“A brilliant book.” Alastair Campbell, The Rest is Politics

From seizing superyachts to manipulating the global price of oil and blocking the sale of military technology, Stephanie Baker explains the furious financial war which unfolded after Russia invaded Ukraine.

In the immediate aftermath of the invasion, Western leaders weaponised economic tools in a world-changing financial experiment. The end goal was to damage the Russian economy and sap the strength from Putin’s war machine. Veteran journalist Stephanie Baker has written the essential insider account of how this cat and mouse economic warfare against Russia is changing the face of global trade. Mobilising white-collar-crime investigators and experts on international law, she explores how the West cracked down on illicit Russian money by targeting oligarchs and their enablers – risking a global recession in the process. Filled with propulsive, fly-on-the-wall details, Punishing Putin includes the frantic backroom deliberations that led to a new era of economic statecraft and radically rearranged global alliances, influencing world order for generations to come.

Stephanie Baker is an award-winning journalist and Senior Writer at Bloomberg. In Moscow during the nineties, she reported on the economic transformation of Russia for Bloomberg, The Moscow Times, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She chronicles the rise and fall of Russian billionaires, sanctions placed on Russia, and the fallout from the invasion of Ukraine.

Duration: 1 hour