Downfall

In the early years of Vladimir Putin's Russia, Yevgeny Prigozhin emerged as one of the President's most trusted assets. By 2023, he had become one of the most dangerous warlords in the world - and also one of Vladimir Putin's chief rivals in Russia's tumultuous political climate, exiled after leading an attempted coup, and shortly after killed in a mysterious plane crash. But what is the truth about this enigmatic figure, his role in the war with Ukraine, and the chaos unleashed across Russia and his turn against Putin? And, in the aftermath of his death, what is next for Russia in the new stage of late Putinism that Prigozhin's life forged?

Written by two world-leading experts and drawing on years of research, this book traces the rise of Russia's most prominent non-state actor and examines the political climate that propelled a convicted gangster with no government office to the formidable role he came to occupy. An essential story of Russia's recent history at a time when Putin's system of a modern state ruled by a medieval court is showing its age, Downfall is also a compelling insight into its likely future.