Putin's Exiles

Paul Starobin, a former Moscow bureau chief for Businessweek and former contributing editor of The Atlantic, has been writing about Russia and Russians for more than a quarter century. He is the author of three books, including After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age, and Madness Rules the Hour: Charleston, 1860 and the Mania for War. He has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in Cape Cod, MA.

“Mr. Starobin’s engaging reportage showcases the ingenuity of [the Russian] dissidents.” —Wall Street Journal“Starobin’s hands-on examination of Russia’s exile community is a remarkable story of brave people looking to the future.” —Kirkus Reviews“Incisive.... offers captivating insights into a community in crisis.” —Publishers Weekly“Paul Starobin offers a timely snapshot of the mass exodus of Russians seeking to avoid complicity in Russia’s war in Ukraine. His narrative is action packed and artfully contextualized within the arc of Russian and Soviet history, and its fast pacing reflects the speed with which his protagonists left Russia. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the myriad motivations of exiled Russians and their ardent desires to shape their country’s future.” —Fiona Hill, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former senior director for European and Russian affairs on the US National Security Council“Paul Starobin’s richly reported and shrewdly argued essay poses a provocative question: Could the more than a million Russians who have left Russia since Putin launched his war on Ukraine be a factor in the downfall of Putin’s imperial autocracy? Starobin examines the disparate motives of this new diaspora and, without overstating the case, concludes that ‘the exiles are an actor and possibly an author of the outcome.’” —Bill Keller, former Moscow correspondent and executive editor of the New York Times“This short volume is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of Russia, Ukraine and the cascading consequences of Putin’s aggression for the wider world. Starobin has crafted an efficient, highly readable field guide to the interlocking ambitions, relationships, and origins of Russia’s new exiles, reflecting careful research into both individual stories and broader context. Those whose lives and work intersect with Putin’s Exiles will come back again and again to mine this book's rich veins of profile and dialogue.” —Matthew Rojansky, President and CEO of The U.S. Russia Foundation