![Russian oligarch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Russian_oligarch.jpg)
Russian oligarchs (
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
: олигархи,
romanized
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
: ''oligarkhi'') are
business oligarchs of the
former Soviet republics
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the
Russian privatisation that followed the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
. The
failing Soviet state left the ownership of
state assets contested, which allowed for
informal deals with former
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
officials (mostly in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
) as a means to acquire state property. Historian
Edward L. Keenan
Edward Louis "Ned" Keenan, Jr. (May 14, 1935 - March 9, 2015) was an American professor of history at Harvard University who specialized in medieval Russian history (especially the cultural and the political history of Muscovy). He became a pr ...
has compared these oligarchs to the system of powerful
boyars
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were sec ...
that emerged in late-medieval
Muscovy Muscovy is an alternative name for the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to:
*Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555
* Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') and Domes ...
.
The first modern Russian oligarchs emerged as business-sector entrepreneurs under
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
(
General Secretary
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
1985–1991) during his period of
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
*Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, an ...
liberalization. The term "
oligarch" derives from the Ancient Greek ''oligarkhia'' meaning "the rule of the few".
Since 2017, several Russian oligarchs and their companies have been hit by
US sanctions
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
under the table of
Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act
The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) is a United States federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The bill was passed by the Senate on July 27, 2017, 98–2, after it passed the House 419 ...
(CAATSA) for their support of "the Russian government's malign activity around the globe". In 2022, many Russian oligarchs were targeted and sanctioned by countries around the world as a rebuke of
Russia's war against Ukraine.
Yeltsin era
During
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
's
perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
(-1991), many businessmen in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
imported goods such as personal computers and jeans into the country and sold them for a hefty profit.
During the 1990s, once
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
became
President of Russia
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
in July 1991, the oligarchs emerged as well-connected entrepreneurs who started from nearly nothing and became rich through participation in the market via connections to the corrupt, but elected,
government of Russia
The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...
during the state's transition to a
market-based economy
A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers are ...
. The so-called
voucher privatization
Voucher privatization is a privatization method where citizens are given or can inexpensively buy a book of vouchers that represent potential shares in any state-owned company. Voucher privatization has mainly been used in the early to mid-1990s i ...
program of 1992–1994 enabled a handful of young men to become billionaires, specifically by
arbitraging the vast difference between old domestic prices for Russian commodities (such as natural gas and oil) and the prices prevailing on the world market. Because they stashed billions of dollars in private
Swiss bank accounts
Banking in Switzerland dates to the early eighteenth century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland, along wit ...
rather than investing in the
Russian economy
The economy of Russia has gradually transformed from a planned economy into a mixed market-oriented economy.
—Rosefielde, Steven, and Natalia Vennikova. “Fiscal Federalism in Russia: A Critique of the OECD Proposals.” Cambridge Journa ...
, they were dubbed "
kleptocrats".
These oligarchs became extremely unpopular with the Russian public, and are commonly thought of as the cause of much of the turmoil that plagued the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described the oligarchs as "about as popular with your average Russian as a man idly burning bundles of £50s outside an orphanage".
Emergence
Economists
Sergei Guriev
Sergey Maratovich Guriyev (russian: Серге́й Мара́тович Гури́ев, os, Гуриаты Мараты фырт Сергей / Gwyriaty Maraty fyrt Sergej) is a Russian economist, who is Provost and a professor of economics at t ...
and Andrei Rachinsky contrast older oligarchs with nomenklatura ties and younger-generation entrepreneurs such as
Kakha Bendukidze
Kakha Bendukidze ( ka, კახა ბენდუქიძე; 20 April 1956 – 13 November 2014) was a Georgian statesman, businessman and philanthropist, founder of the Knowledge Foundation and head of the supervisory board of Agricultural ...
who built their wealth from scratch because Gorbachev's reforms affected a period "when co-existence of regulated and
quasi-market
Quasi-markets are markets which can be supervised and organisationally designed that are intended to create greater desire and more efficiency in comparison to conventional delivery systems, while supporting more accessibility, stability and impart ...
prices created huge opportunities for
arbitrage
In economics and finance, arbitrage (, ) is the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more markets; striking a combination of matching deals to capitalise on the difference, the profit being the difference between the ...
