As Russian military aircraft pound Syria, and barely a day passes without recriminations between Moscow and the west, people in Europe and the US once again ask in exasperation: what is Vladimir Putin’s game?
在俄罗斯战机轰炸叙利亚、莫斯科和西方几乎天天掐架之际，欧洲和美国的人们再次愤慨地质问：弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)到底在玩什么游戏？
Mikhail Zygar, former editor of Russia’s only independent television channel TV Rain, has explored that question for the better part of Mr Putin’s 17 years in power. The result is his book All the Kremlin’s Men, available in English a year after the Russian original came out.
曾任俄罗斯唯一独立电视台TV Rain总编辑的米哈伊尔•济加尔(Mikhail Zygar)，在普京掌权的17年的一大半时间里都在研究这个问题。他因此写出了《克里姆林宫的手下们》(All the Kremlin’s Men)一书。该书英文版在俄文版发行一年后发行。
Perplexingly for western readers, the author claims that most of what we ascribe to the Russian president is not really his game at all. “Putin, as we imagine him, does not actually exist,” he concludes after more than 300 pages of inside tales about how power struggles and policy decisions have played out.
让西方读者感到困惑的是，作者声称，我们所认为的普京在玩的游戏，大部分其实根本不是他真正在玩的。他用了300多页篇幅讲述了关于权力争斗如何展开、政策决策如何做出的内部故事，最后总结道：“我们想象的那个普京实际上并不存在。”
Instead of the president himself, we are shown the machinations of the men around him — a cast of more than 100 characters. This approach sheds more light on the inner workings of the Kremlin than many other Putin books. The entourage is unique: corrupt tycoons, former spies, Orthodox Christian conservatives, cynical spin-doctors and nationalist hardliners fight for backing from the boss for their often diametrically opposed values and agendas. Just as often they battle over power or money.
该书描绘的是普京身边的人——总共100多号人物出场——的阴谋算计，而非普京本人。与其他关于普京的书籍相比，这种方法更能让人了解克里姆林宫的内部运作。普京的随从是独特的：腐败的企业大亨、前特工、信仰东正教的保守派人士、世故的政治化妆师(spin-doctor)以及强硬派民族主义者，都在争取普京的支持，而他们的价值观和议程往往是截然相反的。他们还经常争抢权力或金钱。