Black Wind, White Snow: The Rise of Russia's New Nationalism

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

Charles Clover, award-winning journalist and former Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times, here analyses the idea of "Eurasianism," a theory of Russian national identity based on ethnicity and geography. Clover 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 around Vladimir Putin. This eye-opening analysis pieces together the evidence for Eurasianism&;s place at the heart of Kremlin thinking today and explores its impact on recent events, the annexation of Crimea, the rise in Russia of anti-Western paranoia and imperialist rhetoric, as well as Putin&;s sometimes perplexing political actions and ambitions.

Based on extensive research and dozens of interviews with Putin&;s close advisers, this quietly explosive story will be essential reading for anyone concerned with Russia&;s past century, and its future.