Russian Millennium — James Thomas

Moscow, spring 1999 and Russia is preparing for the forthcoming Presidential elections. A key candidate plans a covert campaign fund which he intends to use in order to propel himself into the Kremlin. Baron Pierre de Waude, International Facilitator to Oligarchs and politicians, creates the fund through a web of fraudulent crude-oil transactions. In parallel, the Baron clandestinely acquires a Russian nuclear submarine, laid-up in a naval shipyard. This is secretly re-commissioned and mobilised to its new Middle East owners. This becomes the catalyst to a series of brutal intimidations and murders that baffle Scotland Yard and Interpol. The shipments of crude oil by aging oil-tankers and the submarine's schedule become inextricably entwined and the action is exacerbated by two Millennium events. The Baron attempts to use the ensuing global confusion to his advantage. However did he mis-calculate? Russian Millenniumis a fast-paced thriller, reciting the consequences of ruthless pursuit of power, fuelled by sexual blackmail, blind ambition and greed. The action unfolds, from Marbella to London, Moscow to Geneva and from Novorossiysk and Sevastopol in the Black Sea.