Ben Judah

Early life

The son of journalist Tim Judah, Judah was born in London. He spent his childhood in Romania and Yugoslavia, where he attended the Lycée Français Anna de Noailles and the École Française de Belgrade before his family moved back to Britain. Back in London he studied at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, prior to attending Oxford University to read Modern History and Politics, where he gained a first. He speaks both French and Russian.

Journalism

Judah began his career in Russia as a reporter for Reuters in Moscow, travelling widely in Russia and the former Soviet Union. As a conflict reporter he covered the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, the 2010 Kyrgyz Revolution and the 2011 Tunisian Revolution. Since 2008 he has been a regular contributor to Standpoint (magazine) reporting extensively from the Caucasus, Siberia, Central Asia and Xinjiang.

In 2010 he joined the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank, as a Policy Fellow researching Vladimir Putin and Russian politics. His report Dealing With A Post-BRIC Russia was reviewed in the Financial Times by John Lloyd, who summarized it as arguing "Russia is no longer to be counted with Brazil, India and China a rapidly growing state." In 2013 he was a Visiting Fellow at the European Stability Initiative in Istanbul, researching Russo-Turkish relations.

His first book Fragile Empire (2013), a study of Vladimir Putin's Russia, was published by Yale University Press. In a review the Economist said "he shuttles to and fro across Russia's vast terrain, finding criminals, liars, fascists and crooked politicians, as well as the occasional saintly figure." Fragile Empire was chosen by Gideon Rachman as one of the Financial Times summer books of the year 2013, who called it "a beautifully written and very lively study of Russia that argues that the political order created by Vladimir Putin is stagnating." John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley, former chief executive of BP, told the Financial Times the book was top of his summer reading list. Perry Anderson praised the book as "a fine analysis of the nature and prospects of the Moscow opposition."

Judah has since become a regular columnist on Russian affairs and London's role as a money laundering centre, writing in The New York Times, the Financial Times and The Sunday Times. He is a regular guest on CNN, BBC NEWS and Channel 4 News and is a contributing writer for Politico Europe where he reports on Britain. In 2016 he was shortlisted for Feature Writer Of The Year at the British Press Awards.

His second book This Is London (2016) was published by Picador. The poet Blake Morrison, reviewing the book for The Guardian writes that this "epic account of contemporary London is ... motivated by a desire to show our capital in its true (new) colours: as a megacity of global migrants, some of them rich, most of them poor, few of them happy with their lot." John Gapper praised the book in the Financial Times saying "it recalls the journalism of Orwell," as did Rachel Cooke in the New Statesman who said "every MP should be given a copy immediately. On every page lies an uncomfortable truth, in every paragraph sheer horror. It is a book that demonstrably improves the eyesight. Read it, and the streets will look different: I guarantee it."