How the West gets him wrong

We Need to Talk About Putin

new updated edition

Meet the world's most dangerous man. 
 
Who is the real Vladimir Putin? What does he want? And what will he do next? 
 
Despite the millions of words written on Putin's Russia, the West still fails to truly understand one of the world's most powerful politicians, whose influence spans the globe and whose networks of power reach into the very heart of our daily lives. 
 
Professor Mark Galeotti uncovers the man behind the myth, addressing the key misperceptions of Putin and explaining how we can decipher his motivations and next moves. From Putin's early life in the KGB, to the war with Ukraine, his real relationship with the US and his vision for the future of Russia - Galeotti draws on Russian sources and explosive unpublished accounts to give unparalleled insight into the man at the heart of global politics. 
 
'Easily the shrewdest and most insightful analysis yet of Putin’s policymaking' - Foreign Affairs 
 
'Punchy and highly readable' - TLS 
 
'Reads like a primer for anyone poised to enter a negotiation with the Russian president' - The Guardian

In fewer than 150 pithy pages, Galeotti sketches a bleak, but convincing picture of the man in the Kremlin and the political system that he dominates.

Mark Galeotti, in We Need to Talk About Putin, has distilled a great deal of research and thought into a slim and engaging volume that reads like a primer for anyone poised to enter a negotiation with the Russian president.

Easily the shrewdest and most insightful analysis yet of Putin’s policymaking.

One of the most knowledgeable and dispassionate observers of contemporary Russia

Rachel Polonsky, author of 'Molotov's Magic Lantern'

Mark Galeotti is one of the world’s leading experts on Russian crime and security (which are often one and the same), which may explain why Moscow banned him in 2022. After a stint with the Foreign Office, he has been a scholar and think-tanker in London, New York, Moscow, Prague and Florence. He now heads the consultancy Mayak Intelligence and is an honorary professor at University College London and a senior fellow with RUSI and the Council on Geostrategy. A prolific author, he frequently acts as consultant to various government, commercial and law-enforcement agencies and has briefed everyone from prime ministers to CEOs.

Putin, Prigozhin, and the fight for the future of Russia

Downfall

In the early years of Vladmir Putin’s Russia, Yevgeny Prigozhin emerged as one of the President’s most trusted assets. By 2023, he had become a dangerous warlord – and also one of 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 by 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? 
 
In a compelling tale that unravels a complex web of power, betrayal and recrimination, Downfall delves into the profound impact of Prigozhin on the heart and soul of a nation at a crossroads. 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, Downfall is also a compelling insight into its likely future.

[Mark Galeotti and Anna Arutunyan] have penned not only a deeply interesting biography of Prigozhin, but also a penetrating account of Russia under Putin. Downfall is as much a biography of a system as a biography of a man.

A year after the failed uprising of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the mercenaries of the Wagner Company against the regime led by President Vladimir Putin, a book written by two of the greatest experts on Russia makes the biography of this character as violent as it is complex.

A Short History of Russia

This is terrific - and an amazing achievement to cover so much ground in such a short and wonderfully readable book.

An informative, perceptive and exhilarating canter through 1,000 tumultuous years

Fascinating... One of the most astute political commentators on Putin and modern Russia

'Fascinating... One of the most astute political commentators on Putin and modern Russia' Financial Times 
 
'An amazing achievement' Peter Frankopan 
 
Can anyone truly understand Russia? 
 
Russia is a country with no natural borders, no single ethos, no true central identity. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it is everyone's 'other'. And yet it is one of the most powerful nations on earth, a master game-player on the global stage with a rich history of war and peace, poets and revolutionaries. 
 
In this essential whistle-stop tour of the world's most complex nation, Mark Galeotti takes us behind the myths to the heart of the Russian story: from the formation of a nation to its early legends - including Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the Great - to the rise and fall of the Romanovs, the Russian Revolution, the Cold War, Chernobyl and the end of the Soviet Union - plus the rise of a politician named Vladimir Putin, and the events leading to the Ukrainian war.

Mark Galeotti

One of the most astute political commentators on Putin and modern Russia

In Homo Criminalis, Mark Galeotti does not shy away from asking the big questions—is every state founded on a crime? Are robbers with of a code of honour a mafia or a kingdom? Why crime flourishes at times of social upheavals? His answers take us on a tour-de-force across the centuries and the continents in a book replete with poignant examples and written in his distinctive style, accessible yet precise. A must read.

Frederico Varese, author of 'Russia in Four Criminals'

From medieval bandits to modern mafias, Homo Criminalis takes us on a fast-paced journey through the underworlds that have shaped our upperworld. Combining captivating storytelling with incisive analysis, Galeotti's sweeping global history makes a compelling case that to truly understand how the world works we must understand the criminals who've helped create it.

Peter Andreas, author of 'The Illicit Global Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know'

In the study of organised crime we often don't look enough at history and in the study of history we don't look enough at organised crime. There is no one better than Galeotti to bridge the divide as he does in Homo Criminalis. His prescient and often witty narrative keeps you reading, and even if you are buried deep in the debate, there are new insights on every page.

Mark Shaw, Director of the Global Institute Against Transnational Organized Crime

Glittering... the author’s obvious enthusiasm for the subject is matched by impressive erudition.

Mark Galeotti

Praise for Homo Criminalis

One of the most astute political commentators on Putin and modern Russia

In Homo Criminalis, Mark Galeotti does not shy away from asking the big questions—is every state founded on a crime? Are robbers with of a code of honour a mafia or a kingdom? Why crime flourishes at times of ...

From medieval bandits to modern mafias, Homo Criminalis takes us on a fast-paced journey through the underworlds that have shaped our upperworld. Combining captivating storytelling with incisive analysis, Gal ...

One of the most astute political commentators on Putin and modern Russia

In Homo Criminalis, Mark Galeotti does not shy away from asking the big questions—is every state founded on a crime? Are robbers with of a code of honour a mafia or a kingdom? Why crime flourishes at times of ...

From medieval bandits to modern mafias, Homo Criminalis takes us on a fast-paced journey through the underworlds that have shaped our upperworld. Combining captivating storytelling with incisive analysis, Gal ...

One of the most astute political commentators on Putin and modern Russia

In Homo Criminalis, Mark Galeotti does not shy away from asking the big questions—is every state founded on a crime? Are robbers with of a code of honour a mafia or a kingdom? Why crime flourishes at times of ...

From medieval bandits to modern mafias, Homo Criminalis takes us on a fast-paced journey through the underworlds that have shaped our upperworld. Combining captivating storytelling with incisive analysis, Gal ...

Books by Mark Galeotti

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter