Key facts
- Journalists Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin published an 800-page biography of Vladimir Putin.
- The book, 'The Tsar in Person', details Putin's rise from KGB agent to president.
- Badanin and Rubin fled Russia after facing threats and raids by the FSB.
- Their media project, Proekt, was declared an 'undesirable' outlet by the Kremlin.
- The journalists describe Putin as a dictator capable of 'limitless cruelty'.
- They believe Putin uses war and repression to stay in power.
Russian journalists Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin have published a comprehensive biography of President Vladimir Putin, titled 'The Tsar in Person,' which details his ascent to power and paints a grim picture of his leadership. The 800-page book, which has won the French literary award Grand Prix Strasbourg, is described by the jury as reading like a 'spy novel' and praises the authors' 'courage and commitment.'
Badanin and Rubin, founders of the independent investigative media project Proekt, fled Russia after facing escalating threats, interrogations, and raids by the FSB, Russia's intelligence service. The dawn raid on Badanin's Moscow apartment on June 29, 2021, followed by a similar raid at Rubin's home, served as a stark warning. Rubin recounted being threatened in 2019 after publishing an investigation into a Kremlin propaganda chief, with a Kremlin official warning of 'scary' consequences and security agents visiting his parents.
Following the FSB raids, Rubin found his passport placed on a table, which he interpreted as a message to leave the country. Less than three weeks later, Proekt was declared an 'undesirable' media outlet by the Kremlin, prompting Rubin to leave Moscow the next morning. Badanin, who was on holiday with his family in Morocco, chose not to return, stating his choice was between 'prison or exile.'
The biography chronicles Putin's journey from a KGB agent in St. Petersburg to his long tenure in the Kremlin. Badanin and Rubin, who have four decades of combined investigative experience, depict Putin as a modern-day tsar, a dictator characterized by 'limitless cruelty' and a disregard for morality and laws. They suggest that rivals and inconvenient individuals often meet untimely ends through accidents, poisonings, or other unexplained circumstances. The authors stated that the book is a result of 'war and repression, of exile and the death of some of those close to us, the suffering of friends thrown in prison.'