How did Vladimir Putin go from being a simple KGB officer in the German Democratic Republic to becoming the most powerful figure in the new Russia, which is moving further and further away from Westerners? Hubert Seipel was the only Western journalist to accompany Putin for the last five years. Without demonizing the character, but with an inexcusable critical distance, he draws the most accurate portrait of the Russian hierarch written to date. But he goes much further and traces a revealing journey through the most significant milestones in international geopolitics in recent years: the Malaysian airlines plane shot down over Ukrainian territory; the war in Chechnya and the offensive against the oligarchs; the Kurks submarine tragedy; the uprising in Kyiv and Putin's response in Crimea; and, of course, the heated conflict in Syria and the actions of fugitive agent Snowden, which put relations between Moscow and Washington on edge.