Russia's dead end
Subtitle: an insider's testimony from Gorbachev to Putin
By: Andrei A. Kovalev ; translated by Steven I. Levine ; foreword by Peter Reddaway
Contributors: Levine, Steven I., translator
Publisher: Potomac Books
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 347
ISBN-13: 9781612348933; 9781612349466; 9781612349473; 9781612349480
Subjects: Politics and government; Political culture; Diplomats; Glasnost; Presidents; Russia & the Former Soviet Union; History; Staff; Post-communism; Personal Memoirs; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY; Perestroĭka; Biography; HISTORY
Work titles: Svidetelʹstvo iz-za kulis rossiĭskoĭ politiki
Description: "An internal account of the political activities taking place inside the Kremlin from the fall of the USSR under the administration of Gorbachev to the future of Russia under Putin"--Provided by publisher.

"Elite-level Soviet politics, privileged access to state secrets, knowledge about machinations inside the Kremlin--such is the environment in which Andrei A. Kovalev lived and worked. In this memoir of his time as a successful diplomat serving in various key capacities and as a member of Mikhail Gorbachev's staff, Kovalev reveals hard truths about his country as only a perceptive witness can do. In Russia's Dead End Kovalev shares his intimate knowledge of political activities behind the scenes at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kremlin before and after the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991, including the Russia of Vladimir Putin. Kovalev analyzes Soviet efforts to comply with international human-rights obligations, the machinations of the KGB, and the link between corrupt oligarchs and state officials. He documents the fall of the USSR, the post-Soviet explosion of state terrorism and propaganda, and offers a nuanced historical explanation of the roots of Russia's contemporary crisis under Vladimir Putin. This insider's memoir provides a penetrating analysis of late-Soviet and post-Soviet Russian politics that is pungent, pointed, witty, and accessible. It assesses the current dangerous status of Russian politics and society while illuminating the path to a more just and democratic future"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: "A two-volume Russian-language edition of this book was published under the titles Svidetel'stvo iz-za kulis rossiiskoi politiki I : Mozhno li delat' dobro iz zla?; and Svidetel'stvo iz-za kulis rossiiskoi politiki II : Ugroza dlia sebia i okruzhaiushchikh (Stuttgart : Ibidem-Verlag, 2012)"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Diplomacy and Democratic Reforms; title: 2. The August 1991 Coup : The Breaking Point; title: 3. Anatomy of a Lost Decade, 1992-2000; title: 4. How the System Really Works; title: 5. Inside the Secret Police State; title: 6. Strangling Democracy; title: 7. The New Russian Imperialism; title: Conclusion; title: Cast of Characters.