After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many expected the political and economic elite to try to stop the war Putin had started, including to preserve their traditional way of life. This did not happen. On the contrary, technocrats and state-owned businesses became the main pillars of Putin's war economy.
Based on dozens of interviews, Alexandra Prokopenko's book explains how, over the course of two decades, Russia's ruling class underwent a "pseudomorphosis": while retaining the outward trappings of power, it lost its internal autonomy and became a tool of control.
The book traces the moral career of Russia's bureaucratic elite—from liberal ideals to loyalty and almost complete depoliticization—and shows how the war accelerated this transformation. Through personal stories, observations, and sociological analysis, the book explains why today's top Russian leaders—ministers, state bankers, high-ranking security officials—ceased to be an elite and became the spineless mechanism of a personalist regime.