“Masterful . . . a flat-out rollicking read, the kind of book you press on friends and family with proselytizing zeal. Baker draws on decades of experience and shoe-leather reporting to craft the best account of the Western sanctions campaign yet. . . . More than a good tale, it is a clinical analysis of the very tricky balancing acts that lie behind deploying what has become Washington’s go-to weapon.” —Foreign Policy

“The riveting inside story of the unprecedented economic war to take down Putin and save Ukraine. Anyone wishing to understand the complexity and difficulty of battling Putin on the global economic stage will find Stephanie Baker’s exposé an essential read.” —Bill Browder, New York Times bestselling author of Red Notice and Freezing Order

“An authoritative and gripping investigation that reads like a detective novel. I found myself reading it in the elevator.” —Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan

"Punishing Putin is a captivating account of the West's economic war against Russia, from oligarchs' superyachts to the world's oil market. Stephanie Baker explores the struggle to bankrupt Putin's war machine—and how the Kremlin has responded with smuggling efforts and closer ties with Beijing. Essential reading for understanding Russia's war and how it is remaking the world economy." —Chris Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Chip War

"The essential, must-read insider account of the West’s cat-and-mouse economic warfare against Russia and how it is changing the face of global trade. Magisterial and gripping.” —Catherine Belton, author of Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West

“Deeply reported and deftly written, Punishing Putin brings you inside a critical front in the new cold war, the one that will decide how long Russia can sustain its confrontation with the West. No one writing about sanctions today has a stronger grasp of this terrain than Stephanie Baker or a better knack for untangling its complexity.” —Simon Shuster, New York Times bestselling author of The Showman: Inside the Invasion that Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky

“A captivating economic detective story that describes in great detail how the West tried to confront Putin and explains why the sanctions didn’t work: the war didn’t stop, and the Russian army continues to advance. A very important book for anyone pondering what will happen next.” —Mikhail Zygar, author of War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

"Stephanie Baker has produced a definitive account of the war behind the war—the desperate struggle to restrain Russia's violence through economic sanctions. Few reporters understand post-Soviet Russia the way Baker does, and it shows. But this is a story that resounds beyond Eastern Europe. She argues persuasively that economic warfare is a crucial part of the modern arsenal, and that the lessons of Ukraine will shape future conflicts. Those who assume that sanctions were a one-off failure should look more closely at this detailed, engrossing account, narrated by the key players themselves." —Peter S. Canellos, author of The Great Dissenter