."
Although the majority of oligarchs were not formally connected with the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
, there are allegations that they were promoted (at least initially) by the communist
apparatchik
__NOTOC__
An apparatchik (; russian: аппара́тчик ) was a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union or the Soviet government ''apparat'' ( аппарат, apparatus), someone who held any position ...
s, with strong connections to Soviet power-structures and access to the funds of the Communist Party.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky started his business importing computers under auspices of the
Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
-authorised
Center for Scientific and Technical Creativity of the Youth in 1986, briefly serving as a deputy secretary of the Komsomol for a district in Moscow in 1987. His move into banking two years later was funded with support from Komsomol alumni working in Moscow city government. Later, he served in Russian government as an adviser to the prime minister and a deputy minister of fuel and power while still running his business.
Petr Aven
Petr Olegovich Aven (also transliterated Pyotr Aven; russian: Пëтр Олегович Авен; Latvian: Pjotrs Avens; born 16 March 1955) is a Russian oligarch, businessman, economist and politician who also holds Latvian citizenship. Until ...
worked alongside economist
Yegor Gaidar
Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (russian: link=no, Его́р Тиму́рович Гайда́р; ; 19 March 1956 – 16 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 Jun ...
in the (VNIISI), a
Soviet Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
think tank modelled after
RAND
The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...
. Gaidar later became the economics editor of the ''
Kommunist
''Kommunist'' (Russian: Коммунист), named ''Bolshevik'' (Большевик) until 1952, was a Soviet journal. The journal was started in 1924. The founders were Nikolai Bukharin, Georgy Pyatakov, and Yevgenia Bosch. It was the official ...
'' journal, the official theoretical organ of the
CC of the CPSU. He also held various positions up to the interim prime minister in the Russian government during 1991–1992.
A friend and a business partner of
Boris Berezovsky, was a researcher at VNIISI as well. Berezovsky himself was Head of the Department of System Design at the another Academy of Sciences research centre, . His enterprise was established by the Institute as a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
.
Vladimir Vinogradov
Vladimir Viktorovich Vinogradov ( Russian Владимир Викторович Виноградов) (19 September 1955 in Ufa — 29 June 2008 in Moscow) was the owner and president of Inkombank, one of the largest banks in 90s' Russia. Consider ...
was the chief economist of Promstroibank, one of the six banks existing in the Soviet Union, previously serving as the secretary of
Atommash
Atommash (russian: «Атоммаш») is a multidisciplinary engineering company located in Volgodonsk, Rostov Oblast, Russia. It was established in 1976 as a nuclear engineering corporation. Following privatization and bankruptcy in 1999, t ...
plant Komsomol organisation.
Official Russian media usually depicted oligarchs as the enemies of "communist forces", which were portrayed as a
stereotype
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
that describes political power that wants to restore
Soviet-style communism in Russia.
Post-Soviet business oligarchs include relatives or close associates of government officials, even government officials themselves, as well as
criminal bosses often connected to the Russian government. Some members of these groups achieved vast wealth by acquiring state assets very cheaply (or for free) during the
privatization process controlled by the Yeltsin government of 1991–1999. Specific accusations of corruption are often leveled at
Anatoly Chubais
Anatoly Borisovich Chubais (russian: Анатолий Борисович Чубайс; born 16 June 1955) is a Russian politician and economist who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administ ...
and
Yegor Gaidar
Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (russian: link=no, Его́р Тиму́рович Гайда́р; ; 19 March 1956 – 16 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 Jun ...
, two of the "Young Reformers" chiefly responsible for Russian privatization in the early 1990s. According to
David Satter, author of ''Darkness at Dawn'', "what drove the process was not the determination to create a system based on
universal value
A value is a universal value if it has the same value or worth for all, or almost all, people. Spheres of human value encompass morality, aesthetic preference, human traits, human endeavour, and social order. Whether universal values exist is ...
s but rather the will to introduce a system of private ownership, which, in the absence of law, opened the way for the criminal pursuit of money and power".
