This book offers the first systematic analysis of Putins two wars, placing the Second Chechen War and the War with Georgia of 2008 in their broader historical contexts. Drawing on extensive original Russian sources, Marcel H. Van Herpen analyzes in detail how Putins wars were prepared and conducted and why they led to allegations of war crimes and genocide. He shows how the conflicts functioned to consolidate and legitimate Putins regime and explores how they were connected to a third, hidden, internal war waged by the Kremlin against the opposition. The author convincingly argues that the Kremlin—relying on the secret services, the Orthodox Church, the Kremlin youth Nashi, and the rehabilitated Cossacks—is preparing for an imperial revival, most recently in the form of a Eurasian Union.
