Russia: <PERSON>, the Quintessential ‘New Russian’ · Global Voices
Billionaire <PERSON> serves as an example of the quintessential ‘New Russian’ through his controversial activities during the Yeltsin Era, his modern business practices, and his extravagant international spending – he has just purchased the most expensive New York City apartment to date.
Global Voices placed Russia's ‘oligarchs’ in their historical and economic context in a November 2011 post entitled, “FC Anzhi and the Yeltsin Era Money”:
Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union 20 years ago, the world has watched Russia's transition into capitalism with great interest. The <PERSON> era of the 1990s was characterized by a struggle over who would emerge from the transition with holdings of Russia's major sources of wealth, such as its natural resources. The victors in that struggle are known as the ‘oligarchs’ because they possess a degree of wealth that surpasses most people's ability to conceptualize.
Another term for those who emerged from the process of privatization with vast amounts of wealth is ‘New Russians.’ While the term ‘Oligarchs’ focuses more on the political power of these individuals, ‘New Russians’ emphasizes the economic component of their influence.
ToperJokes Blog – a site that translates Russian and Ukrainian jokes into English – devotes an entire folder to jokes about New Russians. Here is one:
A New Russian asks the priest:
– Father, my cat has died. I want you to read the burial service!
– No, we may not do this in Orthodox Church.
– What should I do then?
– Across the road there is a sectarian church, they will do anything for money.
– Will 4000 dollars be enough?
– My son, why didn't you tell from the start that you had a baptized cat?!
As this joke suggests, New Russians are also characterized by an often unspoken assumption that their wealth was acquired through the use of irregular methods. During any governmental transition there will invariably be periods of time when laws are vague or non-existent. Russia has yet to develop a comprehensive land registry, and so it is little surprise that the Moscow News estimated last fall that 90 percent of Moscow apartments are rented illegally.
Analyseman Blog discussed [ru] Mr. <PERSON>'s activities during the <PERSON> era, including the 11 months he spent in prison accused of murdering a factory executive:
“In the early 1990s, <PERSON> was one of the most active participants in privatization in his region. Mr. <PERSON> then headed Perm Credit Bank FD and bought shares mainly in the chemical plants. 880
In 1992-1993, first deputy chairman of the Perm region's Property Fund, <PERSON>, helped him to privatize a major stake in Uralkali and became his partner. In 1996, both were accused of organizing the murder of the director of the Perm factory Neftekhimik. Mr. <PERSON> spent 11 months in pre-trial detention and was released on 1-billion bail.” – a little bit of background on how the money [spent on the New York City apartment] had been made.
Other casualties of regime change are issues of safety regulations and infrastructure. The Russian-language MCINC LiveJournal blog discussed [ru] last week how Russian factory owners are not held accountable for accidents, but rather they continue to receive monetary benefits from the state.
Such practices were exemplified by a major accident that occurred in Mr. <PERSON>'s Uralkali factory in 2006. UralKali.com released the Russian government's official findings on the cause of the accident along with the company's legal obligations regarding paying damages to the victims:
Uralkali (Berezniki, Perm region) has received the report of the re-opened investigation into the causes of the accident that occurred at Uralkali Mine 1 in October 2006. As stated previously, the second investigation was conducted by a commission established by Russia’s mining safety watchdog, Rostekhnadzor, on November 11, 2008, by order of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister <PERSON>. […]
There has to date been no judicial decision requiring Uralkali to reimburse the expenses listed in the report. However, the company cannot give any assurance that claims will not arise for such reimbursements, which could exceed 3.1 billion rubles.
So then the question becomes – What do New Russians do with the money?
The aforementioned Global Voices article about <PERSON> FC Anzhi, along with one pertaining to <PERSON> New Jersey Nets, discuss how many New Russians buy international sports teams.
Coincidentally, it was to Mr. <PERSON> that Mr. 704