Almost three years on from the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Stepahnie Baker - an award winning investigative reporter who launched her career in the 1990’s - delves into the West’s leveraging of economic tools to help slowdown Vladimir Putin's war machine. From seizing superyachts to manipulating the global price of oil to blocking the sale of military technology - a series of unprecedented sanctions that have radically rearranged global alliances call into question the impact this has had on the Russian economy. Could economic might triumph against raw military power? Could seizing Russian assets be used to help Ukraine?

At this special book launch event, Baker returns to her alma mater to discuss the ongoing war in the context of her heavily researched book, which draws on sources ranging from Western policy-makers to Russian oligarchs. Baker will be joined by a panel of experts all seeking to investigate the ramifications of this ‘financial war' in light of her research.

Baker's book has received high praise since its publication. Filled with propulsive, fly-on-the-wall details, Punishing Putin takes the reader into the frantic backroom deliberations that led to a whole new era of carefully calculated 'economic statecraft', and shows how these new strategies are radically rearranging global alliances that will influence the world order today and for generations to come. This oppurtunity to hear from the author directly is not to be missed.

Meet the Speakers

Stephanie Baker (@StephaniBaker) is an award-winning investigative reporter at Bloomberg News. She began her reporting career in Moscow during the 1990s. She received her master’s degree at LSE and her work has been recognized by the Gerald Loeb Awards, the Overseas Press Club, the UK Society of Editors, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, and the UK’s Foreign Press Association. She is a fixture across all Bloomberg media, including Bloomberg television, radio, and podcasts, and she has appeared on NPR, PBS, and the BBC. She’s won awards from the U.K. Foreign Press Association and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Her work appeared in Columbia University Press’ Best Business Writing anthology in 2015.

Misha Glenny (@MishaGlenny) is a British journalist and broadcaster, specialising in southeast Europe, global organised crime, and cybersecurity. He has been Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria since 2022. His books include McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime; DarkMarket: How Hackers Became the New Mafia; The Rebirth Of History: Eastern Europe in the Age of Democracy; The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War; and The Balkans, 1804-2012: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers.

Tomila Lankina (@TomilaLankina) is a professor in the International Relations Department at the LSE. Professor Lankina has worked on democracy and authoritarianism, mass protests and historical drivers of human capital and political regime change in Russia and other countries. At the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022, she helped set up and coordinate an informal LSE Taskforce to support students and scholars from Ukraine. Her latest book The Estate Origins of Democracy in Russia: From Imperial Bourgeoisie to Post-Communist Middle Class is on the long-term patterns of reproduction of social structure in Russia from the Tzarist times to the present and on why these legacies matter for democracy, development and social inequalities.

Meet the Chair

Mary Kaldor is Professor Emeritus of Global Governance and Director of the Conflict and Civicness Research Group at the London School of Economics within the FCDO- funded PeaceRep. She has pioneered the concepts of new wars and global civil society. Her elaboration of the real-world implementation of human security has directly influenced European and national governments. She is the author of many books and articles including New and Old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era (3rd edition, 2012), International Law and New Wars (with Christine Chinkin, 2017) and Global Security Cultures (2018).