Jump to content

Russian oligarchs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Russian oligarch)

Russian oligarchs (Russian: олигархи, romanized: oligarkhi) are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The failing Soviet state left the ownership of state assets contested, which allowed for informal deals with former USSR officials (mostly in Russia and Ukraine) as a means to acquire state property.

The Russian oligarchs emerged as business entrepreneurs under Mikhail Gorbachev (General Secretary, 1985–1991) during his period of market liberalization.[1] Boris Berezovsky, a mathematician and former researcher, became the first well-known Russian business oligarch.[2]

Oligarchs became increasingly influential in Russian politics during Boris Yeltsin's presidency (1991–1999); they helped finance his re-election in 1996. Well-connected oligarchs like Roman Abramovich, Michail Khodorkovsky, Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Potanin acquired key assets at a fraction of the value at the loans for shares scheme auctions conducted in the run-up to the election.[3] Defenders of the out-of-favor oligarchs 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, huge payrolls, no financial reporting and scant regard for profit.[4]

Since 2014, hundreds of Russian oligarchs and their companies have been hit with US sanctions for their support of "the Russian government's malign activity around the globe".[5][6] In 2022, many Russian oligarchs and their close family members were targeted and sanctioned by countries around the world as a rebuke of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Yeltsin era, 1991–1999

[edit]

During Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika (c. 1985–1991), many businessmen in Russia imported goods such as personal computers and jeans into the country and sold them for a hefty profit.

Once Boris Yeltsin became President of Russia 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 during the state's transition to a market-based economy. The so-called voucher privatization 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. These oligarchs became unpopular with the Russian public and are often blamed for the turmoil that plagued the Russian Federation following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.[7][8][9][10]

Emergence

[edit]

Economists Sergei Guriev and Andrei Rachinsky contrast older oligarchs with nomenklatura ties and younger-generation entrepreneurs such as Kakha Bendukidze who built their wealth from scratch because Gorbachev's reforms affected a period "when co-existence of regulated and quasi-market prices created huge opportunities for arbitrage."[11]

The majority of oligarchs were promoted (at least initially) by the Soviet apparatchiks, with strong connections to Soviet power-structures and access to the funds of the Communist Party.[4][12][13] Boris Berezovsky himself was Head of the Department of System Design at another Academy of Sciences research centre. His private company was established by the Institute as a joint venture.[14] Mikhail Khodorkovsky started his business importing computers under auspices of the Komsomol-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 the support of Komsomol alumni working in Moscow city government. Later, he served in the Russian government as an adviser to the prime minister and a deputy minister of fuel and power while still running his business.[15] Vladimir Vinogradov was the chief economist of Promstroybank , one of the six banks existing in the Soviet Union,[16] previously serving as the secretary of Atommash plant Komsomol organisation.[15]

Political support

[edit]

Economist Yegor Gaidar worked in a Soviet Academy of Sciences think tank modelled after RAND.[17] Gaidar later became the economics editor of the Kommunist journal, the official theoretical organ of the CC of the CPSU. He also held various positions, including Prime Minister in the Russian government during 1991–1992.[18] Together with Anatoly Chubais, the two "Young Reformers" were chiefly responsible for privatization in the early 1990s.[19][20][21] According to David Satter, "what drove the process was not the determination to create a system based on universal values 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".[22][4]

The 1998 Russian financial crisis hit most oligarchs hard and those whose holdings were based mainly in banking lost much of their fortunes. The most influential oligarchs from the Yeltsin era include[7] Roman Abramovich, Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Gusinsky, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vladimir Potanin, Alexander Smolensky and Vladimir Vinogradov.[4] They formed what became known as the Semibankirschina (or "seven-banker outfit", compare Seven Boyars), a 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. Historian Edward L. Keenan has compared these oligarchs to the system of powerful boyars that emerged in late-medieval Muscovy.[23] The Guardian reported in 2008 that "'oligarchs' from the era of former president Boris Yeltsin have been purged by the Kremlin".[24]

Putin era, 1999–2022 (prior to the invasion of Ukraine)

[edit]
Further information: Russia under Vladimir Putin and Ozero
Putin (left), with Mikhail Khodorkovsky (right) in December 2002. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed the following year.

