Arkady
Rotenberg, a former judo coach, became a billionaire industrialist by selling
pipe to the state-owned gas monopoly, Gazprom. Meanwhile, owning a minority
state in a small bank in St. Petersburg that won control of another of Gazprom
subsidiaries, Yuri Kovalchuk gained a net worth of $1.5 billion. Gennady
Timchenko, “once the little-known sales manager of a local oil refinery,” went
on to become one of the richest men in the world by co-owning “a commodity
trading company that moves about $70 billion of crude oil a year, much of it
through major contracts with Rosneft, the Russian national oil company.” What
these billionaires shared besides getting rich was a certain connection—namely
to Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin arrives for a campaign rally in Moscow. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The full essay is at "Putin's Pals."