"Gazprom: Russia's weapon"

(B2) This investigation by two Russian journalists can be read as a thriller but is more than necessary to understand today's Russia.

Useful to know all the ups and downs of this company which was almost privatized, knew how to acquire its independence and gradually forge its links with the companies of the old sister republics, to end up being taken over (brutally) by Putin. With always this obsession to be able to acquire sources of gas supply (in Turkmenistan for example) or to control all the routes of destination (in particular towards Europe and the development of direct routes, towards Germany, making it possible to circumvent the Ukraine or other intermediate countries).

This book is also interesting to perceive what this company represents for the soul, the economy and the Russian power. So linked to the state that it is the state itself, led by figures like Chernomyrdin or Medvedev (before they became the head of Russia, one as Prime Minister, the other as President ), Gazprom and gas are to Russia what nuclear power, the navy or neutrality are to other countries: the indelible mark of power and sovereignty.

It is also captivating to find most of the protagonists of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis in January: Yulia Timoschenko on the Ukrainian side, Vladimir Putin and Dimitri Medvedev on the Russian side. All three of whom were raised on a "bottle" of gas and for whom this is not the first collision on the subject (nor perhaps the last).

(NGV)

• By Vlary Maniouchkine and Mikhaïl Zygar (trans. Michèle Kahn) (Actes sud, 284 p., 21,80 euros)