What is Vladimir Putin thinking? Does he deserve his reputation as a modern Machiavelli? & where does he get his ideas? The Russian president's landmark speeches interviews & policies borrow heavily from great Russian thinkers past & present from Peter the Great to Dostoevsky & Solzhenitsyn They offer powerful visions of strong leaders & the Russian nation they value conservatism & the Slavic spirit They root morality in Orthodoxy & Russian identity in the historic struggle with the West Today Putin manages & manipulates those same ideas in his 'defence' of 130 million ethnic Russians against the world With the annexation of Crimea the war in Syria & shock election results across the West the challenge of decrypting his worldview has become more pressing than ever From a Eurasian Union to a new Russian Empire this is a revealing tour of Kremlin doctrine & strategy viewed through its philosophical roots