Punishing Putin

An in-depth, authoritative, and timely look at the unprecedented economic war against Russia after Putin's invasion of Ukraine – written by a veteran journalist with unparalleled access to Western and Russian sources

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 superyachts 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.

About the author

Stephanie Baker is an award-winning journalist and Senior Writer at Bloomberg, and has been covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 2022. Stephanie has chronicled the rise and fall of Russian billionaires and has written extensively about sanctions placed on Russia since 2018. She lived in Moscow during the mid-1990s, reporting on the economic transformation of Russia for The Moscow Times, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Bloomberg. Stephanie appears regularly on BBC TV and Radio, Bloomberg Television, NPR and PBS. Punishing Putin is her first book.