The book titled “The Tsar in propria persona: How Vladimir Putin Deceived Us All” (The Tsar in Propria Persona: How Vladimir Putin Deceived Us All) is based on more than two decades of research by journalists Roman Badanin and Mikhail Rubin.
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This work won the newly established literary award – the Strasbourg Prize, awarded by the largest group of regional newspapers in France, EBRA, and its sponsoring company Credit Mutuel Alliance Federale.
The book is planned to be published in France next month.
The book is read “like a spy novel,” the jury said, describing it as “an impressive and shocking work about a personality who is impressive and shocking himself.”
“It is the result of several hundred interviews with witnesses, some of whom later disappeared under tragic circumstances,” the jury said.
Well-known Russian journalist R. Badanin is the founder and editor-in-chief of the investigative journalism publication “Project,” which started operating in 2018.
Both R. Badanin and his deputy at “Project,” M. Rubin, having experienced pressure in Russia, now live in the USA.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) last year, when the Russian edition of the book was released, stated that R. Badanin and M. Rubin “took great risks” to trace the rise to power of the former KGB agent and broke the Kremlin-imposed taboo on Vladimir Putin’s personal life.
The book “contrasts the official image of the Russian president, who has been in power for 26 years as the main defender of traditional values against Western decadence, with the reality of his personal life, which is dominated by extramarital affairs, nepotism, and ties to organized crime.”
The Strasbourg Prize, established this year, aims to become a literary award “open to the world,” rather than “Paris-oriented,” said Mathilde Reumaux, head of EBRA Editions.
The prize aims to stand out with a large fund: the main winner receives 20,000 euros, and another 55,000 euros is distributed across all categories.
Among other prize laureates are Haitian writer Thelyson Orelien and French journalist Marion Dubreuil.
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The awards will be presented to the winners in September in Strasbourg.
