Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia

"Another Russia-related book I read avidly was Punishing Putin by Stephanie Baker, a Bloomberg journalist who while now based in London lived in Russia for many years. Waging war costs money and this is about the economic war against Putin and trying to hamper his ability to pursue the war in Ukraine . The book opens with the seizure of oligarchs’ superyachts and in addition to sanctions also looks at the impact of Western businesses (like McDonalds, which famously opened in Russia in 1990) leaving Russia. What’s interesting is that while it looks on paper as if the West has an enormous amount of leverage, in practice—partly because we live in countries governed by the rule of law—it’s hard to use all the possible tools effectively. This is a very readable book and I learned a lot, including about the Russian oligarchs, several of whom Baker knows."