Yuri Felshtinsky

Blowing Up Ukraine by Yuri Felshtinsky and Michael Stanchev is the acclaimed, gripping and authoritative account of Russia's covert war tactics and their devastating impact on Ukraine. This updated paperback edition delves deeper into the roots of the conflict, in the context of Ukraine's 1000 year history. Their meticulous research and alarming narrative make this a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of this war of aggression and their global implications. Timely, informative, and eye-opening, this book is an essential addition to contemporary historical literature.

In 2017, the world's most expensive painting sold for a record $450 million. Twelve years earlier, it went under the hammer for $1,175, lacking the description: 'the only privately-owned Leonardo Da Vinci'. In this deeply-researched book, historian Yuri Felshtinsky traces the nebulous connections behind this miraculous increase in value. His story is as complex and intricate as Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and leads from the Kremlin to Donald Trump via oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, art dealer Yves Bouvier, Freeports and the world's most expensive private residence, located in Florida.

A detailed, gripping and urgent account of Russia's persistent attempts to reclaim Ukraine over more than two decades, culminating in the 2022 invasion. This book offers a comprehensive history, beginning with early aggression in 1999, through the annexation of Crimea in 2014, to the full-scale invasion of 2022. The authors provide a chilling narrative that exposes Russia's geopolitical strategies and the global threat they pose. Drawing on historical analogies and contemporary analysis, Felshtinsky and Stanchev highlight the mounting atrocities and the potential for broader conflict if the West does not respond effectively. The book weaves personal anecdotes and meticulous research, creating a gripping account of the ongoing struggle. It serves as a powerful call to action, emphasizing the need for international awareness and intervention to address the escalating crisis and protect global stability.

How the sale of a Leonardo Da Vinci painting for US$500milion ended up financing Donald Trump's election campaign through a Florida piece of real estate.

The first history of the Russian secret services since 1917 to the present. In over a century of plotting assassinations - from Lenin to Trump - the Cheka finally grabbed power when Putin became president and he began to try to change the world order.

The history of modern Russia traditionally has Communism at its centre: Lenin defines its rise, Gorbachev its fall, and Putin its aftermath. In this radical new history, Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Popov, however, introduce a new historical axis: the Cheka-the Bolsheviks' nebulous revolutionary intelligence service. Wrapped around the Party in a fight to the death from 1918 under its first head Felix Dzerzhinsky, only Stalin was able to resist its stranglehold at the cost of enormous bloodshed. Luring Russia into submission over less than a century, its murder-plots and unrivalled scheming culminated in the capture of the Kremlin in 2000. Drawing on Popov's secret documents of over two decades as a senior officer in one of the KGB's key covert sections, and on Felshtinsky's encyclopedic knowledge of Russian state archives open in the 1990s, little-known sources, and access to leading oligarchs, a new Russian history emerges. The story they tell is often unexpected while introducing a new cast of characters still of great influence-potentially surpassing Lenin's role-on our world today. In addition, the authors introduce a host of hitherto unknown characters who should be considered as pivotal, not least Felix Dzerzhinsky the ruthless first head of the Cheka. Obscure in comparison to Lenin or Stalin, he should however be considered as important an architect of modern Russia as Lenin. From Red Terror to Terrorist State is the first comprehensive history of the Cheka, its vice-like hold over Russia, global reach and ambitions. A monumental record by two exceptional Russian-intelligence experts, it presents an unrivaled wealth of unknown, authoritative, and detailed facts. Narrated from inside the intelligence services, it fundamentally transforms our understanding of how Russia works and how the Kremlin should be viewed.