Sir Rodric Braithwaite

As a former ambassador to Moscow, Rodric Braithwaite brings unique insights to the Soviet War in Afghanistan. The story has been distorted not only by Cold War propaganda but also by the myths of the nineteenth century Great Game. It moves from high politics of the Kremlin to the lonely Russian conscripts in isolated mountain outposts. The parallels with Afghanistan...

Wise and thorough - The Spectator Brisk and readable ... very valuable - Financial Times He is an engaging guide ... and writes with the same flair demonstrated in his previous bestseller Afgantsy - The Sunday Telegraph A scholarly yet highly readable gallop through the last 1000 years of Russian history ... To understand this tormented nation, you can do...

Russia is the largest country in the world, with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. Over a thousand years, this multifaceted nation of shifting borders has been known as Rus, Muscovy, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. Thirty years ago, it was reinvented as the Russian Federation. Russia is not an enigma, but its past is violent, tragic, sometimes...