It is not unknown for publishers to choose a title that over-sells what the reader then finds past the jacket. No such accusation can be levelled at Sergey Aleksashenko or his editors at Brookings. A 'counter-revolution' is exactly what the author charts, in grim detail, through chapters which consider one by one how Russia's institutions reached the parlous condition they are in today. From the media through government, the judiciary, political parties and the murky world of business, the author lays out his charge sheet against Vladimir Putin. His case is that, over almost twenty years in power, the Russian leader has systematically reversed the transformation begun by Mikhail Gorbachev in the twilight of the Soviet Union and then fast-tracked in the new Russia by Boris Yeltsin.
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