Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine

Over the decades, a number of books have been written about Russian President Vladimir Putin, and even more books have come out since he has turned aggressive and started a war in Ukraine. The books tend to fall between biographies, explaining the reasons behind Russian aggression, or why Putin is acting the way he is. This book falls mostly into the latter category.

It is not really a biography of Putin, as it mostly focuses on the military conflicts Putin has initiated since 2012 at the beginning of his second presidency. The book does not really cover his first time as president. The author examines how Putin and Russian government agencies have used mercenaries and information warfare to spread disinformation, project power in many failing countries, and attempt to influence elections in Western Europe and the United States. The author spends time attempting to examine what life is like in the Russian military for soldiers and how life is really like.

This book joins the ever growing list of books about Putin and Russia, and the only thing that makes it really stand out is the contacts the author has in Russia that he was able to get before communication shut down during the current conflict.