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Politics & government

MY RUSSIA

Jill Dougherty

What I Saw Inside the Kremlin

MY RUSSIA is CNN Reporter Jill Dougherty's personal story of reporting on Russia for decades.

At the height of the Cold War during her freshman year of high school, CNN's Jill Dougherty developed an obsession with Russia. Over the next half-century, she studied in Leningrad, traveled the Soviet Union as part of a cultural exchange program, lived in Moscow, and reported on the presidencies of Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Vladimir Putin. For years she defended Putin to colleagues and friends, insisting that foreign critics misunderstood his post-Soviet point of view. But as Putin used his growing power to strangle the nation's independent press, her feelings began to change. When she reported live on the ground to millions of CNN viewers around the world as Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in 2022, she realized the leader with whom she had sympathized was a tyrant threatening to destroy a place and a people she had come to love. This is a memoir that traces Jill's fascination with Russia and shares the insights into the country, its people, and its leader she has gleaned through forty years of reporting. Readers will see Russia's evolution through the eyes of the dedicated, compassionate, cancer-surviving, gay woman they have watched on cable since 1983. Jill Dougherty was a CNN Correspondent for over thirty years and is now a CNN on-air Contributor, appearing frequently to provide reporting and analysis on Russia and related issues. She served as CNN Moscow Bureau Chief for nine years and held other posts at CNN including White House Correspondent. She writes regularly for CNN.com, and her work has been published in The Atlantic, Politico, the Washington Post, and elsewhere. She lives in Washington, DC and speaks fluent Russian.

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Book Published 2025-04-15 by Lyons Press

Comments

In MY RUSSIA, esteemed journalist Jill Dougherty takes readers on an intimate journey through the heart of a nation she has spent more than five decades studying and covering. Weaving together gripping stories of her experiences with deep insights and observations, Dougherty explores the complexities of Russia's rich culture, tumultuous history, and ever-evolving identity. A fantastic read.

In MY RUSSIA My Russia a unique and deeply personal memoirJill Dougherty conveys a rare understanding and feel for Russia and her people, drawn from exceptional experiences and vivid personal encounters over the five decades she has spent living and working in the country. With the eye of a skilled journalist and the ear of a gifted linguist, Jill is equally insightful and compelling in exposing the dark roots of Vladimir Putin's brutal war against Ukraine as she is in capturing the surprisingly hopeful spirit and essential humanity of the long-suffering Russian people. For Americans, few challenges in this century will rival the importance and complexity of managing our relationship with Moscow. MY RUSSIA is mandatory reading to better understand both the stakes and the opportunities inherent in that challenge.

Jill Dougherty's memoir takes us through one stunning scene after another into those people and events that made the Russia we see todayand made Jill the acclaimed observer that she is. MY RUSSIA is absorbing, compelling, personal and insightful. Jill is clear-eyed about Vladimir Putin and other leaders she has seen close-up. But she is also filled with regard for so many of the Russian people she has gotten to know so well.

MY RUSSIA is the extraordinary memoir of a remarkable woman who has focused her professional life on Russia, from her high school days mastering the challenging Russian language, through her years of service as CNN's Moscow bureau chief. Writing with the grace and passion of the Russian poets and authors she so admires, Dougherty applies her formidable skills as a foreign correspondent to narrate her decades of experience in the Soviet Union and Russia. She was a witness to many tumultuous moments in history, which she describes in rich, personal detail, including the Kremlin's brutal invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Her insights on Putin and the system that produced him could not be more timely or compelling.

Jill Dougherty's magnificent, evocative story of her turbulent years in Moscow for CNN reveals both her appreciation for the Russian people and their culture and her deep dismay at what Putin's Russia has become. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Russia today.

We know CNN reporter Jill Dougherty from her penetrating Russia reporting and astute analysis. In this great read, Dougherty takes us behind the camera, providing insights beyond the headlines on Russia, Putin, and the Russians themselves. In this highly personal memoir, we also learn a lot about the inspiring woman who broke the news. A must-read for anyone interested in contemporary Russia.

It is certainly not hyperbole for Jill Dougherty to title this book MY RUSSIA. She has done more than anyone else to illuminate Russa for the American public over the past 40 years. As she is on the screen, Jill is a warm and wonderful companion leading us through her personal journey from studying in Soviet Leningrad to her final visit to Moscow to cover Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Jill's book brims with the kind of keen observation and deep personal reflection readers will expect from this veteran CNN Moscow correspondent.

Jill Dougherty understands Russiaand Putinbetter than anyone I know. Over many years as colleagues, I've witnessed her dedication, passion, and personal commitment to understanding the country and its people. This is the fascinating personal story of her Russia.

Jill Dougherty has spent more than 20 years covering the rise of Vladimir Putin. Based in Moscow for CNN, she described herself as a Russophile, but her time covering the Kremlin exposed the barbaric underbelly of an authoritarian system that uses propaganda and violence to suppress dissent and crush the journalists and dissidents who stand in its way. My Russia is required reading for those who want to understand how a strongman can take complete control of a country as vast as Russia in less than a generation and the consequences of ignoring the danger the Kremlin still poses to the world today.