Involvement in politics
During Yeltsin's presidency (1991–1999) oligarchs became increasingly influential in Russian politics; they helped finance his
re-election in 1996. Well-connected oligarchs like Abramovich, Khodorkovsky, Berezovsky and Potanin acquired key assets at a fraction of the value at the
loans for shares scheme
Beginning in 1995, Boris Yeltsin's government began privatizing state-owned shares in companies through a loans for shares scheme. The scheme helped with " fundraising" for Yeltsin's 1996 reelection campaign and restructuring freshly-sold comp ...
auctions conducted in the run-up to the election. Defenders of the out-of-favor oligarchs, often associated with Chubais's partythe
Union of Right Forces
)"Liberty, Property, Legality"(russian: "Свобода, Собственность, Законность")
, headquarters = Moscow
, newspaper = Just Cause
, membership_year = 2007
, membership = 57,410
, ideology ...
argue that the companies they acquired were not highly valued at the time because they still ran on Soviet principles, with non-existent
stock control
Inventory control or stock control can be broadly defined as "the activity of checking a shop's stock". It is the process of ensuring that the right amount of supply is available within a business. However, a more focused definition takes into acco ...
, huge payrolls, no financial reporting and scant regard for profit. They turned the businesses around and made them profitable for shareholders.
At the end of the century
The
1998 Russian financial crisis
The Russian financial crisis (also called the ruble crisis or the Russian flu) began in Russia on 17 August 1998. It resulted in the Russian government and the Russian Central Bank devaluing the ruble and defaulting on its debt. The crisis had s ...
hit some of the oligarchs hard, however, and those whose holdings were still based mainly in
banking
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
lost much of their fortunes.
The most influential and well-known oligarchs from the Yeltsin era include:
*
Boris Berezovsky
*
Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; russian: Михаил Маратович Фридман; he, מיכאיל פרידמן; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli businessman, billionaire, and ...
*
Vladimir Gusinsky
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky (russian: Владимир Александрович Гусинский, ; born 6 October 1952) is a Russian media tycoon. He founded the Media-Most holding company that included the NTV free-to-air channel, ...
*
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
*
Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Olegovich Potanin (russian: Владимир Олегович Потанин; born 3 January 1961) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in ...
*
Alexander Smolensky
Alexander Pavlovich Smolensky (russian: Алекса́ндр Па́влович Смолéнский) (born July 6, 1954) is a Russian business oligarch.
Biography
Alexander Smolensky began his business activities on the black market of the s ...
*
Pyotr Aven
Petr Olegovich Aven (also transliterated Pyotr Aven; russian: Пëтр Олегович Авен; Latvian: Pjotrs Avens; born 16 March 1955) is a Russian oligarch, businessman, economist and politician who also holds Latvian citizenship. Until ...
*
Vladimir Vinogradov
Vladimir Viktorovich Vinogradov ( Russian Владимир Викторович Виноградов) (19 September 1955 in Ufa — 29 June 2008 in Moscow) was the owner and president of Inkombank, one of the largest banks in 90s' Russia. Consider ...
*
Vitaly Malkin
Vitaly Borisovich Malkin (russian: Виталий Борисович Малкин; born in 16 September 1952) is a Russian-Israeli business oligarch and politician who was born in Pervouralsk near Yekaterinburg, the administrative center of S ...
They formed what became known as the (or "seven-banker outfit", ), a small group of businessmen with a great influence on Boris Yeltsin and his political environment. Together they controlled from 50% to 70% of all Russian finances between 1996 and 2000.
Fridman, Potanin, Aven and Malkin retained their wealth in the Putin era, which began in 1999. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported in 2008 that oligarchs' from the era of former president Boris Yeltsin have been purged by the Kremlin".
Putin era
![Vladimir_Putin_31_May_2001-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Vladimir_Putin_31_May_2001-2.jpg)
During Putin's first presidency term, a number of oligarchs came under fire for various illegal activities, particularly
tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...
in the businesses they acquired. However, it is widely speculated and believed that the charges were also politically motivated per these tycoons falling out of favor with the Kremlin.
