Putin's Oil: The Yukos Affair and the Struggle for Russia

by Martin Sixsmith

Overview

This title investigates Vladimir Putin's war for control of Russia's vast oil reserves, in particular Mikhail Khodorkovsky's oil firm, Yukos. "Putin's Oil" investigates the complex world of Kremlin politics, including conspiracies and conspiracy theories, allegations that Roman Abramovitch plotted with Putin to destroy Khodorkovsky, suspicions of betrayal and double agents in the Kremlin and in Yukos, murder charges against Khodorkovsky's partners, and the KGB defector who claims they were carried out by Kremlin agents. After the mysterious death in a helicopter crash of the Englishman who had taken over Yukos, the company's war against the Kremlin is now being waged by a troika of mild mannered Britons, pursued by Interpol arrest warrants and Moscow's fury. Khodorkovsky remains in a penal camp in far Eastern Siberia. Martin Sixsmith, former BBC Moscow Correspondent, has gained unprecedented access to many of the players in the drama. The resulting book is both a thriller and an analysis of the defining moments of Putin's presidency and their ongoing impact in Russian and world politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441179883
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	02/15/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	882,266
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Martin Sixsmith is a journalist, writer, and broadcaster. He began working at the BBC in 1980 as a foreign correspondent, reporting from Moscow during the end of the Cold War, the era of Perestroika, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1997, he went to work for the government of Tony Blair as Director of Communications and Press Secretary to Harriet Harman and then to Alistair Darling. He then served as Director of Communication at the Department for Transport, Local Government, and the Regions.
Martin Sixsmith is a bestselling author, television and radio presenter and journalist.

He began working at the BBC in 1980 as a foreign correspondent, reporting from Moscow during the end of the Cold War, the era of Perestroika, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1997, he went to work for the government of Tony Blair as Director of Communications and Press Secretary to Harriet Harman and then to Alistair Darling. He then served as Director of Communication at the Department for Transport, Local Government, and the Regions.

Sixsmith is the author of two political novels, Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh. He has also published an account of the Litvinenko murder, The Litvinenko File, and made a documentary film in 2008 exploring the legacy of the KGB in today's Russia and the FSB.

His book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee was turned into a hugely successful film in 2013, starring Judi Dench.

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART ONE
Chapter 1. Flight to the East
Chapter 2. Into Siberia
Chapter 3. "Put Down Your Guns!"

PART TWO
Chapter 4. Boy from the Komsomol
Chapter 5. Gathering the Team
Chapter 6. Computers and Banks
Chapter 7. August 1991
Chapter 8. Sale of the Century?
Chapter 9. Consolidating the Gains

PART THREE
Chapter 10. New man in the Kremlin
Chapter 11. Buying up the Duma?
Chapter 12. Igor Sechin and the 'Strongmen'
Chapter 13. Showdown in the Kremlin
Chapter 14. Looking for Trouble
Chapter 15. Pipelines and Provocation
Chapter 16. Open Russia
Chapter 17. Friends in the West

PART FOUR
Chapter 18. The Family and the Siloviki
Chapter 19. More Arrests
Chapter 20. Yukos and the Struggle for Russia
Chapter 21. A Kremlin Double Cross?
Chapter 22. Exile or Jail
Chapter 23. Americans in Town
Chapter 24. The Exxon Gaffe
Chapter 25. A Final Plea?
Chapter 26. Arrest in Siberia

PART FIVE
Chapter 27. Counting the Cost
Chapter 28. Trying to Stay Afloat
Chapter 29. The Abramovich Connection
Chapter 30. The Kremlin Explains
Chapter 31. Fight or Flight
Chapter 32. Khodorkovsky Shunned

PART SIX
Chapter 33. "Just like Al Capone"
Chapter 34. Justice on Trial
Chapter 35. The Murder Business
Chapter 36. The Chechen Connection
Chapter 37. Hostages?
Chapter 38. In the Camps
Chapter 39. Prophet in a Prison Cell
Chapter 40. A battle of Titans

PART SEVEN.
Chapter 41. The UK Connection
Chapter 42. The British Troika
Chapter 43. A Canadian Gambit
Chapter 44. The Brits Bite Back.
Chapter 45. Cashing in the Profits
Chapter 46. The Startled Accountants
Chapter 47. Traitors in the Ranks?
Chapter 48. Hope
Chapter 49. Hope Abandoned
Chapter 50. Light at the End of a Disaster?

Editorial Reviews

Journalist Sixsmith (The Litvinenko File) vividly describes the struggle between former Russian president (and current prime minister) Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former owner of the Yukos Oil company and one of the wealthiest men in Russia. With the skill of a novelist (he has written two works of political fiction), Sixsmith recalls how Khodorkovsky transformed himself from a businessman, who may have committed ruthless criminal actions to get ahead, into a philanthropist who stood for Western-style above-board corporate accounting and political freedom for Russians. However, after provoking the prickly Putin with accusations of shady political and financial dealing and hypocrisy, Khodorkovsky was sentenced to jail for tax evasion on questionable evidence. Often dramatic and compelling, this work unfortunately becomes tedious when it details Yukos's financial affairs. The book lacks citations, and the author appears to depend solely on interviews and his own reporting as his sources. VERDICT This is a good overview for general readers who follow international current events, but Sixsmith should have focused less on Yukos's statistics and more on the big picture implications of Putin's actions.—Rob Langenderfer, Brown Mackie Coll. Lib., Ft. Mitchell, KY

Library Journal

This history of the rise and fall of the Yukos company reads like a nineteenth century Russian novel in which titans battle for a nation's soul... We are grateful to Mr Sixsmith for the work he has done in telling this sordid story.” —Contemporary Review

“Martin Sixsmith, a former BBC jourbanalist, picks his way through this battlefield - lucidly, insightfully, quickly - by following the trail of events that led to the fall of Khodorkovsky and his Yukos empire.” —European Voice

“Martin Sixsmith's seductive blend of investigative jourbanalism and contemporary history charts the rise and fall over nearly 20 years of Russia's oil giant Yukos and its main proprietor Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky.” —International Affairs

“this is a test” —tim dennis, Theology

From the Publisher