In the 1990s, Russia was the sick man of Europe, but the rise to power of former KGB officer Vladimir Putin in 1999 coincided with a huge hike in world oil and gas prices, and after Yeltsin’s downfall Putin set about re-establishing Russian autocracy. Now with its massive gas and oil reserves Russia has not only paid off its debts but amassed huge cash reserves which it is investing in easily accessible European businesses.Putin’s Russia is hostile to open debate. Critics inside Russia such as the journalist Anna Politkovskaya, and opponents abroad such as the defector Alexander Litvinenko, a British subject, have been assassinated. Russia has threatened to target its nuclear missiles on America’s allies in eastern Europe. It has resumed the military bullying of its neighbours, including repeated airspace violations; its generals play war games involving the recapture of the Baltic states.

“Lucas's main message comes through loud and clear: Russia has changed course, and the West should face up to the implications. For instance, he asks, what justification is there for keeping Russia's continued membership in the G8, the club for the world's leading industrial democracies? Lucas has built a very strong case for the prosecution. And, on all too many of the counts in his indictment, the defendant looks smugly guilty.”

Newsweek

“Mr. Lucas pulls no punches in excoriating the Putin regime. He is a brave man to stick his neck out so far. In Russia, journalists have been murdered for saying less than he claims in his book. But THE NEW COLD WAR is extremely — indeed, overwhelmingly — persuasive about the fate that has yet again befallen the unfortunate region of Europethat lies on the borderlands of East and West. For Mr. Putin's Russia, "repression at home is matched by aggression abroad.””

New York Sun

“Edward Lucas intends to issue a wake-up call. His book's urgency is fuelled by the belief that, while the Russian bear has been sharpening its claws, the West has slept.”

Independent