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Authors: David Hoffman

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Acknowledgments
I benefited from the generous assistance of many people who offered recollections, documents, and comments on this book. Masha Lipman, the most skilled and insightful of a new generation of Russian journalists, guided me for more than five years through contemporary Russia, and brilliantly scrutinized every chapter. Natalia Alexandrova was a tireless translator, an inspiring critic, and a friend dedicated to telling this story as well as it could be told. Irina Makarova not only took me on a train ride to the past, described in Chapter 1, but devoted great energy and talent to translating and research.
Glenn Waller, one of the most astute observers of Russia in the 1990s, shared his experiences and thoughts over many hours of conversation. Michael McFaul provided a spark of inspiration and years of valuable counsel. Olga Kryshtanovskaya patiently tutored me on the structure, history, and habits of the oligarchy. Chrystia Freeland, the
Financial Times
bureau chief in Moscow during the 1990s, often scooped me but never failed me as friend, colleague, and traveling companion in these tumultuous years, which took us through decaying factories, ghostly coal mines, and mysterious Russian corporate boardrooms. Anders Åslund chronicled the economic history of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin years in his own works, and in many conversations enhanced my understanding of the unfolding story. Steven L. Solnick provided encouragement and key materials on the collapse of the Komsomol. Thomas E. Graham helped me sort through countless riddles of the oligarchy. Joel Hellman had the good fortune to see the tycoons in action during the early years, and he provided sharp analysis of the later period in many of our meetings in Moscow. William Browder was a wise tutor in how to penetrate the obscure business empires of the oligarchs.
At the
Washington Post
, I am especially indebted to the late Katharine Graham, for her early faith in me, and Donald Graham, for both his personal encouragement and his profound commitment to journalism. With rare vision, Jackson Diehl saw the oligarchs as a story for the
Post
and encouraged me to write this book
.
I owe a special debt to Robert Kaiser, who led the way with his long-standing interest in Russia and his leadership as an editor; he provided constant support and valued criticism. Benjamin C.
Bradlee, Leonard Downie Jr., and Steve Coll built a great reporting enterprise that devoted time, space, and resources to the story of Russia in the 1990s. Glenn Frankel was a terrific writing coach. Phil Bennett taught me about elegant editing. Lou Cannon was a mentor and partner from my first days at the
Post
. Michael Getler launched me into the world of foreign correspondence. Michael Dobbs and David Remnick showed the way with great Moscow correspondence during perestroika and after. I also received help and contributions from
Post
colleagues Peter Baker, Paul Blustein, Alan Cooperman, Douglas Farah, Mary Lou Foy, Susan Glasser, Virginia Hamill, Fred Hiatt, Jim Hoagland, Lee Hockstader, Sharon LaFraniere, Robert McCartney, Steven Mufson, Don Oberdorfer, Lucian Perkins, Gene Robinson, Margaret Shapiro, Peter Slevin, and Daniel Williams.
In Moscow, Jörg Eigendorf was gracious and unstinting with his experiences and archives. Patricia Kranz of
Business Week
shared important material from her interviews. Flore de Preneuf made available her fine research on the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and William Flemming shared his careful study of the loans-for-shares transactions.
I am deeply indebted to Margaret Paxson, an anthropologist, who devoted a year to research on the oligarchy, and to Masha Danilova, who translated with curiosity and enthusiasm. Jeff Kahn, Anna Masterova, Marlena Hurley, and Anne Nivat also contributed. I thank my friend Sergei Belyakov, navigator of life; Volodya Alexandrov, manager of all things; and Nadia Avinerious, patient teacher.
I am grateful to St Antony's College, Oxford, and Professor Archie Brown for an enriching year of study there.
Esther Newberg found this book a home. Peter Osnos of PublicAffairs was an enthusiast from the beginning, when it was a distant dream, and made it a reality. Kate Darnton was a splendid editor.
