Anna Arutunyan

2 weeks ago | penguin.co.uk | Anna Arutunyan |Mark Galeotti

Skip to ContentDiscover the Penguin books that shaped usIn the early years of Vladmir Putin’s Russia, Yevgeny Prigozhin emerged as one of the President’s most trusted assets. By 2023, he had become a dangerous warlord – and also one of Putin’s chief rivals in Russia’s tumultuous political climate, exiled after leading an attempted coup, and shortly after killed in a mysterious plane crash.

Aug 14, 2024 | theneweuropean.co.uk | Anna Arutunyan |Mark Galeotti

In 1970, a scrawny, light-haired 17-year-old showed up at the Main Directorate of the KGB for Leningrad and the Leningrad Region, asking for a job. He was an odd mix of bland and street, already a veteran of many a brawl. He “wasn’t a hoodlum himself but was constantly hanging out with them”, as a childhood friend recalled: he could mix it with the best of them, but could see beyond the apartment-courtyard hangouts, a bottle of cheap booze being passed from hand to hand.

Jun 12, 2024 | audible.co.uk | Anna Arutunyan |Mark Galeotti

Brought to you by Penguin. Evgeny Prigozhin emerged as one of the most dangerous warlords in the world and as one of Vladimir Putin's chief rivals in Russia's tumultuous political climate, exiled after leading Wagner's attempted coup and killed in a mysterious plane crash. But what is the truth about this enigmatic figure, his role in the war with Ukraine, and the chaos unleashed across Russia by his turn against Putin?

Jun 8, 2024 | thetimes.com | Anna Arutunyan |Mark Galeotti

One year ago, Yevgeny Prigozhin took a stunning gamble: as head of the Wagner group he led a coup that proved the most serious challenge to President Putin of his 23 years in power. Two months later Prigozhin was dead, his plane having fallen into a tailspin after two reported explosions. It crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region, about 60 miles into its flight. All ten people on board died. But that wasn’t the end of Prigozhin’s story.

Feb 28, 2024 | almendron.com | Anna Arutunyan

With Switzerland due to play host to a Ukraine peace summit by the summer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is placing high hopes it will “strengthen” his country. But with Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year, another summit is unlikely to offer a breakthrough — not just because Moscow will not be present, but more importantly because neither side has a clear vision of what a victory now means or how to achieve it.