New Edition of ‘Assignment Moscow’ out in 2023
RUSSIA’S ATTACK ON UKRAINE in February this year focused international attention on the Kremlin’s imperial ambitions in a way unseen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, Russia introduced new legislation making normal journalism all but impossible. To call a ‘war’ by its real name–instead of borrowing the Kremlin’s preferred term ‘special military operation’–was to risk being sent to prison.
At a time when international audiences needed news from Russia more than ever since the Cold War, correspondents feared for their liberty just for doing their jobs. Some have stayed, managing–so far, at least–to tell the story as best they can while knowing the law may not be on their side. Others decided that they had no alternative but to flee the country for their own safety.
This summer, I have been talking to some of them as part of my research for a new edition of my 2020 book, Assignment Moscow: Reporting on Russia from Lenin to Putin. There is new material on the Kremlin’s crackdown on the work of international correspondents: restrictions that have grown as relations with the West have got worse in recent years, and that now include with the threat of gaol.
There is a whole new concluding chapter situating the current crisis within the historical context of the Kremlin’s treatment of foreign journalists–right through the Soviet period and beyond into our own. This is an age in which governments put huge effort and resources into the media wars they fight alongside their military campaigns. The attack on Ukraine is an extreme example of that: a media war where Moscow correspondents are on the frontline.
The new edition is due out in the spring of 2023. I will publish more details nearer the time. For now, you can order the current edition at a discount (20% for the Ebook; 10% for the hardback) from the website of the publisher, Bloomsbury. You can also read reviews there, including this from the Russia editor of The Economist, and winner of the 2016 Orwell Prize for his own book, The Invention of Russia, Arkady Ostrovsky
“A highly original, engrossing and accessible book, Assignment Moscow stands out among journalistic accounts of Russia for its subtlety, humility and historic scope. It tells the story of British and American journalists who aimed to throw light on Russia from Lenin to Putin, and in the process illuminated the West itself.”
As always, I am keen to accept speaking invitations and media work: contacts below, or @jmacrodgers on Twitter.