Richard Sakwa is Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House, and a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. His main research interests are Russian domestic and international politics, European international relations and comparative democratization. His recent books include Putin and the Oligarch: The Khodorkovsky - Yukos Affair (I. B. Tauris), Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia, Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands (I. B. Tauris), Russia Sgainst the Rest: The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order, and Russia's Futures.