Vladimir Gusinsky
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky (russian: Владимир Александрович Гусинский, ; born 6 October 1952) is a Russian media tycoon. He founded the Media-Most holding company that included the NTV free-to-air channel, ...
of MediaMost and
Boris Berezovsky both avoided legal proceedings by leaving Russia, and the most prominent,
Mikhail Khodorkovsky of
Yukos
OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (russian: ОАО Нефтяна́я Компа́ния Ю́КОС, links=no, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovs ...
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
, was arrested in October 2003 and sentenced to 9 years. This was subsequently extended to 14 years, and after Putin pardoned him, he was released on 20 December 2013.
An economic study distinguished 21 oligarchic groups as of 2003.
Between 2000 and 2004, Putin apparently engaged in a power struggle with some oligarchs, reaching a "grand bargain" with them. This bargain allowed the oligarchs to maintain their powers, in exchange for their explicit support of – and alignment with – Putin's government. However, other analysts argue that the oligarchic structure has remained intact under Putin, with Putin devoting much of his time to mediating power-disputes between rival oligarchs.
Some had been imprisoned, such as
Mikhael Mirilashvili
Mikhael Mirilashvili ( ka, მიხო მირილაშვილი, he, מיכאל מירילשוילי; born May 1960) is an Israeli- Georgian businessman and philanthropist, based in Russia and Israel. Mirilashvili’s business enterpri ...
.
Many more have become oligarchs during Putin's time in power, and often due to personal relations with Putin, such as the director of the institute where Putin obtained a degree in 1996,
Vladimir Litvinenko
Vladimir Stefanovich Litvinenko (russian: Влади́мир Стефа́нович Литвине́нко, born 14 August 1955) is a Russian academic, businessman and Vladimir Putin's campaign manager. He is also rector of Saint Petersburg Mining ...
,
and Putin's childhood friend and
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...
-teacher
Arkady Rotenberg
Arkady Romanovich Rotenberg (russian: Аркадий Романович Ротенберг; born 15 December 1951) is a Russian billionaire businessman and oligarch. With his brother Boris Rotenberg, he was co-owner of the Stroygazmontazh (S ...
. Daniel Treisman proposed using a term "silovarch" (
silovik
In the Russian political lexicon, a ''silovik'' ( rus, силови́к, p=sʲɪlɐˈvʲik; plural: ''siloviki'', rus, силовики́, p=sʲɪləvʲɪˈkʲi) is a person who works in the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian national police, ...
and oligarch) for new Russian oligarchs with backgrounds in Russian military and intelligence.
Prominent oligarchs of the Putin era include
Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian Russian oligarchs, oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club ...
,
Alexander Abramov
Alexander Grigoryevich Abramov (russian: Александр Григорьевич Абрамов, born 1959) is a Russian businessperson, who until March 2022 was the Chairman of the Board of directors of Evraz, one of Russia's largest steel ...
,
Oleg Deripaska,
Mikhail Prokhorov
Mikhail Dmitrievich Prokhorov ( rus, Михаил Дмитриевич Прохоров, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈproxərəf; born 3 May 1965) is a Russian-Israeli oligarch, politician, and former owner of the Brooklyn Nets. I ...
,
Alisher Usmanov
Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov (russian: Алишер Бурханович Усманов; born 9 September 1953) is an Uzbek-born Russian businessman and oligarch. By 2022, Usmanov had an estimated net worth of $19.5 billion and was among the w ...
,
German Khan
German Borisovich Khan (russian: Герман Борисович Хан; born 24 October 1961) is a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch, billionaire, and businessman. After graduating from university in 1988 he worked in a wholesale business selling ...
,
Viktor Vekselberg
Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg (russian: Виктор Феликсович Вексельберг, uk, Віктор Феліксович Вексельберг; born April 14, 1957) is a Ukrainian-born Russian–Israeli-Cyprus oligarch, billion ...
