It is a journal-like novel by a Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya. She had completed it when she was murdered in a contract killing in Moscow in 2006. She is the author of "A Dirty War" and "Putin's Russia". A Russian Diary covers the 2003 Russian parliamentary elections to the 2005 Beslan school siege. It records the plight of Russians and reports on the cynicism and corruption of Vladimir Putin's presidency.

The paperback edition is in good condition; it is the first user.