Russia under Vladimir Putin has proved a prickly partner for the West, a far cry from the democratic ally many hoped for when the Soviet Union collapsed. Abroad, he has used Russia's energy might as a foreign policy weapon, while at home he has cracked down on opponents, adamant that only he has the right vision for his country's future. Former BBC Moscow correspondent Angus Roxburgh charts the dramatic fight for Russia's future under Vladimir Putin - how the former KGB man changed from reformer to autocrat, how he sought the West's respect but earned its fear, how he cracked down on his rivals at home and burnished a flamboyant personality cult, one day saving snow leopards or horse-back riding bare-chested, the next tongue-lashing Western audiences. Drawing on dozens of exclusive interviews in Russia, where he worked for a time as a Kremlin insider advising Putin on press relations, as well as in the US and Europe, Roxburgh also argues that the West threw away chances to bring Russia in from the cold, by failing to understand its fears and aspirations following the collapse of communism.

安格斯•羅剋斯伯勒（Angus Roxburgh），英國著名新聞記者。20世紀80年代，作為《星期日泰晤士報》新聞記者駐莫斯科期間，成為被俄羅斯政府驅除齣境的8位外交官和3位記者中的一個。這被認為是冷戰時期最大的間諜醜聞之一。2006年，安格斯所在的公關公司被剋林姆林宮選中，作為從事俄羅斯報道多年、精通俄語的資深媒體人，他又陰差陽錯地成瞭普京政府的新聞顧問。

2006~2009年間，安格斯得以近距離地觀察普京的執政風格與俄羅斯的高層政治，遍訪8個國傢的政府首腦、外交部長和高官，獲得瞭大量第一手的資料，這無疑為本書的寫作提供瞭權威而獨傢的珍貴素材。