Why Catherine Belton’s Revelations Matter More Than Ever in 2025
In the years since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the world has grappled with a stark realization: the conflict wasn’t an aberration — it was the culmination of a decades-long strategy. That strategy is the subject of Putin’s People, a groundbreaking 2020 book by British investigative journalist Catherine Belton. Five years later, its insights are not only relevant — they’re essential.
At first glance, Putin’s People tells the story of Vladimir Putin’s rise to power. But it is much more than a biography. It is a chilling exposé of how a network of ex-KGB operatives — the siloviki — used the chaos of the Soviet Union’s collapse to reconstitute a state rooted not in democratic ideals but in secrecy, surveillance, and power for its own sake.
From the Shadows of the KGB to the Heart of the Kremlin
Belton, a former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, draws on deep research and insider interviews to trace Putin’s career from a mid-level intelligence officer in Dresden to the undisputed ruler of Russia. She paints a picture of a man — and a system — forged in the twilight years of the Soviet Union, who never accepted the West's version of post-Cold War peace.
Instead of embracing liberal democracy, Putin and his KGB-linked allies embarked on a methodical campaign to take back control of Russia’s political and economic systems. Their tools were not tanks or ideology, but gas pipelines, state-run banks, and offshore shell companies.
As Belton shows, they didn't just rebuild power inside Russia — they exported it. Through “strategic corruption,” Kremlin-linked oligarchs and state enterprises funneled billions through Western financial systems, quietly gaining influence in European capitals, American boardrooms, and even in politics.
Undermining Democracy with Its Own Tools
The genius — and danger — of this strategy lies in its subtlety. Belton describes how the Kremlin used Western openness against itself: investing in real estate, funding political campaigns, laundering money through elite law firms and banks. The goal? To weaken democratic institutions from the inside, all while maintaining plausible deniability.
These revelations are no longer abstract warnings. They’ve come to life in headlines: suspicious campaign donations, energy blackmail, cyberattacks, and a global disinformation war. In many ways, Belton wrote the playbook before the world realized it was playing the game.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 did not contradict her thesis — it confirmed it. It was not a deviation from Putin’s long game, but the next logical step. It revealed the raw force behind the polished economic and diplomatic fronts Belton had described. And it left democracies scrambling to confront a threat they had long underestimated.
The West’s Late Awakening — and Ongoing Vulnerability
Now, in 2025, much has changed — but much hasn’t. Sanctions have tightened, alliances have been tested, and Russia’s internal stability has grown shakier. Yet the networks of influence Belton mapped out have not disappeared. If anything, they have adapted.
In a year when artificial intelligence, energy transitions, and cyber-vulnerabilities dominate global discussions, the threats Belton identified have morphed rather than diminished. The Kremlin’s methods — financial subterfuge, elite co-optation, and media manipulation — are still being deployed, just on new terrain.
As Western democracies struggle with polarization and a rising tide of authoritarianism globally, Putin’s People serves as both a warning and a guide. It shows how easily democratic systems can be compromised when vigilance fades — and how the fight for democracy increasingly requires financial transparency, media literacy, and resilient institutions.
A Book That Predicted the Future
What makes Putin’s People stand out is not just the detail of its reporting, but its foresight. Belton did not merely describe a corrupt regime; she exposed a geopolitical strategy that has shaped the world we live in today.
Her work was so provocative that it triggered lawsuits from some of the Russian billionaires it named — a sign, perhaps, that it hit uncomfortably close to the truth.
If there is a lesson in Belton’s book for 2025, it’s this: the threats to democracy often wear suits, speak fluent English, and arrive bearing investments, not weapons. But they are no less real. Understanding how these systems of control were built — and how they continue to operate — is the first step in dismantling them.
For anyone seeking to understand the architecture of modern authoritarianism, and how it challenges the liberal world order, Putin’s People is no longer just a vital read. It’s essential.