Andrey Andreyevich Piontkovsky (Russian: Андре́й Андре́евич Пионтко́вский, born 30 June 1940) is a Russian-Georgian[1] scientist and political writer and analyst,[2][3] a member of International PEN Club.

Andrey Piontkovsky, in his article published on 11 January 2000 in Sovetskaya Rossiya[6] and placed on the Yabloko website[7] on the same day, was the first[8] to use the term "putinism" which he had defined as "the highest and final stage of bandit capitalism in Russia, the stage where, as one half-forgotten classic said, the bourgeoisie throws the flag of the democratic freedoms and the human rights overboard; and also as a war, "consolidation" of the nation on the ground of hatred against some ethnic group, attack on freedom of speech and information brainwashing, isolation from the outside world and further economic degradation".

In the same article, Piontkovsky stated that the putinism is the terminal shot to the head of Russia, and also he compared Yeltsin to Hindenburg who gave Hitler the power.

"[23][24] Piontkovsky adds, "Putin has stolen the ideology of the Russian Reich from the domestic Hitlerites, he has preventively burned them down, using their help to do so, hundreds of their most active supporters in the furnace of the Ukrainian Vendée.

"[23][24] In his interview with Radio Liberty, Piontkovsky says that maybe the meaning of the operation conducted by Putin is to reveal all these potential passionate leaders of social revolt, send them to Ukraine and burn them in the furnace of the Ukrainian Vendée.