,
Leonid Mikhelson
Leonid Viktorovich Mikhelson (russian: Леони́д Ви́кторович Михельсо́н; born 11 August 1955) is a Russian billionaire businessman, CEO, chairman and major shareholder of the Russian gas company Novatek.
After the colla ...
,
Vagit Alekperov
Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov ( az, Vahid Yusuf oğlu Ələkbərov, russian: Вагит Юсуфович Алекперов; born 1 September 1950) is a Russian– Azerbaijani businessman. He was the President of the oil company Lukoil from 1993 unt ...
,
Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; russian: Михаил Маратович Фридман; he, מיכאיל פרידמן; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli businessman, billionaire, and ...
,
Dmitry Rybolovlev
Dmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev (russian: Дмитрий Евгеньевич Рыболовлев; ; born 22 November 1966) is a Russian oligarch, billionaire businessman, and investor.
Rybolovlev became chairman of the Russian fertilizer prod ...
,
Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Olegovich Potanin (russian: Владимир Олегович Потанин; born 3 January 1961) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in ...
,
Pyotr Aven
Petr Olegovich Aven (also transliterated Pyotr Aven; russian: Пëтр Олегович Авен; Latvian: Pjotrs Avens; born 16 March 1955) is a Russian oligarch, businessman, economist and politician who also holds Latvian citizenship. Until ...
, and
Vitaly Malkin
Vitaly Borisovich Malkin (russian: Виталий Борисович Малкин; born in 16 September 1952) is a Russian-Israeli business oligarch and politician who was born in Pervouralsk near Yekaterinburg, the administrative center of S ...
.
In 2004, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' listed 36 billionaires of Russian citizenship, with a note: "this list includes businessmen of Russian citizenship who acquired the major share of their wealth privately, while not holding a governmental position". In 2005, the number of billionaires dropped to 30, mostly because of the
Yukos
OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (russian: ОАО Нефтяна́я Компа́ния Ю́КОС, links=no, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovs ...
case, with Khodorkovsky dropping from No. 1 (US$15.2 billion) to No. 21 (US$2.0 billion).
A 2013 report by Credit Suisse found that 35% of the wealth of Russia was owned by the wealthiest 110 individuals.
Billionaire, philanthropist, art patron and former KGB agent
Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev ( rus, Александр Евгеньевич Лебедев, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲebʲɪdʲɪf; born 16 December 1959) is a Russian businessman, and has been referred to as one of t ...
has criticized the oligarchs, saying "I think material wealth for them is a highly emotional and spiritual thing. They spend a lot of money on their own personal consumption." Lebedev has also described them as "a bunch of uncultured ignoramuses", saying "They don't read books. They don't have time. They don't go to
rtexhibitions. They think the only way to impress anyone is to buy a yacht." He also notes that the oligarchs have no interest in social injustice.
On 30 January 2018, the
US Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
published a
"list of oligarchs" per Pub.L. 115–44.
Oligarchs in London
A significant number of Russian oligarchs have bought homes in upmarket sections of London in the United Kingdom, which has been dubbed "Moscow on Thames" or "Londongrad". Some, such as
Eugene Shvidler
Evgeny Markovich Shvidler (russian: Евгений Маркович Швидлер; born 23 March 1964), also known as Eugene Shvidler, is a Soviet-born billionaire oil businessman. He made his fortune during the privatization of Russian indu ...
,
Alexander Knaster,
Konstantin Kagalovsky
Konstantin Grigoryevich Kagalovsky (russian: Константин Григорьевич Кагаловский; born 13 October 1957) is a Russian businessman. He is the former vice-president of the oil company Yukos and a key Yukos shareholder ...
, David Wilkowske and Abram Reznikov, are
expatriate
An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
s, having taken permanent residency in London. Most own homes in both countries as well as property and have acquired controlling interests in major European companies. They commute on a regular basis between London and Russia; in many cases their families reside in London, with their children attending school there. In 2007 Abram Reznikov bought one of Spain's mega recycling companies, Alamak Espana Trade SL, while
Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian Russian oligarchs, oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club ...
bought the English football club
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football ...
in 2003, spending record amounts on players' salaries.
