Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine

Galeotti (A Short History of Russia) is a prolific writer about Russian security affairs. His latest assessment of the Ukraine campaign is that its overreach may set the Russian economy and military back for decades. In this book, he shows the way to put Vladimir Putin’s military activities in perspective is to look at a map and two calendars. The map is of Russia, vast, sprawling, and with no defensible borders; it’s been invaded many times. The first calendar chronicles Putin’s rise to power, starting as a KGB apparatchik, becoming a fixer for St. Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, and heading his country’s Federal Security Service in 1998 before becoming Prime Minister and later acting president. He’s held the reins of control ever since. The other map is of Russia’s wars, from the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, through the failed campaign in Afghanistan (1979–89) and the botched Chechen War of 1994–96, to today’s wars in Syria and the Ukraine. From the start, Putin’s goal has been to build a functioning military and use it to establish Russia’s regional dominance.