Please join the Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School for a conversation with famed independent Russian journalist and writer Mikhail Zygar. He will discuss his latest book, War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine (2023). The event is open to the public and supported by the Fletcher Conference on Gender and International Affairs 2023 and Fletcher Pride. Please make sure to register via Eventbrite to participate in the event in person. Refreshments will be served.

The book is written by “one of Russia’s smartest and best-sourced young journalists” (The New York Times)—the first work by a Russian author to reveal his country’s history of oppressing Ukraine, providing an unprecedented overview of the war for Ukrainian independence that affects us all.

As soon as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Zygar circulated a Facebook petition signed first by hundreds of his cultural and journalistic contacts and then by thousands of others. That act led to a new law in Russia criminalizing criticism of the war, and Zygar fled Russia. In his time as a journalist, Zygar interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and had access to many of the major players—from politicians to oligarchs. As an expert on Putin’s moods and behavior, he has spent years studying the Kremlin’s plan regarding Ukraine, and here, in clear, chronological order, he explains how we got here.

From 1996 to 2004, Ukraine became an independent post-Soviet country where everyone was financially, culturally, and psychologically connected to the former empire at all levels. However, the elite anticipated that the empire would be back and punish them. From 2004 to 2018, there were many states inside one state, each with its own rulers/oligarchs and interests—some directly connected with Russia. In 2018, a new generation of Ukrainians arrived, and having grown up in an independent country, they do not consider themselves to be part of Russia—and that was the moment when the war began, as Putin could not tolerate losing Ukraine forever.

Authoritative, timely, and vitally important, the book provides a unique overview of the war that continues to threaten the future of the entire world as we know it.

Mikhail Zygar has worked for Newsweek Russia and the business daily Kommersant, covering conflicts in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Serbia, and Kosovo before becoming the founding editor-in-chief of Russia’s only independent news television channel, Dozhd, which provided an alternative to Kremlin-controlled federal TV and gave a platform to opposition voices. He won an International Press Freedom Award in 2014. He is the author of All the Kremlin’s Men (2016), a #1 bestseller in Russia that has been translated into more than twenty languages and was called one of “9 books that can help you understand Russia right now” by TIME magazine, and The Empire Must Die (2017), a Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year. His new book War and Punishment (2023) was published by Scribner.