First published in 2014, Ben Judah’s book Fragile Empire is the result of his travels throughout Russia and the former Soviet republics where he conducted extensive interviews with President Vladimir Putin’s friends, foes, and colleagues, government officials, business tycoons, mobsters, and ordinary Russian citizens. The book is a probing assessment of Putin’s rise to power and what it has meant for Russia and her people.
One of the interviews in the book was with Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny. Following the recent news of his death while serving a 19 year prison sentence in the Russian Arctic, we are making the Chapter 8: Navalny and the Evolution of the Opposition available to read for free below.
About the book
Fragile Empire
How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin
Ben Judah
“A beautifully written and very lively study of Russia that argues that the political order created by Vladimir Putin is stagnating—undermined by corruption and a failure to modernise economically.”—Gideon Rachman, Financial Times
“Ben Judah, a young freelance writer, paints a more journalistic—and more passionate—picture in Fragile Empire. He shuttles to and fro across Russia’s vast terrain, finding criminals, liars, fascists and crooked politicians, as well as the occasional saintly figure.”—The Economist
Also of interest
Featured image: “Alexey Navalny” by Dmitry Aleshkovskiy is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
