Black Wind, White Snow

A fascinating study of the motivations behind the political activities and philosophies of Putin's government in Russia

"Part intellectual history, part portrait gallery . . . Black Wind, White Snow traces the background to Putin's ideas with verve and clarity."-Geoffrey Hosking, Financial Times

"Required reading. This is a vivid, panoramic history of bad ideas, chasing the metastasis of the doctrine known as Eurasianism. . . . Reading Charles Clover will help you understand the world of lies and delusions that is Eurasia."-Ben Judah, Standpoint

A powerful strain of Russian nationalism now lies at the heart of the Kremlin's political thinking: "Eurasianism". But how did this dangerous ideology, once a fringe theory, come to dominate Moscow's elite?

Promoted most notably in recent years by Alexander Dugin, this theory has become the driving force behind the invasion of Ukraine and the perplexing manoeuvrings of Putin's Russia. In this fascinating investigation, Charles Clover, an award-winning journalist, traces Eurasianism's origins in the writings of White Russian exiles in 1920s Europe, through Siberia's Gulag archipelago in the 1950s, the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, and up to its steady infiltration of the governing elite.

Based on extensive research and dozens of interviews with Putin's close advisers, this eye-opening account is essential reading to understand Russia's past century - and the dangers of our present political moment.