Russia is a nuisance. This is the conclusion reached by Western elites in politics and media. Russia has been a disturbance since the Ukraine crisis in 2014. "Russia sympathizer" has become a term of derision. Thomas Fasbender impressively describes how different Russia truly is. Different from the prejudices held in Western Europe and different from the Western European ideal of a contemporary democracy. In thirteen varied chapters, Fasbender narrates everyday life in Russia and its dramatic history. He evokes the primal nature of the vast country between the Baltic Sea and the Pacific, between the Arctic and the Caucasus, and he provides intimate insights into the fate-tested mentality of its inhabitants. His conclusion: Russia does not want to follow the path of the West, and it will not do so. And certainly not because of its president. The Russian people have their own way.