The Rise And Fall Of Russian Oligarchs | Alexander Gentelev

Vladimir Putin’s inauguration in 2001 was a ceremony fit for a king, a Czar. Today he governs almost single-handedly, controlling the Parliament (Duma), abolishing most independent media and free speech in Russia, his most vicious war is against the men who brought him to power, hunting down the richest and most successful businessmen of Russia: the Oligarchs.

Putin’s war aimed to reclaiming what he viewed as state property stolen by illegal means and manipulations. The stakes of this war are huge, involving the core of Russia’s natural resources. Boris Berezovsky, Putin’s archival, resides in London today, fighting an extradition order issued by the Russian state, just a few years after assisting crown Putin as Russia’s leader, now seeks to overthrow him. He believes he is fighting the “new Czar”, as many Russians refer to Putin, in the name of democracy and Free Enterprise. With unprecedented access we can chart for the first time the full landscape of this war, told as a living drama and narrated by its main protagonists.

Since 1996, we have followed the equivalent of Russia’s Fords and Rockefellers, the “Oligarchs”, individuals who seized the historical moment of transition when Communism collapsed in Russia. Their reflections are startling and candid, as they describe their legal and illegal moves, as well as their naked quest for power and political influence.