Much has been said about Putin’s background in the KGB, but Hess makes a convincing case that his days in the St. Petersburg government, when he served as a liaison between the city, foreign business and, occasionally, criminal underworld, were just as formative.
Ukraine & The Global Conflict between Russia and the West
Economic War
Awarded the US-Russia Studies Book Prize 2024
Purchase Economic War
About Economic War:
Ukraine and The Global Conflict Between Russia and the West
Vladimir Putin’s first invasion of Ukraine, in 2014, set off a global economic clash, as the West used its
clout with international markets to deter and penalise the Kremlin. The battle lines of this ‘war by other
means’ traversed a series of deep economic connections, built up during Russia’s oil, gas and commodities
boom: global equity and capital markets, and transnational kleptocracy.
Maximilian Hess’s startling book lifts the lid on Russia’s response to Western sanctions, and the ensuing
skirmishes in London’s courts, on Swiss trading desks and in boardrooms in New Delhi. He explores how
pipelines, mines, loans and crypto-markets were weaponised. This narrative sets the stage for Putin’s all-out
assault on Kyiv in February 2022, which turned financial, food and fuel markets into bona fide battlefields,
bringing the fight into everyone’s home, from Pennsylvania to Pakistan.
Rather than a ‘new Cold War’, we are witnessing a conflict over finance, energy and capital markets. How such
economic warfare turns out will determine the future of liberalism and democracy; it will also set a precedent
for economic relations between the West and China, as the two diverge into rival spheres of influence and
power.
Purchase Economic War
Praise & Reviews
From Critics for Economic War
Maximilian talk about his book and several related topics on CNBC