With the ascent of Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin the influence of the Yeltsin oligarchs dissipated, as some were imprisoned, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky (pictured here) and Mikhael Mirilashvili, while others emigrated, sold off their assets or died under suspicious circumstances, such as Vladimir Vinogradov and Boris Berezovsky. A number of Yeltsin oligarchs first came under fire for alleged tax evasion.[25][26] Vladimir Gusinsky of MediaMost and Boris Berezovsky both avoided legal proceedings by leaving Russia, and the most prominent, Mikhail Khodorkovsky of Yukos oil, 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.[27]

A second wave of oligarchs emerged in the 2000s, friends and former colleagues of President Putin either from his years in the St Petersburg municipal administration or his Dresden tenure in the KGB.[28] Examples are the director of the institute where Putin obtained a degree in 1996, Vladimir Litvinenko,[29] and Putin's childhood friend and judo-teacher Arkady Rotenberg.[30] Gennady Timchenko was close friends with Russian leader Vladimir Putin since the early 1980s.[31][32] In 1991, Putin gave Timchenko an oil export license.[11] These oligarchs worked in close cooperaton with the government, displacing a system of crony capitalism with a system of state capitalism whereby the new oligarchs benefited from financing by state-owned banks and access to public procurement projects.[33]

Gennady Timchenko and Arkady Rotenberg in 2015

An economic study distinguished 21 oligarchic groups as of 2003.[11] 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.[34][35] 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.[36]

Prominent Putin-era oligarchs

[edit]
Main article: List of Russian nationals named in the CAATSA unclassified report

The ten most-prominent oligarchs of the early Putin era included Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska, Mikhail Prokhorov, Alisher Usmanov, Viktor Vekselberg, Leonid Mikhelson, Arkady Rotenberg, Gennady Timchenko, Andrey Guryev and Vitaly Malkin.[37] In 2004, five years after Putin's ascend to power, Forbes 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 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.[38][33]

Daniel Treisman proposed using a term "silovarch" (silovik and oligarch) for a new class of Russian oligarchs with backgrounds in Russian military and intelligence.[39] Billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev has criticized these new 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 [art] exhibitions. They think the only way to impress anyone is to buy a yacht."[40]

On 30 January 2018, the U.S. Treasury published a "list of oligarchs" as part of a document known as the "Putin list" which was compiled under the requirement of the CAATSA Act.[41][42] According to the document itself, its criterion for inclusion was simply being a Russian national with a net worth of over $1 billion.[43] The list was criticised for being indiscriminate, and including critics of Putin.[44]

2008 global recession and credit crisis

[edit]

According to the financial news-agency Bloomberg L.P., Russia's wealthiest 25 individuals have collectively lost US$230 billion (£146 billion) since July 2008.[45][46][47] The fall in the oligarchs' wealth relates closely to the meltdown in Russia's stock market, as by 2008 the RTS Index had lost 71% of its value due to the capital flight after the Russo-Georgian War of August 2008.[48]

Putin (left) with Oleg Deripaska (right) in the Kremlin in March 2002

Billionaires in Russia were 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.[40][49] 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 calls.[40][49]

Putin era, 2022 invasion of Ukraine and international sanctions

[edit]

After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Canada, US, and European leaders with the addition of Japan, took unprecedented steps to sanction Putin and the oligarchs directly.[50] In response to the sanctions, the targeted oligarchs started to hide wealth in an attempt to prevent the Western nations from freezing their assets.[51] 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 miss some of the richest oligarchs, the impact on the war is unknown due to Putin's power over those that were sanctioned.[52] 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.[50]

Putin (left), with Petr Fradkov (right) in the Kremlin in May 2019

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, Marshals Service, IRS, Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations and Secret Service. 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.[53] On March 21, 2022, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project launched Russian Asset Tracker to showcase the profiles and assets of several Russian oligarchs.[54]

Several dozen business people with family connections to top politicians include President Putin’s younger daughter Katerina Tikhonova, who through her investment fund has been the recipient of numerous large contracts from state-owned energy companies.[55] Her former husband Kirill Shamalov runs the largest Russian petrochemicals company Sibur as well as his own investment fund.[56]

