Everything you've ever wanted to know about doing business with Russia, but were afraid to ask. Charles Hecker's 'Zero Sum' is an essential piece of reading for any business with either (a) buyer's remorse about investing in post-Soviet Russia or (b) a hopeful eye on the lucre to be made there. For those wanting the low-down on share issues, takeovers, joint ventures or market capitalisation, Hecker's authoritative eye has got it covered. He is not only a fluent Russian speaker, but also a former journalist and geopolitical risk consultant — and he has interviewed dozens of other experts and business people who were involved with Russia from the 1980s right up until the travesty of Putin's all-out invasion in 2022. But there's more. And that 'more' is what I loosely call 'heart' — which is to say that Hecker also paints a vivid, evocative picture of a society in upheaval. Alongside his business acumen, Hecker tells a human story: of impoverished babushkas, obscenely wealthy oligarchs, of destitution, hyperinflation and mafia shoot-outs. In other words, this is not just essential reading for the business community, it's highly recommended for any journalists, academics or think-tanks that follow Russia.