Includes maps of: Ukraine.

Part I. Russia and the curse of empire -- Despotism and the quest for empire -- Comparing western and Russian legitimation theories for empire -- Putin and the end of Russian "empire fatigue" -- Putin's grand design -- The Eurasian Union: Putin's newest imperial project -- Part II. The "internal war" -- Russia as a "pluralist" one-party state -- Preaching the ultranationalist gospel: the transformation of "united Russia" -- The Nashi: Fascist blackshirts or a New Komsomol? -- Send in the Cossacks -- Part III. The wheels of war -- Three lost wars: from Afghanistan to the First Chechen War -- The mysterious apartment bombings: detonator of the Second Chechen War -- The Second Chechen War: Putin's war -- The war with Georgia, Part I: a premeditated Russian aggression -- The war with Georgia, Part II: six events announcing the Kremlin's preparation for war -- The war with Georgia, Part III: the propaganda war -- Origins of the war in Ukraine -- Russia's "hybrid war" in Ukraine: five scenarios -- Conclusion.