Putinburgh: Chronicles of the Mafia State

A book has come out that all lovers of Russian political history have been waiting for.

We are talking about the book Putinburg by Dmitry Zapolsky. It is published in the UK by PVL Consulting Ltd. and is now available on Amazon.

Zapolsky is a well-known St. Petersburg journalist specializing in crime. Working on television in the 90s, he witnessed how Putin and other current rulers of Russia went to the heights of power, how billionaires close to Putin laid the foundations for their fabulous fortunes, and how and for what St. Petersburg received the nickname "gangster."

These are not so much memoirs as the author's personal impressions and portraits of people, thanks to which modern Russia has turned into a new imperial monster. Zapolsky's heroes sell their consciences, kill each other, die for a wad of dollars, lie down in St. Petersburg land, where the curse of humankind, notorious as "Putinism", grows. As a result, the narrative became an action-packed detective story, like Russia's entire modern history.

There is only one difference from the classic detective story: the criminals who survived managed to escape punishment.

"Every day, armored jeeps of Tambov leaders drove into the gate. Heroes of the criminal chronicle of gangster St. Petersburg walked through the park, officials from the mayor's office or the government of Russia, the governor of the Leningrad region, State Duma deputies, bankers, industrialists, influential security officials came to them. I saw there Galina Starovoitova, Lyudmila Narusova, Sobchak and Putin. The Russian Video was the assembly point of the new government. After all, where else can the Tambov leaders and vice-mayors have a chat over a glass of Hennessy XO? Behind the high fence of the government residence. Under the canopy of old maples, without prying eyes and unnecessary microphones. The Russian Video also had its own security service, headed by retired KGB colonel Grunin. He was smart and reckless.

At one time, more than ten key employees, who mostly had access to the company's financial affairs, died one after another in The Russian Video. From asthma, from a heart attack, in strange accidents due to failure of the car brakes, due to generally incomprehensible heart attacks and strokes. All young, healthy, strong people. They said that all these deaths were on the conscience of the KGB."

This is just a fragment of a large and very eventful book. To publish such frank memoirs, it required a lot of personal courage: in the past, the journalist, fleeing persecution, was forced to move to Thailand, and when he was found there, to one of the European countries. As Zapolsky later said in an interview with Radio Liberty: "I left so that no polonium was spent on me."

More information about the author can be found on the website (putinburg.computinburg.com); there are also some illustrations used in the book. This story drags on with its sincerity and directness: everything is called by its proper names without concealment. Once you start reading, you can't stop.

The book can be purchased here, on the Amazon website, or through the Putinburg website.