The son-in-law of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov runs an investment fund with assets exceeding $6 billion. Andrey Ryumin,[57] the son-in-law of Viktor Medvedchuk, President Putin’s former closest ally in Ukraine, runs another investment fund with large agricultural holdings which have become recipients of state subsidies for import substitution (Rouhandeh 2022). Petr Fradkov, the son of a former Prime Minister and head of the Russian foreign intelligence service, Sergei Sergeevich Ivanov, the son of the former head of the presidential administration Sergei Ivanov, and Andrey Patrushev, the son of the current head of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev have all joined the ranks of the oligarchs.[58][circular reference]

The list of oligarchs and business executives who have risen to prominence and who have been sanctioned after Russia's invasion of Ukraine includes:

Russian oligarchs in London

[edit]
Main article: Russian money in London

The British Government policy encouraged the flow of foreign capital into the United Kingdom, for example through the foreign investor visa routes, introduced during John Major's premiership in 1994, one-fifth of whose recipients since 2008 are Russian citizens.[99]

A significant number of Russian oligarchs have bought homes in upmarket sections of London[100] in the United Kingdom, which has been dubbed "Moscow on Thames" or "Londongrad".[101] Some, such as Eugene Shvidler, Alexander Knaster, Konstantin Kagalovsky, David Wilkowske and Abram Reznikov, are expatriates, having taken permanent residency in London. Roman Abramovich bought 16 Kensington Palace Gardens in London, a 15-bedroom mansion, for £120 million.[102] Mikhail Fridman restored Athlone House in London as a primary residence in 2016.[103][104]

