Swimming the Volga: A U.S. Army Officer's Experiences in Pre-Putin Russia

"One of the great joys of serving as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation was working with General Peter Zwack. Every day, he demonstrated a deep commitment both to serving our great nation and to understanding Russia. The latter helped him do the former. Swimming the Volga shows just how deep into Russian society, history and culture Peter dug. Jumping from the analytic to the personal with ease, it's a brilliant story. "
Michael McFaul
U.S. Ambassador to Moscow 2012 – 2014
Author of From Cold War to Hot Peace

"This ‘coming of age as a Russian Foreign Area Officer’ memoir is a phenomenal, warm and provocative story told by retired Brigadier Peter Zwack. Peter and I are friends and fellow soldiers; we served together in Germany during the Cold War and I was honored to observe his magnificent performance as the Defense Attaché in Moscow during the start of what is now the ‘hot peace.’ During the years in between, Peter’s professional demeanor, Russian acumen and informed insight evolved, in part, as he swam the Volga every summer for a decade. This work provides unique understanding of that part of the world."
Lt. General Mark Hertling (Ret.)
Former Commander U.S. Army Europe
CNN national security and military analyst

"This warm and evocative memoir of a Russia addled by change post-1989 is a remarkable chronicle of a U.S. Army officer's disarming empathy for the young Russians he befriended as they sought to find their place in a new world. Never judgmental, the author captures the rich humanity of the successes and failures of unlikely friends and acquaintances observed during the tumultuous decade between Gorbachev and Putin. Moving and haunting."
Ralph Peters

Swimming the Volga is a personal eyewitness account of day-to-day life in a provincial Russian city during a remarkable period in world history just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union and before the names Putin and Russia became inseparable.

After seventy years of tyranny and oppression under a series of iron-fisted regimes, Russia turned away from its failed social and political experiment. It took its first steps toward adopting a democratic and free-market system under perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness).

During Zwack's regular visits to Kalinin, he witnessed firsthand ordinary people's lives turned upside down by forces they had little or no control over. In the Wild West of the 'new' Russia, a few enterprising Russians quickly figured out how to make vast amounts of money-usually illegally. A nascent mafia mastered the art of bringing necessary and desirable goods to market and extracting 'protection' money from new businesses. Most Russians, however, watched their life savings disappear in two massive devaluations of the ruble in the 1990s.

Written in the days just before the names Putin and Russia became inseparable, Brigadier General Peter B. Zwack (Ret)'s Swimming the Volga is a unique time capsule of a remarkable period in world history. The final chapter of the Cold War ended with the hijacking of Russia's future by rapacious financiers, pyramid schemes, and a new criminal element setting the stage for Putin's arrival, and with it, a more assertive and revanchist Russia. Along the way, the cast of memorable characters in the story reveals their very human dreams, ambitions, fears, missteps, cynicism, resilience, and disillusionment.

What will make Swimming the Volga stand out in the marketplace is the author, who lived and experienced Russian culture firsthand. His many accomplished years of high-ranking military authority, former Attaché to the Russian Federation, Global Fellow at The Kennan Institute, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Russia and Eurasia / Researcher - Speaker - WriterFrom 2012 - 2014, BG Zwack served as the United States Senior Defense Official and Attaché to the Russian Federation. By interacting with Russians at multiple levels since 1989, including defense, security, academia, policy, veterans, and private citizens, BG Zwack developed a unique hands-on perspective on Russia and Eurasian security affairs during a turbulent period that included the recent strife in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.Brigadier General Peter B. Zwack enlisted in the US Army in 1980 and received his commission via Officer Candidate School (OCS). He subsequently served 34 years as a Military Intelligence and Eurasian Foreign Area Officer serving in diverse and challenging duty locations including West Germany, South Korea, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Russia.Inducted into the OCS Hall of Fame in 2015, BG Zwack is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Bronze Star, and many other awards and citations including the Afghan Service Medal and NATO/Kosovo Medal. He was also honored as the Joint Chiefs of Staff Action Officer of the Year for 1999. He proudly wears the Ranger Tab and Airborne Wings.Former Senior Russia-Eurasia Research Fellow at National Defense University (Institute for National Strategic Studies) at the National Defense University.Senior Global Fellow The Kennan Institute, the premier U.S. center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.BG Zwack regularly consults and lectures within the defense department, private industry, think tanks, and academic institutions on contemporary Russian and Eurasian security issues, and leadership lessons.BG Zwack speaks Russian, German, Italian, and some French.