On February 10, 2026, Pushkin House in London will host a meeting with Mikhail Fishman, with Arkady Ostrovsky in attendance. The event will be held in person and online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The focus of the conversation is Mikhail Fishman's new book, The Successor: a political biography of Boris Nemtsov and, at the same time, a history of modern Russia told through the fates of individuals and key turning points of the era. The book asks questions that continue to resonate today: how did Russia lose its chance for freedom, when did hopes for a democratic future disappear, and could the course of history have been different?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fishman traces the country's path from the late 1980s and the first free elections to the protests on Bolotnaya Square, the wars in Chechnya, and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The central figure of the book is Boris Nemtsov, a charismatic politician, one of the most prominent liberal leaders of his generation, and one of the most consistent critics of Vladimir Putin's regime, who was killed in February 2015 near the Kremlin walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The English edition of the book has been significantly expanded compared to the Russian version: Mikhail Fishman wrote several new chapters for the English publication, and the narrative has been brought up to 2022. The book will be published by Pushkin Press in January 2026, translated by Michelle Berdy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A conversation with Arkady Ostrovsky, author of The Invention of Russia and one of the leading Western experts on Russia and Eastern Europe, will be a discussion not only of the book, but also of the broader context: politics, memory, and responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n