Roman Abramovich bought the English football club Chelsea F.C. in 2003, spending record amounts on players' salaries.[105] Alexander Mamut invested £100m to Waterstones bookstore chain after acquiring it in 2011 for £53m. According to its managing director James Daunt, the intervention saved Waterstones, which managed to make its first annual profit since 2008 in 2016.[106] He remarked that continued Russian ownership would've been "catastrophic" for the chain in 2022.[107]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Scheidel, Walter (9 January 2017). The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century. Princeton University Press, pages 27–86. ISBN 978-1-4008-8460-5.
  2. ^ "The first oligarch dies, his kleptocracy thrives". Reuters. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  3. ^ Whitmore, Brian (29 September 2005). "Russia: The End Of Loans-For-Shares". RadioFreeEurope.
  4. ^ a b c d Aslund, Anders (1995). Russia's Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy. Yale University Press, pages 45–112.
  5. ^ "Treasury Designates Russian Oligarchs, Officials, and Entities in Response to Worldwide Malign Activity | U.S. Department of the Treasury". home.treasury.gov. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  6. ^ Kolesnikov, Andrei. "Russian Oligarchs in the Era of Sanctions". Carnegie Moscow Center. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  7. ^ a b Freund, Caroline (January 2016). Rich People Poor Countries: The Rise of Emerging-Markets Tycoons and Their Mega-Firms. Peterson Institute for International Economics. ISBN 978-0881327038.
  8. ^ "Profile: Boris Berezovsky". BBC News. 31 May 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  9. ^ "What a carve-up!". The Guardian. 3 December 2005. Retrieved 14 June 2020. Putin, able to see matters rather straighter than Yeltsin, realised two crucial things about the oligarchs: that they were potentially more powerful than him, and that they were about as popular with your average Russian as a man idly burning bundles of £50s outside an orphanage (according to one 2004 poll, only 18% of Russians opposed wholesale renationalisation of the country's resources).
  10. ^ Granville, Johanna (Summer 2003). "The Russian Kleptocracy and Rise of Organized Crime". Demokratizatsiya: 448–457. The Russian state has metamorphosed into a full-fledged 'kleptocracy' – dedicated to enriching those in power and their associates, usually organized criminal groups.
  11. ^ a b c d Guriev, Sergei; Rachinsky, Andrei (2005). "The role of oligarchs in Russian capitalism". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 19 (1): 131–150. doi:10.1257/0895330053147994.
  12. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2005). Virtual Politics: Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World. Yale University Press.
  13. ^ Braguinsky, Serguey; Myerson, Roger (2007). "A macroeconomic model of Russian transition". Economics of Transition. 15 (1): 77–107. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0351.2007.00280.x. S2CID 154973586.
  14. ^ Berezovsky v Abramovich [2012] EWHC 2463 (Comm)
  15. ^ a b Gustafson, Thane (1999). Capitalism Russian-style. Cambridge University Press. pp. 120–122. ISBN 0521645956.
  16. ^ "Vladimir Vinogradov: Pioneer of private banking in Russia". The Times. 6 July 2008.
  17. ^ Aven, Petr (2021). Vremia Berezovskogo. Moscow: Corpus (AST). ISBN 978-5-17-104791-7.
  18. ^ "Egor Gaidar: biography". Polit.ru. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  19. ^ "Grigory Yavlinsky". Central Connecticut State University. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  20. ^ "Privatization in Russia: its past, present, and future". SAM Advanced Management Journal. 1 January 2003. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  21. ^ Ostalski, Andrei (16 December 2009). "Yegor Gaidar: The price to pay". BBC News. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  22. ^ Satter, David (2003). "The History of Reform". Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State (reprint ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press (published 2004). p. 46. ISBN 9780300105919. Retrieved 14 June 2020. ... what drove the process was not the determination to create a system based on universal values 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.
  23. ^ Treisman, Daniel; Shleifer, Andrei (21 March 2004). "A Normal Country". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  24. ^ Parfitt, Tom (19 February 2008). "Billionaires boom as Putin puts oligarchs at No 2 in global rich list". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  25. ^ "European Court: Khodorkovsky's Rights Violated". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  26. ^ "Khodorkovsky speaks out on plight of Russia's political prisoners". Euronews. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  27. ^ "Hague court awards $50 bn compensation to Yukos shareholders". Russia Herald. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  28. ^ Aslund, Anders (13 August 2019). "Putin's Economic Policy and Its Consequences". Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190697761. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  29. ^ "The fabulous riches of Putin's inner circle". The Bureau Investigates. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  30. ^ Yablon, Alex (29 March 2013). "Know Your Russian Moguls". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  31. ^ "As the West takes aim with Russian sanctions, here's what we know about oligarchs' secret finances – ICIJ". 17 February 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  32. ^ "'Blood money': Europe's secretive trade in Syrian phosphates". the Guardian. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  33. ^ a b Djankov, Simeon (11 September 2015). "Russia's Economy under Putin: From Crony Capitalism to State Capitalism". Peterson Institute for International Economics. ISBN 978-0190499204. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  34. ^ Putin: Russia's Choice. Richard Sakwa, (Routledge, 2008) pp. 143–150[ISBN missing]