A large number of people granted interviews, offered documents, and freely gave advice. They include Tom Adshead, Yevgenia Albats, Pyotr Aven, Vasily Babikov, Oleg Babinov, Mikhail Baev, Yelena Baturina, Alexander Bekker, Sergei Belyaev, Valery Belyakovich, Mikhail Berger, Bernard Black, Andrei Bogolubov, Paul Bograd, Leonid Boguslavsky, Maxim Boiko, Vladimir Bokser, Mark Bond, Artyom Borovik, Konstantin Borovoi, Al Breach, Pavel Bunich, Igor Bunin, Michael Caputo, Nikolai Chetverikov, Igor Chubais, Oleg Churilov, Timothy Colton, Mark D'Anastasio, Mikhail Dmitriev, Tamara Dobretsova, Oleg Dobrodeyev, Mikhail Dodonov, Sergei Dorenko, Yuli Dubov, Sergei Ermakov, James Fenkner, Murray Feshbach, David Filipov, Andrew Fox, Yegor Gaidar, Natalya Gevorkyan, Martin Gilman, Grigory Glazkov, Alex Goldfarb, Andrei Gorodetsky, Leonid Gozman, Vladimir Grodsky, Peter Halloran, Jonathan Hay, Victor Huaco, Andrei Illarionov, Valery Ivanov, Sergei Ivanov, Anatoly Ivanov, Steven Jennings, Donald Jensen, Boris Jordan, Xavier Jordan, Konstantin Kagalovsky, Jan Kalicki, Sergei Karaganov, Alexei Kara-Murza, Irina Karelina, Alexander Khachaturov, Boris Khait, Alexander Khandruyev, Sergei Kiriyenko, Yevgeny Kiselyov, Sonia Kishkovsky, Oleg Klimov, Alfred Kokh, Anatoly Kolosov, Vladimir Korabelnikov, Vladimir Koshelev, Yevgeny Kovrov, Andrew Kramer, Yelena Krasnitskaya, Eduard Krasnyansky, Eric Kraus, Margery Kraus, Veronika Kutsillo, Viktor Kuvaldin, Mikhail Larkin, Yulia Latynina, Mikhail Leontiev, Mark Levin, Tatyana Likhonova, Ruslan Linkov, Sergei Lisovsky, Alexander Livshitz, John Lloyd, Augusto Lopez-Claros, Vladimir Lopukhin, Viktor Loshak, Vladimir Lototsky, Igor Malashenko, Mikhail Margelov, Sergei Markov, Andrew Meier, Andrei Melnichenko, Alexander Minkin, Vladimir Mokrousov, Valentina Mokrousova, Sergei Monakhov, Nat Moser, Mikhail Moskvin-Tarkhanov, Alexei Mukhin, Arkady Murashev, Alexander Muzykantsky, Yevgeny Myslovsky, Vitaly Naishul, Boris Nemtsov, Leonid Nevzlin, Leonid Nikitinsky, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Kemer Norkin, Stephen O'Sullivan, Nina Oding, Mikhail Ogorodnikov, John
Ordway, Alexander Oslon, Alexander Osovtsov, Dmitri Ostalsky, Alexander Panin, Sergei Parkhomenko, Sergei Pashin, Masha Pavkenko, Boris Pavlov, Gary Peach, Brian Pinto, Andrei Piontkovsky, Larisa Piyasheva, Dzhokhan Pollyeva, Dmitri Ponomarev, Gavriil Popov, Vladimir Potanin, Igor Primakov, Thomas Reed, Yuri Reva, Andrei Richter, Sergei Rogov, Leonid Rozhetskin, Hans-Joerg Rudloff, Charles Ryan, Yevgeny Savostyanov, Vasily Shakhnovsky, Akexander Sheindlin, Lilia Shevtsova, Mikhail Shneider, Yuri Skuratov, Dmitri Sliko, Tim Smith, Galina Starovoitova, Olga Starovoitova, Sergei Stupar, Bernard Sucher, Vladislav Surkov, Ludmila Telen, John Thornhill, Gary Titarenko, Andrei Trapeznikov, Vitaly Tretyakov, Yuri Tselikov, Alexei Uluykaev, Chris Van Riet, Levan Vasadze, Dmitri Vasiliev, Sergei Vasiliev, Alexei Venediktov, Vladimir Vinogradov, Alexander Vladislavlev, Masha Volkenstein, James Wallar, Brian Whitmore, Richard Wirthlin, Alexei Yablokov, Yuri Yarmagayev, Nina Yermakova, Yevgeny Yasin, Arkady Yevstafiev, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Alexei Yurchak, Konstantin Zatulin, Yuri Zektser, Larisa Zelkova, Bella Zlatkis, Andrei Zorin, Alexander Zurabov, and Sergei Zverev.
Most of all, I am forever indebted to my wife, Carole, for her care and support of the whole project, from the first files to the final sentences, and I thank my sons Daniel and Benjamin, and my parents, for their forbearance during my long absences.
Index
Advertising: Bank Menatep; Logovaz; MMM; Yeltsin re-election campaign; Yeltsin referendum on reforms.