The billionaire Moscow oligarch
Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; russian: Михаил Маратович Фридман; he, מיכאיל פרידמן; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli businessman, billionaire, and ...
, Russia's second richest man at a time, was restoring
Athlone House in London as a primary residence in 2016, to be worth an estimated £130 million when restored.
2008 global recession and credit crisis
According to the financial news-agency
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan (Bloomberg), Duncan MacMi ...
, Russia's wealthiest 25 individuals have collectively lost US$230 billion (£146 billion) since July 2008. The fall in the oligarchs' wealth relates closely to the meltdown in Russia's stock market, as by 2008 the
RTS Index
The RTS Index (RTSI; ) is a free-float capitalization-weighted index of 50 Russian stocks traded on the Moscow Exchange, calculated in US dollars. The index was introduced on September 1, 1995, with the formation of the Russian Trading System (RT ...
had lost 71% of its value due to the
capital flight
Capital flight, in economics, occurs when assets or money rapidly flow out of a country, due to an event of economic consequence or as the result of a political event such as regime change or economic globalization. Such events could be an increas ...
after the
Russo-Georgian War
The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...
of August 2008.
Billionaires in Russia and Ukraine have been particularly hard-hit by lenders seeking repayment on
balloon loans to shore up their own balance sheets. Many oligarchs took out generous loans from Russian banks, bought shares, and then took out more loans from western banks against the value of these shares.
One of the first to get hit by the global downturn was
Oleg Deripaska, Russia's richest man at the time, who had a net worth of US$28 billion in March 2008. As Deripaska borrowed money from western banks using shares in his companies as collateral, the collapse in share price forced him to sell holdings to satisfy the
margin call
''Margin Call'' is a 2011 American drama film written and directed by J. C. Chandor in his feature directorial debut. The principal story takes place over a 24-hour period at a large Wall Street investment bank during the initial stages of the ...
s.
2022 Invasion of Ukraine and sanctions
After the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, Canada, US, and European leaders with the addition of Japan, took unprecedented steps to sanction Putin and the oligarchs directly. In response to the sanctions, the targeted oligarchs started to hide wealth in an attempt to prevent the Western nations from freezing their assets. These sanctions intend to directly impact the Russian ruling class as a response for their perceived contribution and acquiescence to the war with Ukraine. Although the sanctions tend to miss the richest oligarchs, the impact on the war is unknown due to Putin's power over those that were sanctioned. Since the invasion began, nine of the Russian oligarchs' yachts have turned their
navigation transponders off as they sail to ports where they are less likely to be searched and seized.
In addition to freezing foreign holdings, restricting travel, and severing business ties, the sanctions aim to impact the personal lives of a number of oligarchs including;
*
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
(President of Russia)
*
Alexander Aleksandrovich Vedyakhin (
Sberbank
PJSC Sberbank (russian: Сбербанк, initially a contraction of russian: сберегательный банк, translit=sberegatelnyy bank, lit=savings bank, link=no) is a Russian majority state-owned banking and financial services compan ...
banking executive)
*
Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov (
VTB Bank
VTB Bank (; formerly known as ''Vneshtorgbank'', , lit. 'International Trade Bank') is a Russian majority state-owned bank headquartered in various federal districts of Russia; its legal address is registered in Saint Petersburg, St. Peter ...
banking and football chairman)
*
Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev (
FC Dynamo Moscow
FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', russian: Дина́мо Москва́ ) is a Russian football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footb ...
club chairman and a VTB Bank executive)
*
Igor Sechin
Igor Ivanovich Sechin (russian: И́горь Ива́нович Се́чин; born 7 September 1960) is a Russian oligarch and a government official, considered a close ally and "de facto deputy" of Vladimir Putin.
Sechin has been a confidant ...
(
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian Vertical integration, integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, Extraction of petroleum, extraction, production, refining, Petroleum t ...
oil executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia)
*
Andrey Patrushev
Andrey, Andrej or Andrei (in Cyrillic script: Андрей, Андреј or Андрэй) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include:
*Andrei of Polotsk ( – 1399), Lithuanian nobleman
*An ...
