Putin's Oil The Yukos Affair and the Struggle for Russia

Description

Putin's Oil is the story of Russia's energy wars and their consequences for Moscow and the world. Written by Martin Sixsmith, former BBC Moscow correspondent, Putin's Oil focuses on Mikhail Khodorkovsky, owner of Yukos, once the country's biggest oil firm and the key to Russia's economy.

In October 2003, troops carrying machine guns boarded Khodorkovsky's plane on the runway of a Siberian airfield. Within hours, the richest man in Russia was hauled back to Moscow wearing handcuffs and a black canvas hood over his head. Vladimir Putin had flexed his political might and changed the political course of Russia.

The book is a vivid account of what led to Khodorkovsky's arrest, and its dramatic aftermath and far-reaching consequences.

Martin Sixsmith has gained unprecedented access to many of the key players in the drama. The resulting book is both a thriller and political examination of Vladimir Putin's struggle to control Russia's valuable stores of oil, through political maneuvering, conspiracy, deception, betrayal, and espionage -by one of the world's leading experts on contemporary Russia.

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART ONE
Chapter 1. Flight to the East
Chapter 2. Into Siberia
Chapter 3. “Put Down Your Guns!”

PART TWO
Chapter 4. Boy from the Komsomol
Chapter 5. Gathering the Team
Chapter 6. Computers and Banks
Chapter 7. August 1991
Chapter 8. Sale of the Century?
Chapter 9. Consolidating the Gains

PART THREE
Chapter 10. New man in the Kremlin
Chapter 11. Buying up the Duma?
Chapter 12. Igor Sechin and the ‘Strongmen’
Chapter 13. Showdown in the Kremlin
Chapter 14. Looking for Trouble
Chapter 15. Pipelines and Provocation
Chapter 16. Open Russia
Chapter 17. Friends in the West

PART FOUR
Chapter 18. The Family and the Siloviki
Chapter 19. More Arrests
Chapter 20. Yukos and the Struggle for Russia
Chapter 21. A Kremlin Double Cross?
Chapter 22. Exile or Jail
Chapter 23. Americans in Town
Chapter 24. The Exxon Gaffe
Chapter 25. A Final Plea?
Chapter 26. Arrest in Siberia

PART FIVE
Chapter 27. Counting the Cost
Chapter 28. Trying to Stay Afloat
Chapter 29. The Abramovich Connection
Chapter 30. The Kremlin Explains
Chapter 31. Fight or Flight
Chapter 32. Khodorkovsky Shunned

PART SIX
Chapter 33. “Just like Al Capone”
Chapter 34. Justice on Trial
Chapter 35. The Murder Business
Chapter 36. The Chechen Connection
Chapter 37. Hostages?
Chapter 38. In the Camps
Chapter 39. Prophet in a Prison Cell
Chapter 40. A battle of Titans

PART SEVEN.
Chapter 41. The UK Connection
Chapter 42. The British Troika
Chapter 43. A Canadian Gambit
Chapter 44. The Brits Bite Back.
Chapter 45. Cashing in the Profits
Chapter 46. The Startled Accountants
Chapter 47.  Traitors in the Ranks?
Chapter 48. Hope
Chapter 49. Hope Abandoned
Chapter 50. Light at the End of a Disaster?

Author(s)

Martin Sixsmith, Martin Sixsmith is a journalist, writer, and broadcaster. He began working at the BBC in 1980 as a foreign correspondent, reporting from Moscow during the end of the Cold War, the era of Perestroika, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1997, he went to work for the government of Tony Blair as  Director of Communications and Press Secretary to Harriet Harman and then to Alistair Darling. He then served as Director of Communication at the Department for Transport, Local Government, and the Regions.

Sixsmith is the author of two political novels, Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh. He has also published an account of the Litvinenko murder, The Litvinenko File, and made a documentary film in 2008 exploring the legacy of the KGB in today's Russia and the FSB.
 

Reviews

"A bleak and well-researched look at the crooked roots of the Kremlin's energy empire"
-Edward Lucas, Central & Eastern Europe Correspondent for The Economist, author of The New Cold War

,

"All the drama of a Hollywood thriller, but this is a chilling real life story – the unfinished battle for oil and political power in Russia. This meticulously researched and vividly told story is a must read for anyone who wants to understand today’s Russia – a world where politics and big business form a deadly cocktail."
-Angus Roxburgh, former Sunday Times Moscow correspondent and author of The Second Russian Revolution

,

"This is a penetrating inside look at the machinations in Russia’s most crucial sector. Sixsmith has obtained unprecedented access to the players, inside the Kremlin and out, and his account of the dealings and dirty work up the chain of command to the President’s office is both fascinating and appalling." --Don Murray, former CBC Moscow bureau chief and author of A Democracy of Despots

,

'Well-researched ... it illustrates both the risks of conducting business and the extraordinary realities of politics in Russia today.' - openDemocracy.net

,

'Written as a thriller, but also provides analysis of the defining moments of Putin's presidency and its ongoing impact in Russian and world politics.' - Petroleum Review

,

"Khodorkovsky's arrest and trial turned him into a cause célèbre for critics of the Kremlin; thankfully Sixsmith...avoids the impulse to lionize Khodorkovsky and by doing so, manages to give the reader a more complete portrait of a very complex man."
-Ed Hancox, The Mantle

,