Master manipulator or gangster? The malign thrust of Putin’s domestic and foreign policy is exposed in Cunningham’s latest page-turning biography including his early life, political career, the wars in Chechnya, Crimea and the Ukraine, the crackdown on human rights, Brexit, Trump - and the poisonings.

Author of more than six acclaimed graphic novels and well known for his economical drawing and clear, explanatory narrative, Cunningham shows how the West and its leaders have been culpable in aiding Putin’s rise - Obama being an example.

Areas covered include Brexit and Trump; the crackdown on human rights, especially on homosexuality in Russia; and the poisonings-among them, journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Russia, Alexander Litvinenko in London, Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. By putting these events into a timeline, Cunningham aims to show that Putin is opportunistic rather than the master manipulator people make him out to be: ‘He’s essentially a gangster and not a particularly smart one. We need to demythologise Putin if we are to beat him.’ Meanwhile Russian money and influence grows ever stronger as Western governments and companies turn a blind eye to the regime’s excessive brutality and corruption.