(son of the Secretary of the
Security Council of Russia
The Security Council of the Russian Federation (SCRF or Sovbez; russian: Совет безопасности Российской Федерации (СБРФ), Sovet bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii (SBRF)) is a constitutional consultative bo ...
Nikolai Patrushev
Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev (russian: Никола́й Плато́нович Па́трушев; born 11 July 1951) is a Russian politician, security officer and intelligence officer who has served as the secretary of the Security Council of ...
)
*
Sergei Sergeevich Ivanov
Sergius is a male given name of Ancient Roman origin after the name of the Latin ''gens'' Sergia or Sergii of regal and republican ages. It is a common Christian name, in honor of Saint Sergius, or in Russia, of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, and ...
(Board member of
Gazprombank
Gazprombank (russian: Газпромбанк), or GPB (JSC), is a private-owned Russian bank, the third largest bank in the country by assets. Since November 2014, Yuri Shamalov's Gazfond is its largest shareholder.
The bank’s principal busine ...
and president of
Alrosa diamond mining)
*
Kirill Shamalov
Kirill Nikolayevich Shamalov (russian: Кирилл Николаевич Шамалов; born 22 March 1982) is a Russian businessman, the ex-husband of Katerina Tikhonova and the ex-son-in-law of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was th ...
(
Gazprom
PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...
Executive and former son-in-law of Putin)
*
Yury Slyusar
Yury Borisovich Slyusar (russian: Юрий Борисович Слюсарь; born 20 July 1974) is the CEO of the Russian conglomerate United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).
Biography
Slyusar was born on 20 July 1974 in Rostov-on-Don.
His father wo ...
(director of
United Aircraft Corporation
The PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) () is a Russian Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense corporation. With a majority stake belonging to the Russian government, it consolidates Russian private and state-owned Russian ...
and board member of
Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
, Russian Airlines Pjsc and United Aircraft)
*
Petr Fradkov
Petr Mikhaylovich Fradkov (russian: Пётр Михайлович Фрадков; born 1978) is a Russian economist and banker serving as the chairman and CEO of Promsvyazbank and the general director of the .
On 28 February 2022, in relation to ...
(
Promsvyazbank
Promsvyazbank (PSB; rus, ПАО "Промсвязьбанк") is a state-owned, formerly private Russian bank from Moscow. It was owned by oligarchs Dmitry Ananyev and his brother Alexei Ananyev. As of 2012, it was the 10th-largest bank in Russi ...
executive, son of
Mikhail Fradkov
Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov ( rus, Михаи́л Ефи́мович Фрадко́в, p=mʲɪxɐˈil jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ frɐtˈkof; born 1 September 1950) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 2004 to 2007. An In ...
)
*
Gennady Timchenko
Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko (russian: Геннадий Николаевич Тимченко, ''also spelled'' Guennadi Timtchenko; born 9 November 1952) is a Russian oligarch and billionaire businessman. He founded and owns the private inv ...
(president of
Volga Group
Volga Group is a privately held investment vehicle that manages assets on behalf of the businessman Gennady Timchenko.
History
Volga Group was established as Volga Resources in 2007, and renamed as Volga Group in June 2013. The group consolid ...
private equity)
On March 2, 2022, the United States announced a special task force dubbed "
Task Force KleptoCapture". This team was put together to specifically target oligarchs. It is made up of officials from the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
,
Marshals Service,
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
,
Postal Inspection Service
The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), or the Postal Inspectors, is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. It supports and protects the U.S. Postal Service, its employees, infrastructure, and customers by enfor ...
,
Homeland Security Investigations
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
and
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
. The main goal of the task force is to impose the sanctions set against these individuals to freeze and seize the assets that the US government claimed were proceeds of their illegal involvement with the Russian government and the invasion of Ukraine.
On March 21, 2022, the
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a global network of investigative journalists with staff on six continents. It was founded in 2006 and specializes in organized crime and corruption. It publishes its stories through ...
launched
Russian Asset Tracker to showcase the profiles and assets of several Russian oligarchs.
