forces. He returned to his native
Chechnya in 1990, and led the republic into a chaotic self-declared
independence. His erratic style and clashes with Yeltsin triggered the
first conflict in 1994, and he was killed by a Russian missile after his
satellite telephone call was intercepted.
GAIDAR, YEGOR
(b. 1956). Brilliant economist who was the intellectual father of
Russia’s liberal reforms under Yeltsin during the 1990s. Briefly acting
head of government as deputy prime minister in 1991–2, he subse-
quently adopted a lower public profile, but continued to wield
considerable influence over Putin’s reform programme through his
strong contacts in the government and Union of Right Forces.
viii
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
GREF, GERMAN
(b. 1964). A graduate of Leningrad’s law school, he worked with Putin
in the city administration in the 1990s and joined the federal property
fund in Moscow in 1998. He coordinated the drafting of Putin’s eco-
nomic policies from 1999, and became minister of economic
development and trade in the new government, pushing through lib-
eral reforms.
GUSINSKY, VLADIMIR
(b. 1952). Charismatic theatre director turned politically influential
businessman, he built a banking group in the 1990s but increasingly
focused on creating the professional NTV television network and other
media assets. His falling-out with Putin made him the first oligarch to be
driven into exile abroad in 2000, and led to the systematic stripping of
his assets.
KADYROV, AKHMED
(1951–2004). Gruff former Muslim leader of Chechnya and anti-
Russian warlord during the first conflict in 1994–6, he became critical
of the leadership of Aslan Maskhadov. In 2000, Putin named him
head of a pro-Kremlin puppet administration, and he was made pres-
ident after highly contested elections in 2003. Killed in blast in Grozny
in May 2004.
KASYANOV, MIKHAIL
(1957). Slick finance ministry official with a reputation for charming
foreign investors and maintaining tight associations with Yeltsin’s
‘Family’. Putin named him prime minister, and Kasyanov survived
for almost the entire first presidential term despite persistent rumours
of his immanent dismissal.
KHODORKOVSKY, MIKHAIL
(b. 1963). Soft-spoken oligarch with powerful political contacts who
alienated shareholders as he struggled to win full control over the oil
company Yukos in the late 1990s. Transformed into enlightened busi-
nessman, he helped pioneer a more transparent style of corporate
governance and launched extensive philanthropic programmes
before his confrontation with Putin put him in prison in 2003.
ix
