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Seven Bankers
The Seven Bankers () were a group of powerful Russian oligarchs who played an important role in the political and economic spheres of the Russian Federation between 1996 and 2000. In spite of their internal conflicts, members of the group worked together in order to re-elect Boris Yeltsin in the 1996 Russian presidential election, and thereafter to successfully manipulate him and his political environment from behind the scenes. Initially, the clique of seven businessmen were identified by oligarch Boris Berezovsky in an October 1996 interview. In an article published on 14 November 1996, journalist coined the term as a takeoff on the Seven Boyars who deposed Tsar Vasili Shuisky in 1610 during the Time of Troubles. Later, other persons were included in the list, but the catchy term remained. Origins Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, in a 29 October 1996 interview in the ''Financial Times'', named seven Russian bankers and businessmen from six businesses that he claimed con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Oligarchs
Russian oligarchs () 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 as a means to acquire state property. The Russian oligarchs emerged as business entrepreneurs under Mikhail Gorbachev (General Secretary, 1985–1991) using various loopholes during economic liberalization under Gorbachev's perestroika. Boris Berezovsky, a mathematician and former researcher, became the first well-known Russian business oligarch. Oligarchs became increasingly influential in Russian politics during Boris Yeltsin's presidency (1991–1999), a period often dubbed as ''the wild nineties''; they helped finance his re-election in 1996. Well-connected oligarchs like Roman Abramovich, Michail Khodorkovsky, Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag prison system. He was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature". His non-fiction work ''The Gulag Archipelago'' "amounted to a head-on challenge to the Soviet state" and sold tens of millions of copies. Solzhenitsyn was born into a family that defied the USSR anti-religious campaign (1921–1928), Soviet anti-religious campaign in the 1920s and remained devout members of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, he initially lost his faith in Christianity, became an atheist, and embraced Marxism–Leninism. While serving as a captain in the Red Army during World War II, Solzhenitsyn was arrested by SMERSH and sentenced to eight years in the Gulag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Olegovich Potanin (; born 3 January 1961) is a Russian oligarch. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in the early to mid-1990s. As of May 7, 2025, Forbes ranked 81st richest in the world, with a net worth of $24.2 billion. His long-term business partner was Russian-Israeli oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov until they decided to split in 2007. Subsequently, they put their mutual assets in a holding company, Folletina Trading, until their asset division was agreed upon. In January 2018, Potanin appeared on the US Treasury's "Putin list" of 210 individuals closely associated with Russian president Vladimir Putin. In June 2022, United Kingdom, the UK has imposed sanction on Potanin for being one of the major oligarchs in "President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle." Early life and education Potanin was born in Moscow, in the former USSR, into a high-ranking Russians, Russian communist family. In 1978, he attended the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yukos
OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Bank Menatep during the controversial "loans for shares" auctions of the mid 1990s. Between 1996 and 2003, Yukos became one of the largest and most successful Russian companies, producing 20% of Russia's oil output. In the 2004 ''Fortune 500'', Yukos was ranked as the 359th largest company in the world. In October 2003, Khodorkovsky—by then the richest person in Russia and 16th richest person in the world—was arrested, and the company was forcibly broken up for alleged unpaid taxes shortly after and declared bankrupt in August 2006. Courts in several countries later ruled that the real intent was to destroy Yukos and obtain its assets for the government, and act politically against Khodorkovsky. In 2014, the largest arbitration award in history, $50 billion (€37.2 billion), was won by Yukos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bank Menatep
Bank "MENATEP", Bank "MENATEP SPb" (Russian: Банк "МЕНАТЕП Санкт-Петербург" / Банк «МЕНАТЕП СПб») and "Group Menatep Limited" were financial companies, created by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. "Group Menatep Limited", the US$29 billion holding company that had indirect controlling interest in Yukos Oil Company, was later renamed, and now still exists as holding company GML with Leonid Nevzlin as principal shareholder holding a stake of around 70 percent. The other four ultimate beneficial owners owning an equal stake each are Platon Lebedev, Mikhail Brudno, and . A 1990s scandal related to the institution has been sometimes called Kremlingate. History Bank "Menatep" In 1986, the ''Center for Scientific and Technical Creativity for Youth'' - TSMNTP (Russian: Межотраслевой Центр Научно-технических программ — ЦМНТП) was created in Moscow by Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Center Mena ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (, ; born 26 June 1963), sometimes known by his initials MBK, is an exiled Russian businessman, Russian oligarchs, oligarch, and Russian opposition, opposition activist, now residing in London. In 2003, Khodorkovsky was believed to be the wealthiest man in Russia, with a fortune estimated to be worth $15billion, and was ranked 16th on Forbes list of billionaires, ''Forbes'' list of billionaires. He had worked his way up the Komsomol apparatus, during the Soviet years, and started several businesses during the period of ''glasnost'' and ''perestroika'' in the late 1980s. In 1989, he became Chairman of the Board of Bank Menatep, which he founded. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in the mid-1990s, he accumulated considerable wealth by obtaining control of a number of Siberian oil fields unified under the name Yukos, one of the major companies to emerge from the Privatization in Russia, privatization of state assets during the 1990s (a sche ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NTV (Russia)