  35. ^ Playing Russian Roulette: Putin in search of good governance, by Andre Mommen, in Good Governance in the Era of Global is Neoliberalism: Conflict and Depolitisation in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, by Jolle Demmers, Alex E. Fernández Jilberto, Barbara Hogenboom (Routledge, 2004)[ISBN missing]
  36. ^ Weiss, Andrew S. (30 December 2013). "Opinion | Russia's Oligarchy, Alive and Well". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  37. ^ Borak, Donna (30 January 2018). "The full 'Putin list' of Russian oligarchs and political figures released by the US Treasury". CNN. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  38. ^ Chalabi, Mona (9 October 2013). "The world's wealthy: where on earth are the richest 1%?". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  39. ^ Treisman, Daniel (1 December 2007). "Putin's Silovarchs". Orbis. 51 (1): 141–153. doi:10.1016/j.orbis.2006.10.013. ISSN 0030-4387.
  40. ^ a b c Harding, Luke (25 October 2008). "Twilight of the oligarchs". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  41. ^ "Russian Individuals Named on US 'Oligarch List'". VOA. 30 January 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  42. ^ McKenzie, Sheena; Gaouette, Nicole; Borak, Donna (30 January 2018). "The full 'Putin list' of Russian oligarchs and political figures released by the US Treasury | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  43. ^ "Report to Congress Pursuant to Section 241 of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017 Regarding Senior Foreign Political Figures and Oligarchs in the Russian Federation and Russian Parastatal Entities". Financial Times. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  44. ^ Stubbs, Jack; Devitt, Polina (30 January 2018). "U.S. names Kremlin outliers in 'telephone directory' sanctions report". Reuters U.K. Archived from the original on 8 January 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  45. ^ Chorafas, D. Capitalism without capital. Springer, 2009.
  46. ^ "Russia's Richest Have Lost $62 Billion This Year". Business Insider. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  47. ^ "Russian Rich Lose $10 Billion in Two Days as Ruble Drops". Bloomberg. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  48. ^ Thomas, Landon Jr. (5 September 2008). "Russia's Oligarchs May Face a Georgian Chill". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  49. ^ a b "Margin Calls Ignite Billionaire Fire Sale". Archived from the original on 26 October 2008.
  50. ^ a b Lozano, Alicia (26 February 2022). "Here are the Russian oligarchs targeted in Biden's sanctions". CNBC. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  51. ^ Cormack, Rachel (March 2022). "Russian Billionaires Are Moving Their Luxury Superyachts to Avoid Having Them Seized". Robb Report. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  52. ^ The Associated Press (26 February 2022). "The U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarchs miss the richest of the rich". NPR. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  53. ^ Macias, Amanda (2 March 2022). "Biden administration launches new 'KleptoCapture' task force to go after Russian oligarchs". CNBC. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  54. ^ Valinsky, Jordan (21 March 2022). "New Russian asset tracker details oligarchs' mansions and yachts". CNN Business. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  55. ^ Andrey Rudakov. (July 14. 2022). “Putin’s daughter has a big new job at Russia’s most powerful business lobby,”. Fortune Magazine website Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  56. ^ Guardian staff. (10 March 2022). “Russia: the oligarchs and business figures on western sanction lists,”. The Guardian website Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  57. ^ "CONSOLIDATED LIST" (PDF). 29 September 2023.
  58. ^ "How the war is increasing inequality in Russia". Centre for Economic Policy Research. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
  59. ^ "Meeting with Sergei Naryshkin and Mikhail Fradkov". President of Russia. Presidential Press Service. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  60. ^ "Executive Order on Mikhail Fradkov". President of Russia. Presidential Press Service. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  61. ^ "Fradkov was appointed director of RISI". Interfax. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  62. ^ "Treasury Sanctions Elites and Companies in Economic Sectors that Generate Substantial Revenue for the Russian Regime". US Treasury. 2 August 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  63. ^ "EU sanctions Russian businessman Gutseriyev over ties with Belarus". Reuters. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  64. ^ "Акции и дивиденды". sfiholding.ru. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  65. ^ "Dronefence анонсирует посевные инвестиции". ТАСС. 6 June 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  66. ^ "Putin's daughter has a big new job at Russia's most powerful business lobby". Fortune. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  67. ^ "Treasury Designates Russian Oligarchs, Officials, and Entities in Response to Worldwide Malign Activity". US Treasury. 6 April 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  68. ^ (in Ukrainian) Viktor Medvedchuk: political legalization, Hromadske.TV (7 August 2018).
