The invention of Russian
FROM THE PUBLISHER
When Vladimir Putin first came to power in 2002, he spoke a rapid, halting Russian. It betrayed a certain nervousness at emerging from the shadows of his KGB training into the limelight of political power. But the Kremlin’s key resident soon learned on the job that language is a powerful tool and a fearsome weapon. Today, he can still deploy the “gutter” language of his hardscrabble St Petersburg upbringing and KGB past, deriding journalists who…
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