Putin and Power in Russia - Masha Gessen, Sydney Writers Festival May 2012

The Man Without a Face -  the mysterious rise of Vladimir Putin, in less than a decade, from low-ranking KGB nonentity to Kremlin master has been explored in detail in this book by journalist Masha Gessen. In Sydney, as a guest of the Sydney Writers Festival, Gessen presented a carefully researched, detailed analysis of the character of Putin, the impact he has on Russia and the many questions and shady elements of the Putin era. As a Russian American living in Moscow, Gessen is able to bring a focus on the way in which Putin perceives Russia and the influences and events which have shaped his perspective. His years as a KGB officer in particular left him with a sense of betrayal when 'Moscow was silent'  and the Soviet Union ended. His propensity for absolute control stems from this experience. It is always extremely hazardous to write insightful material on Putin and his associates - the last guest of the Sydney Writers Festival in May 2006 who covered Russian politics, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was assassinated near her apartment in Moscow only five months later - a fact not lost on those attending the session with Gessen at the Sydney Theatre. Gessen's masterful and 'brave' book, as described by 'The Guardian' newspaper in the United Kingdom, will not have endeared her to the Putin Regime (while available worldwide, the book is not sold in the Russian language and only a single bookseller in Moscow has copies in English). With Putin under pressure in Russia, his efforts to silence critics may also be curtailed.