  69. ^ Stedman, Scott; Bernardini, Matt (30 April 2021). "Giuliani Probe Expands, Ukrainian Ally Under Criminal Investigation: Former Ukrainian politician Andrii Artemenko received a secret payment in 2019 from a television station owned by Putin's closest ally in Ukraine. The FBI is now investigating the Giuliani ally". Forensic News. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  70. ^ "European Union Individuals' Sanctions List". European Commission External Service. 15 March 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  71. ^ "Ukraine conflict: Who's in Putin's inner circle and running the war?". BBC News. 2 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  72. ^ Troianovski, Anton (30 January 2022). "The Hard-Line Russian Advisers Who Have Putin's Ear". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  73. ^ "After Putin: 12 people ready to ruin Russia next". POLITICO. 29 September 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  74. ^ "U.S. Treasury Announces Unprecedented & Expansive Sanctions Against Russia, Imposing Swift and Severe Economic Costs". U.S. Department of the Treasury. 24 February 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  75. ^ "Putin dismisses powerful chief of staff". News24. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  76. ^ "What to Expect From the Azerbaijani–Armenian Peace Process in 2023". Jamestown. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  77. ^ "Рубен Варданян". Росконгресс (in Russian). Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  78. ^ "All Putin's Men: Secret Records Reveal Money Network Tied to Russian Leader – ICIJ". 3 April 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  79. ^ "Panama Papers: Secret records reveal money network tied to Vladimir Putin". The Irish Times. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  80. ^ Rapoza, Kenneth. "EU Worries Russia Will Try Thwarting Lucrative Gas Deal With Azerbaijan". Forbes. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  81. ^ "Рубен Варданян". Forbes.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  82. ^ Service, RFE/RL's Russian. "De Facto Nagorno-Karabakh Leader Has Russian Citizenship Revoked". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  83. ^ Garside, Juliette; Barr, Caelainn (4 March 2019). "Banking leak exposes Russian network with link to Prince Charles". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  84. ^ Whatley, Mat (12 May 2023). "Lasting Peace Between Armenia and Azerbaijan Will Reduce Russia's Influence". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  85. ^ i24NEWS (30 September 2023). "Russia's Vladimir Putin's wallet: Who is Ruben Vardanyan? – analysis". I24news. Retrieved 1 October 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  86. ^ Martin, Wes (8 January 2023). "Is Putin Preparing to Replace Armenia's Pro-Democracy Prime Minister With His Own, Un-Elected Oligarch?". townhall.com. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  87. ^ Rapoza, Kenneth. "EU Worries Russia Will Try Thwarting Lucrative Gas Deal With Azerbaijan". Forbes. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  88. ^ Свиридович, Роман (3 June 2023). "Друг Путіна Варданян закликав вірменів взятися за зброю в Карабаху". Цензор.НЕТ (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  89. ^ Pop, Radu (17 June 2023). "Oligarhul Vardanyan, aliatul lui Putin în Caucaz, care este inclus în lista neagră de baza ucraineană " Myrotvorets"". Stiri pe surse (in Romanian). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  90. ^ "Ρώσος ολιγάρχης, στενός συνεργάτης του Πούτιν, στη λίστα των personae non gratae ουκρανικής ΜΚΟ". iefimerida.gr (in Greek). 19 June 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  91. ^ "VARDANYAN Ruben Karlenovich". War & Sanctions. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  92. ^ "Under blockade, Armenians of Karabakh reopen issue of air travel". Eurasianet. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  93. ^ Pop, Radu (17 June 2023). "Oligarhul Vardanyan, aliatul lui Putin în Caucaz, care este inclus în lista neagră de baza ucraineană " Myrotvorets"". Stiri pe surse (in Romanian). Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  94. ^ "U.S. Sanctions Usmanov, Prigozhin Among Russian Elites". Bloomberg.com. 3 March 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  95. ^ "Prigozhin Killing Ordered by Putin's Security Council Chief – WSJ". The Moscow Times. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  96. ^ "Marathon Group official page". en.marathongroup.ru.
  97. ^ Varvitsioti, Eleni; Foy, Henry; Pop, Valentina (9 March 2022). "EU set to add 14 more Russian business chiefs to its sanctions list". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  98. ^ "Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/396 of 9 March 2022 implementing Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine".
  99. ^ "The rise and fall of Londongrad". The Economist. 5 March 2022. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  100. ^ Michael Weiss, "In Plain Sight: The Kremlin's London Lobby", World Affairs, Vol. 175, No. 6 (March/April 2013), pp. 84–91.
  101. ^ According to British journalist Nick Watt, reporting for ABC's Nightline (broadcast of 1 June 2007).
  102. ^ Goodley, Simon (21 March 2022). "Inside the £250m Abramovich property portfolio". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  103. ^ Behrmann, Anna (30 June 2016). "New Athlone House owner: 'I want to restore it to its former glory'". Hampstead Highgate Express. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  104. ^ Woollacott, Emma (15 September 2016). "Billionaire's plans for £65 million derelict mansion approved". AOL. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  105. ^ "Over there: American and other foreign owners are revolutionizing British football", The Boston Globe, 25 May 2007
  106. ^ Flood, Alison (26 April 2018). "Waterstones bookshops bought by hedge fund Elliott Advisors". The Guardian.
  107. ^ Johnston, Ian (17 April 2022). "Waterstones turns new page as custodian of independent bookselling". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russian_oligarchs&oldid=1245586478"