LES SECRETS DU KREMLIN

So much drama, so many secrets that deserved further investigation. And for such an endeavor prominent Kremlinologist Bernard Lecomte has no equal.

The Kremlin. Behind its red brick walls, how many conspiracies, mysteries, crimes and betrayals has the famous Moscow fortress concealed? For nearly a century it has been the center and symbol of the communist empire, founded by Lenin, bolstered by Stalin, managed by Khrushchev and Brezhnev, dismantled by Gorbachev and restored, for better or worse, by Putin. So many questions, shadows, mysteries and forbidden secrets still lurk behind the towers of the Kremlin! Who killed Rasputin? How did Tsar Nicolas II die? How did Stalin kill Trotsky? Who were, really, Kravchenko, Andropov or the “Farewell” spy? Where did Vladimir Putin come from?

Instead of a chronological or linear narrative, the author has decided to tell sixteen sensational and classic episodes of this century of fire and blood, combining tragedy and romance.

Permanent special correspondent of L'Express magazine in Moscow for 15 years, BERNARD LECOMTE
witnessed, day after day, the saga of Gorbachev at the head of the Soviet Union and is one of the best specialists on the “Gorbachev era” in Europe. His knowledge of Russian, essential to the task, facilitated access to the archives of the period and made possible many important and informative interviews. He is the author of Jean-Paul II (Gallimard, 2003), Les Secrets du Vatican (Perrin, 2009 – 25.000 copies sold in France, 11 translations into foreign languages), Les Derniers Secrets du Vatican (Perrin, 2012 – 15.000 copies sold) and Gorbachev (Perrin, 2014).