We haven’t heard much lately from our occasional Russian political analyst, the Polittechnologist – apparently he’s been spending much of his time in various third-world countries south of the equator. On a recent trip closer to home, however, he ran across an intriguing advertisement in the Kiev metro, which he’s kindly brought to our attention.

The Russian and Ukrainian people have had a rather stormy relationship over the centuries, as we all know, and it has only become more acute because of the so-called “gas wars” of the past few winters. So it certainly raised more than a few eyebrows here at our editorial office when we learned about a book that’s just come out in Ukraine with the politically provocative title “BROTHER” and featuring a photo of the Russian national leader decked out in his Vlad-the-Submariner costume on the cover. Here we offer our exclusive translation of the advertising blurb on the book’s website.

Needless to say, the below does not constitute an endorsement of the book or of the positions of its authors by the editors of this blog. We haven’t even read the book, nor has the Polittechnologist – he just can’t bring himself to put up the 30 hrivnas to buy it.