This investigation behind the scenes of Russian power tells the story of the rise, fall and rebirth of the oligarchs who seized control of the hydrocarbons before falling under the yoke of the new master of the Kremlin. From the fall of the USSR to the war in Ukraine, Jérôme Fritel and Marc Roche (Les gangsters de la finance, Goldman Sachs – La banque qui dirigeant le monde) decipher a relentless system serving the expansionist ambitions of Vladimir Putin, the oligarch in chief. The colossal financial windfall that black gold provided to his clan allowed him to satisfy his great ambition: to infiltrate and enslave a blind and complacent West to restore the greatness of Russia.