See also
Newspaper advertising; Television advertising
Aeroflot airline: Berezovsky and; Berezovsky vs. Gusinsky and
Aganbegyan, Abel
Aizerman, Mark
Alekperov, Vagit
Aleksashenko, Sergei
Another Life
(Naishul)
Anti-Semitism.
See also
Jews
Arbitrage
Art: Mokrousov; Tsereteli.
See also
Rock music; Theater
Auctions of state property, cash
Auctions of state property, loans for shares: Berezovsky and Chubais and Khodorkovsky and Potanin and; rigging of
Auctions of state property, Svyazinvest: attempted agreements between Gusinsky and Potanin Berezovsky vs. Potanin; bidding and results; Chubais and; Chubais vs. Berezovsky; Chubais vs. Gusinsky; Gusinsky consortium of investors; Gusinsky vs. Kokh; Jordan and Kokh and; Potanin consortium of investors; Soros and; reasons for purchase, Gusinsky vs. Potanin; Yeltsin and
Auctions of state property, vouchers
Authorized banks.
See also
Bank Menatep; Bank Stolichny; Most Bank; Uneximbank
Automobiles: Berezovsky and the people's car; Fiat; Mercedes Volgas and vouchers Zhiguli.
See also
Avtovaz; Logovaz
Aven, Pyotr; devaluation of the ruble and
Avtovaz assets (1991); AVVA and Berezovsky buys partial control; vs. black markets; construction of; false exports and; Logovaz and;
vnedrenie
and
AVVA (All-Russian Automobile Alliance); Avtovaz and
Bankers' war: Berezovsky and Soros; Berezovsky vs. Chubais; Berezovsky vs. Potanin; vs. economic reform; Gusinsky vs. Kokh; Gusinsky vs. Potanin; Jordan and; oligarchic capitalism and; Potanin and; Svyazinvest auction and; Yeltsin and
Banking, banks, anti-Semitism and; authorized banks and ; Bank Menatep and Riggs Valmet; crash of ‘98 and; currency transactions and; Gosbank; Inkombank; Khodorkovsky and youth science centers (NTTMs); liquidity crisis of ‘98 and foreign investors; loans and; Moscow; in
perestroika
.
See also
Central Bank of Russia; Commercial banks
Bank Menatep, advertising and; becomes an authorized bank; becomes first Russian investment bank created; currency operations abroad and dollar-forwards and; foreign loans to; government programs and; loans-for-shares and
Bank Stolichny: avisos and; founded; loans by; revenues (1992); renamed SBS-Agro.
See also
SBS-Agro Bank
Barsukov, Mikhail
Barter
Baturina, Yelena, on Luzhkov and construction as an ideology; on Luzhkov and Moscow cooperatives; on Luzhkov and politics; marries Luzhkov; stadium seats tender
Bearer certificate schemes: Berezovsky; Mavrodi
Bekker, Alexander
Berezovsky, Boris; acquires Channel 1, ; Aeroflot airline and; Aeroflot airline and arrest warrant; appointed deputy secretary of the Kremlin Security Council; appointed executive secretary of the Commonwealth of the Independent States; attempted bombing of; bankers' war and; bearer certificate scheme; buys majority control of Sibneft oil company; character; Chechen war and vs. Chernomyrdin; Chubais and Chubais book scandal and; Club on Sparrow Hills and; creates car dealership network; creates the Unity party; devaluation of the ruble and; early connection with Avtovaz; first business deal; founds Logovaz; Gusinsky on; holdings; vs. Kiriyenko; Listyev murder and loans for shares and the Logovaz Club; loses post as deputy secretary of the Kremlin Security Council; loses post as executive secretary of the Commonwealth of the Independent States; vs. Luzhkov; as a mathematician; media and politics Mercedes and
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
and patience of; pays ransom for kidnapped NTV correspondent vs. Potanin; vs. Primakov; vs. Putin; Putin and; scientific authorship sells ORT and leaves Russia; Smolensky and Soros and; on Yeltsin; vs. Yeltsin; Yeltsin's successor and; Yeltsin and Yeltsin reelection campaign and; youth; and Zlatkis; vs. Zyuganov.
See also
Avtovaz; Logovaz; ORT; Sibneft
Berezovsky vs. Chubais; successor to Chernomyrdin and; Svyazinvest auction
Berger, Mikhail
Beznalichnye
Black markets: car parts; currency exchange rates Gusinsky
and; vs. price controls; record albums and
Bobkov, Filipp
Bogdonov, Vladimir

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