Mark Galeotti is a scholar of Russian security affairs with a career spanning academia, government service and business, a prolific author and frequent media commentator. He heads the Mayak Intelligence consultancy and is an Honorary Professor at University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies as well as holding fellowships with RUSI and the Institute of International Relations Prague. He is the author of over 25 books including A Short History of Russia (Penguin, 2021).

Author's Note
List of Illustrations
List of Maps and Diagrams
Abbreviations
Cast of Characters
Chronology

1. Introduction

PART ONE: BEFORE PUTIN
2. Born in Chaos
3. A Military in Crisis
4. The First Chechen War
5. The Wars of Russian Assertion

PART TWO: ENTER PUTIN
6. Putin's Priorities
7. The Second Chechen War
8. Ivanov, the Initiator
9. Serdyukov, the Enforcer
10. Georgia, 2008 (1): Tbilisi's Move .
11. Georgia, 2008 (2): . Moscow's Counter
12. 'New Look' Army

PART THREE: THE NEW COLD WAR
13. Shoigu, the Rebuilder
14. Crimea, 2014
15. Donbas, 2014-
16. Lessons of the Donbas War
17. Syria, 2015- (1): The Unexpected Intervention
18. Syria, 2015- (2): Lessons of the Syrian Campaign

PART FOUR: REARMING RUSSIA
19. Rumble for Ruble
20. Armiya Rossii
21. The Sky is Russia's!
22. Contesting the Sea
23. Power Projection: Blue and Black Berets
24. The Spetsnaz
25. The Nuclear Backstop

PART FIVE: THE FUTURE
26. Political Warfare
27. New Generation Warfare
28. The Challenges of the Future
29. Ukraine 2022: Putin's Last War?
30. Conclusions: The Eurasian Sparta?
31. Ukraine: A Dispatch on a War in Progress

Notes
Selected English-language Bibliography
Index