One has to be careful what one says about these men, some of whom live in luxurious exile in Britain and own Premiership football clubs. They became unimaginably rich in the Yeltsin era, billionaires almost overnight in ways that even the robber barons in 19th-century America might have found dodgy. Jack shows in fascinating detail how they came by their wealth, including a simple layman’s explanation for the shameless ‘loans for shares’ scheme. Under this, the government loaned favoured businessmen money with which they bought prime state assets such as oilfields for a fraction of their worth. Putin says that he had to challenge the oligarchs’ power in order to make Russian capitalism more ‘normal’, meaning of a type that Adam Smith would recognise. That sounds plausible. The problem is that he picked fights selectively, only with those who owned media interests that were critical of him or who funded opposition politicians. Compliant oligarchs are safe under Putin.
Both authors claim that Putin has a good sense of humour, though they produce no examples. His comment after the Kursk disaster hardly counts. At a press conference, the President was asked what happened to the submarine. ‘It sank,’ he replied with a giggle. This might pass for a joke in KGB circles, but probably nowhere else. Putin seldom becomes emotional except, records Andrew Jack, when the subject is Chechnya, where he is convinced that he is taking part in the global war on terrorism. George Bush and Tony Blair may come to regret having tacitly agreed with him and accepted that bombing Grozny into rubble is a fair and reasonable tactic in the struggle.
Putin is given credit for some halting but significant improvements to the Russian economy after 1998 when she defaulted on her debts. But at what price? Truscott reports worrying conversations with Kremlin aides who, even before Putin has won his second term, are floating the idea of changing the constitution to allow the President to stand more than twice. Truscott is convinced Putin, still only 52, aims to go on and on. We have been warned.
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.