Russian oligarchs

Russian oligarchs (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. Boris Berezovsky, a mathematician and formerly a researcher, became the first well-known Russian business oligarch. 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. 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. Since 2014, hundreds of Russian oligarchs and their companies have been hit by the US sanctions 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. During Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika (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.

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Russian oligarchs

Russo-Ukrainian War

The Russo-Ukrainian War is an ongoing international conflict between Russia, alongside Russian-backed separatists, and Ukraine, which began in February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas war. The first eight years of conflict also included naval incidents, cyberwarfare, and heightened political tensions. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (Борис Николаевич Ельцин, bɐˈrjis njɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvjɪtɕ ˈjeljtsɨn; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the first president of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1990. He later stood as a political independent, during which time he was viewed as being ideologically aligned with liberalism and Russian nationalism. Yeltsin was born in Butka, Ural Oblast. He grew up in Kazan and Berezniki.