Elena Kostioukovitch's Nella mente di Vladimir Putin, published in Italy in 2022, unveils an untold cultural history of post-Soviet Russia, tracing the birth and spread of a dangerous ideology, embodied by Vladimir Putin, which lead to the invasion of Ukraine. Known as the "Russian Universe," this doctrine envisions an ideal state reuniting all "genetically superior" Russian peoples—a theory propagated by scholars like Anatolij Fomenko and Aleksandr Dugin, celebrated domestically but contested internationally. To uncover the irrational aspects of Putin’s character and his ties to a “magical absolutism,” Kostioukovitch delves into historiographical inventions, forgeries, and regime conspiracies, in a book populated by characters who feel like they belong in fiction, yet are reshaping Europe’s history today. The book has since been translated into German, Hungarian, Latvian, and Polish.