NTV (Cyrillic: НТВ) is a Russian free-to-air television channel that was launched as a subsidiary of Vladimir Gusinsky's company . Since 14 April 2001 Gazprom Media controls the network. NTV has no official meaning according to Igor Malashenko, the author of the name and co-founder of the company, but in the 1990s unofficial transcripts of the acronym include "New" (''Novoje''), "Independent" (''Nezavisimoje''), "Non-governmental" (''Negosudarstvennoje''), "Our" (''Nashe''). History Gusinsky era (1993-2001) Gusinsky founded NTV broadcasting in October 1993 on channel 4. It moved to channel 5 in January 1994. He attracted talented journalists and news anchors of the time such as Tatiana Mitkova, Leonid Parfyonov, Mikhail Osokin, Yevgeniy Kiselyov, Vladimir A. Kara-Murza, Victor Shenderovich, Pyotr Marchenko and others. The channel set high professional standards in Russian television, broadcasting live coverage and sharp analysis of current events. Starting before th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Gusinsky
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky (, ; born 6 October 1952) is a Russian media tycoon. He founded the Media-Most holding company that included the NTV free-to-air channel, the newspaper ''Segodnya'', and a number of magazines. Early life and education Gusinsky was born into a Jewish family in Moscow on 6 October 1952. In 1969, Gusinsky enrolled in Gubkin Institute of Oil and Gas, however, he did not finish his education there. He joined the USSR Army in 1973 as a Junior Sergeant in the Chemical Intelligence Troops. In 1975, after being demobilized, Gusinsky enrolled in the State Institute for the Study of Theatrical Arts (Russian: ГИТИС English: GITIS). He graduated in 1979 with his graduating diploma work on the staging of "Tartuffe" by Molière, in the Tula State Dramatic Theater. Early career 1986 * Stage Director for the Ted Turner Goodwill Games in the Kremlin Palace. * Founded one of the first cooperatives following Perestroika - Cooperative "Metal" - which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfa Group
Alfa Group Consortium () is a Russian international privately owned investment groups, with interests in oil and gas, commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail trade, telecommunications, water utilities and special situation investments. The group was founded in 1989 as ''Alfa-Eco'' by Israeli-Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman together with US/(former USSR) businessman Anatoly Potik.Alfa Eco was formed as a joint venture by Anatoly Potik's company ADP Trading (20% stake) and Mikhail Fridman's company Alfa-Foto (80% stake) Russian Ministry of Finance TIN Number 7728112961 Later German Khan, Alexei Kuzmichov, Alexander Kushev, and several other partners joined. As a holding company, in the financial year ending December 2010 Alfa Group had total assets of US$59,900 million, total equity of US$21,790 million and profit for the financial year of US$2,810 million. Return on shareholders' equity were recorded at 13.4%. In April 2012, Altimo sold it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petr Aven
Petr Olegovich Aven (also transliterated Pyotr Aven; ; Latvian: Pjotrs Avens; born 16 March 1955) is a Russian oligarch, economist and politician who also holds Latvian citizenship. Until March 2022 he headed Alfa-Bank, Russia's largest commercial bank. In March 2022, he resigned from the board of directors at Alfa-Bank and LetterOne Group to help them avoid sanctions. In 2023 he was named the 659th richest person in the world, with a net worth of around $4.2 billion. Aven is a member of Russian leader Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Aven has met with Putin regularly, including soon after the Russian invasion in Ukraine. He is one of many Russian oligarchs named in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA. In 2022, Aven was included in EU sanctions imposed in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He criticized the sanctions, alleging that they had been applied on a "spurious and unfounded basis," and filed a lawsuit in the European Court of Just ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mikhail Fridman
Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; ; ; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli tycoon and Russian oligarchs, oligarch. He is one of the co-founders of Alfa Group, Alfa-Group, a multinational Russian conglomerate. According to ''Forbes'', he was the second-richest Russian as of 2013 ($16.5 billion), moving down to ninth-richest Russian in 2023 ($12.6 billion). In May 2017, he was also ranked as Russia's most important businessman by ''bne IntelliNews''. In February 2024, Fridman had a net worth of $13.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. As per Forbes list of The Richest People In The World, dated 6 February 2025 Mikhail Fridman ranked #150 with a net worth of $13.3 Billion. In 1991, he co-founded Alfa-Bank, one of the largest private banks in Russia. After being CEO of TNK-BP, the 50/50 TNK-BP joint venture, for nine years, in 2013 he sold his stake in the company and co-founded the international investment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Channel One (Russia)
Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervý kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian federal television channel. Its headquarters are located at Ostankino Technical Center near the Ostankino Tower in Moscow. The majority of its shares are owned or indirectly controlled by the state. It was created by decree of Russian president Boris Yeltsin to replace Ostankino Television Channel One, which in turn replaced Programme One in 1991. From April 1995 to September 2002, the channel was known as Public Russian Television (, ORT ). The main news programmes are ''Vremya'' and '' Novosti''. Channel One's main competitors are the Russia-1 and NTV channels. The channel has 2,443 employees as of 2015. History When the Soviet Union was abolished, the Russian Federation took over most of its structures and institutions. One of the first acts of Boris Yeltsin's new government was to sign a presidential decree on 27 December 1991, providing for Russian jur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
