Fletcher U.S.-Russia Relations Book Prize Awarded to Mark Galeotti for “Putin’s Wars”
By Hannah Campeanu, MALD 2024 Candidate, The Fletcher School
The Russia and Eurasia Program is pleased to announce that Dr. Mark Galeotti has been awarded The Fletcher School U.S.-Russia Relations Initiative’s fourth annual book prize for “Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine” (2022).
In “Putin’s Wars,” Dr. Galeotti provides an overview of the conflicts which Russia has been involved in since Vladimir Putin became prime minister and then president of Russia, from the First Chechen War to the two military incursions into Georgia, the annexation of Crimea, and the eventual invasion of Ukraine. Dr. Galeotti also looks more broadly at Putin’s re-creation of Russian military power and its expansion to include a range of new capabilities, from mercenaries to operatives in a relentless information war against Western powers. He examines the strategy of the Russian military and its successes and failures on the battlefield, featuring anecdotes of military life, personal snapshots of conflicts, and an extraordinary collection of first-hand accounts from currently serving and retired Russian officers.
Dr. Galeotti heads the Mayak Intelligence consultancy and is an Honorary Professor at University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He also holds fellowships with RUSI, the Council on Geostrategy, and the Institute of International Relations Prague. He is the author of over 25 books, including “A Short History of Russia” (2021) and “The Weaponization of Everything: A Field Guide to the New Way of War” (2022).
On receiving the award, Dr. Galeotti said, “Putin’s wars pose arguably the greatest political challenge to the West of our time. Given that the Fletcher School is a powerhouse in solutions-oriented international studies, it was truly gratifying that its Russia and Eurasia Program saw fit to award my book this year’s prize, and I can only hope my research can help illuminate the policy dilemmas we now face.”
As part of the award, Dr. Galeotti has been invited to speak at The Fletcher School on Tuesday, March 28 about his work on “Putin’s Wars” as well as its broader implications on the field of U.S.-Russian relations.
Professor Chris Miller, co-director of the Russia and Eurasia Program, said, “We welcome Mark Galeotti to Fletcher with great excitement and are looking forward to celebrating his extraordinary book and his scholarship on Russian politics and security affairs.”