This week, Shane Harris talks with journalist Catherine Belton about the rise of Vladimir Putin from KGB officer to president of Russia. 

Belton’s book, Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West, traces how Soviet-era spies siphoned billions out of the state economy, creating vast networks for laundering money and hiding assets. After Putin came to power, he pushed out the tycoons of the post-Soviet era and set up his own cadre of loyal oligarchs. 

Today, as the West levies massive sanctions against Putin and his supporters, Belton’s work reveals much about how he managed to amass such vast wealth and control of the Russian state. Putin now finds himself increasingly isolated, surrounded by a small circle of loyal advisers. Will Western sanctions help pressure the oligarchs to take back control? What is Putin’s endgame in Ukraine? Shane and Catherine’s discussion is a timely exploration of what made Putin and what could bring him down. 

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Among the works cited in this episode:

Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West https://www.amazon.com/Putins-People-Took-Back-Russia/dp/0374238715/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1647978957&sr=8-1 

Catherine Belton on Twitter https://twitter.com/CatherineBelton?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor 

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