Book review: Vasilyev A.M. From Lenin to Putin. Russia in the Middle and Near East. M.: Centropoligraf, 2018. 670 p.

Abstract

The monograph titled “From Lenin to Putin. Russia in the Middle and Near East” is presented to the judgment of professionals and a wide range of readers by the Academician A.M. Vasilyev, who is the patriarch of Russian Oriental and African studies. It covers an immense period (what is reflected in the title of the work) that witnessed political and economic relations of both the USSR and Russia with countries extended over the Middle and Near East surviving a lot of controversial events. In the course of that period not only the regimes changed and various military and political conflicts of diverse intensity have taken place, but the breakdown and unification of some of them has been seen, followed by transformation of ideologies, political systems etc. Obviously, the author aimed his efforts at analysing the great majority of these events stressing the role of both the USSR and Russia in them. The fundamental monograph by A.M. Vasilyev is of great interest for professionals and a wide range of readers from the educational and informational points of view.