Steve LeVine - Putin's Labyrinth

Tom Wallace is the most loyal and supportive agent in New York. He never expressed a doubt that the book could and would meet Will’s expectations. Tom, himself a talented longtime editor, read the manuscript twice in its entirety, and supplied excellent commentary that much improved the book.

At Random House, I also thank Jennifer Hershey, Jack Perry, Evan Camfield, Vanessa Mickan, and London King. Lea Beresford and Courtney Turco are wonderful professionals.

My wife, Nurilda, made me swear that I would not write another book after The Oil and the Glory, at least not soon—not after she and our girls had to spend a summer in Kazakhstan on their own so I could finish that book in isolation at Stanford University. But, after a bottle of pinot noir and a long chat at Cru, a wine bar near our home, Nuri wholeheartedly agreed that I must write the book. Then she supported the project more than one could hope for as I was absent either physically or mentally for a year while completing the manuscript. This book is as much Nuri’s as mine. I also thank our daughters, Alisha and Ilana, for tolerating my absences and remaining cheerful throughout.

Nino Ivanishvili provided a home, meals, and wise advice in Moscow. I have known Nino for sixteen years—almost since I first arrived in the former Soviet Union—and throughout she has been among the smartest journalists in the field. Fred Harrison was a great friend and a key supporter of this book, even though we met for the first time when I arrived in London to begin the research. Fred is responsible for my getting some of the most important interviews in the book. My longtime colleagues Guy Chazan, Alan Cullison, Mike Collet-White, Monica Whitlock, Jenny Norton, and Ian McWilliam opened up their Rolodexes so I could reach the people I needed. Mary Gordon provided the names and numbers of bankers in Moscow. The owners and senior investigators at certain London detective agencies were vital in my cracking Mayfair; they have asked that their names not appear in this book, so I thank them anonymously.

Anna Chernyakovskaya was my aide-de-camp in Moscow. Anna deftly and tactfully opened up the Russian capital so that I could learn about the lives of the people profiled in this book, and about the transformation that had occurred to the city since the last time I was there. The book could not have been completed without her.

Alexander Politkovsky and Marina Litvinenko were extremely generous with their time and with introductions to others.

It is easy to make false assumptions and clumsy factual mistakes. The manuscript was read in its entirety by Guy Chazan, Tom De Waal, Carter Page, and Tom Wallace. All rescued me from errors of fact and judgment; Carter expressed serious disagreement with some of my conclusions. I take responsibility for any errors that remain.

Dolores LeVine has supported whatever I’ve attempted. She did so again with this book. Thanks so much. Avery LeVine was wholeheartedly enthusiastic about the project at all times. In various ways, the book was helped immensely by Heidi Bradner, Zhenya Harrison, Doug Mazzapica, Michael McFaul, Jennifer Morgan, Seymour Philips, and Rick Webb.

“You don’t know what”Yura Bekauri in conversation with author, December 17, 1994.

That was how a young BostonCynthia Elbaum was killed on December 22, 1994.

Oleg Orlov, a distinguished investigatorDetail from author interview with Oleg Orlov, January 28, 1995.

We set out to findDetail and quotes from author interview with Isan Matayev, January 29, 1995.

“Go outside the village”Author interview with Mariam Madiyeva, January 31, 1995.

“They were pushing us”Author interview with Abu Oshayev, January 31, 1995.

“Do you want to be”Author interview with Matayev.

Putin objected to the skitsAuthor interview with Grigory Lubomirov, March 25, 2007.

“The current FSB wouldn’t”Author interview with Nikita Petrov, August 31, 2007.

“Russian history taught its people”Ibid.

In 2004, Qatar convicted twoZelimkhan Yandarbiyev was murdered on February 13, 2004. Anatoly Yablochkov, thirty-five, and Vasily Pugachyov, thirty-two, were convicted by a Qatari court of murder and sentenced to life in prison. They were let go in January 2005. On February 17, 2005, the BBC quoted a Russian prison official named Yuri Kalinin that the pair was not in any Russian prison, and that in any case the Qatari conviction was “irrelevant here in Russia” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4275147.stm).

Her most recent studyDetail and quote from author interview with Olga Kryshtanovskaya, September 3, 2007.

Yuri Sinelshchikov, a former deputyDetail and quote from author interview with Yuri Sinelshchikov, April 10, 2007.

“The local attitude is, ‘Shit happens’”Author interview with Rory MacFarquar, March 20, 2007.

“Life isn’t straightforward here”Author interview with Al Breach, March 19, 2007.

“I would advise you”Author interview with Alexei Miller, August 28, 2007.

“People say that Russians”Author interview with Alexander Kamenskii, September 3, 2007.

Russia’s first crowned czarPhysical description of Ivan from Robert Payne and Nikita Romanoff, Ivan the Terrible (New York: Crowell, 1975), 215.

“thrust into his fundament through his”Edward Augustus Bond, Russia at the Close of the Sixteenth Century (London: Hakluyt Society, 1861 reprint of 1591 manuscript of Sir Jerome Horsey), 173. Horsey was an agent of the Russia Company and was described as having lived in Moscow more or less continually from 1575 to 1591.

“cut off his nose, his tongue”Benson Bobrick, Fearful Majesty (New York: Putnam, 1987), 207.

Convinced that one Prince VladimirPayne and Romanoff, Ivan the Terrible, 263–64.

“to make an example”Robert K. Massie, Peter the Great (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980), 270.

“In case also that anyone”Ibid., 726.

Josef Stalin executed nearly allNumber of dead under Stalin from Robert Conquest, The Great Terror (London: Pimlico, repr. 1994), 286, 339.

“teacher, teacher”Simon Sebag Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003), 350.

“constantly compared his terror”Ibid.

“he should have killed”Ibid., 206.

“victorious Russian rulers”Pavel and Anatoli Sudoplatov with Jerrold L. and Leona P. Schecter, Special Tasks (Boston: Little, Brown, 1994), 5.

Indeed, his book is aAssassinations as described in Sudoplatov et al. Special Tasks, 27, 46–49, 67–83.

Dressed in a silk scarf and aDetail and quotes from author interview with Musa Eitingon Malinovskaya, August 30, 2007.

Another defector, Bulgarian novelistDescription of Georgy Markov’s assassination based on the documentary Umbrella Assassin (PBS, 2006). Markov was jabbed on September 7, 1978, and died four days later, on September 11, 1978.

In summer 1993, three gunmen The New York Times, August 16, 1993.

In April 1995, two gunmen killed The New York Times, June 7, 1995.