In popular culture
*
Peter Morgan's play ''
Patriots'' depicts the rise and fall of oligarchs by focusing on the story of
Boris Berezovsky bringing
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
to power and later falling out with him. The play was staged in
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diver ...
, London in 2022.
*The 2002
Russian movie ''
Tycoon
A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
'' tells the story of emergence of oligarchs during the early years of Russian capitalism. The film is based on , a book about Boris Berezovsky written by .
* The main antagonist of the fourth episode of the first season (1x04) of ''
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers'' (''"The Owl Job"'') is a Russian oligarch named Sudarikov (voiced by
Fred Tatasciore
Fred Tatasciore (; ) is an American voice actor who has provided voices in animated and live-action films, television shows, and video games. He is known for voicing the Hulk and Beast (comics), Beast in various Marvel media and Solomon Grundy ( ...
), who is known to be a notorious high-end
arms dealer.
* One of the most recurring characters during the third and fourth seasons of ''
Billions'' is the ruthless European
billionaire oil tycoon Grigor Andolov (played by
John Malkovich
John Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Aw ...
), a powerful Russian oligarch, owner of a billionaire
oil empire and a dangerous criminal from
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
with ties to with the
European criminal underworld and protected by
various authoritarian governments.
See also
*
2022 Russian businessmen mystery deaths
*
Banking in Switzerland
Banking in Switzerland dates to the early eighteenth century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland, along wit ...
*
Corruption in Russia
Corruption is perceived as a significant problem in Russia, impacting various aspects of life, including the economy, business, public administration, law enforcement, healthcare, and education. The phenomenon of corruption is strongly establish ...
*
List of Russian billionaires
This is a ranking list of Russian billionaires. The following is based on the annual estimated wealth and assets assessment compiled and published by American business magazine ''Forbes''. The wealth of 83 people exceeds $ 1 billion.
Methodolog ...
*
Media mogul
A media proprietor, media mogul or media tycoon refers to a entrepreneur who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media-related company or enterprise, media consumed by many individuals. Those with significant co ...
*
Oligarchy
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
*
Political groups under Vladimir Putin's presidency
A diverse variety of informal political groups emerged during the presidency of Vladimir Putin. They include remnants of the Yeltsin family, Saint Petersburg lawyers and economists, and security-intelligence elements called the siloviki.
Backg ...
*
Privatization in Russia
Privatization in Russia describes the series of post-Soviet reforms that resulted in large-scale privatization of Russia's state-owned assets, particularly in the industrial, energy, and financial sectors. Most privatization took place in the e ...
*
Reputation laundering Reputation laundering occurs when a person or an organization conceals unethical, corrupt, or criminal behavior by performing highly-visible positive actions with the intent to improve their reputation and obscure their history.
Reputation launderi ...
*
Robber baron (industrialist)
Robber baron is a derogatory term of social criticism originally applied to certain wealthy and powerful 19th-century American businessmen. The term appeared as early as the August 1870 issue of ''The Atlantic Monthly'' magazine. By the late 19th ...
*
Russian asset tracker
*
Russian mafia
Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...
*
Tycoon
A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
*
Ukrainian oligarchs
References
Further reading
*
*
* Bowen, Andrew
"Why London Is So Crucial to Putin's Russia" ''
The Interpreter
''The Interpreter'' is a 2005 political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Jesper Christensen. It was the first film shot inside the United Nations Headquarters, as well as the fin ...
'', 20 March 2014.
* Hoffman, David E. ''The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia'', New York,
Perseus Book Group
Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. It was named Publisher of the Y ...
, 2002.
* Hollingsworth, Mark, and Stewart Lansley, ''Londongrad: From London with Cash: The Inside Story of the Oligarchs'', London,
Fourth Estate, 2009.
*
* Watkins, Thayer
"The Russian Oligarchs of the 1990s" applet-magic.com.
* Yablon, Alex (31 March 2013)
"Oligarchology" ''New York''.
External links
Russian Asset Tracker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russian Business Oligarch
+
1990s establishments in Russia
Politics of Russia
Social groups of Russia
Wealth in Russia