Undeterred by eight years of timid US sanctions, Vladimir Putin ordered his full-scale assault on Ukraine on 24 February 2022. In the hours that followed, Western leaders weaponized economic tools in a world-changing financial experiment. The end goal was simple: to damage the Russian economy and sap the strength from Putin’s war machine. In Punishing Putin, veteran journalist Stephanie Baker uncovers how this furious financial war has unfolded, from seizing super-yachts to manipulating the global price of oil to blocking the sale of military technology. Mobilizing white-collar-crime investigators and experts on international law, Baker explores how the West has cracked down on illicit Russian money by targeting oligarchs and their enablers, risking a global recession in the process. Filled with propulsive, fly-on-the-wall details, Punishing Putin takes us into the frantic backroom deliberations that led to a whole new era of economic statecraft and radically rearranged global alliances, influencing world order for generations to come.
