Vladimir Gusinsky

Media Magnate Gusinsky Arrested, Marking Putin's Media Crackdown

| Importance: 9/10

Putin’s government arrested Vladimir Gusinsky, owner of Media-Most and Russia’s largest independent television network, on alleged fraud charges. The arrest was widely seen as a politically motivated attempt to silence critical media, marking an early example of Putin’s systematic …

Vladimir Gusinsky Vladimir Putin Media-Most media-control oligarchs arrests press-freedom russia-putin +1 more
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Yeltsin Resigns, Oligarchs Elevate Putin to President: KGB Officer Chosen to Protect 'The Family' Transforms Russia into Kleptocracy

| Importance: 10/10

Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia on December 31, 1999, elevating Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to Acting President six months before scheduled elections. The succession had been carefully engineered by Yeltsin’s oligarchic allies, known as ’the family,’ who began …

Boris Yeltsin Vladimir Putin Boris Berezovsky Vladimir Gusinsky Mikhail Khodorkovsky +2 more russia putin yeltsin oligarchs kleptocracy +5 more
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Oligarchs Bankroll Yeltsin Re-election Victory: 'Seven Bankers' Control 50-70% of Russia's Economy Through Loans-for-Shares Deal

| Importance: 9/10

Boris Yeltsin won re-election as President of Russia in a stunning comeback victory engineered and bankrolled by a coalition of seven oligarchs who became known as the ‘Semibankirshchina’ (seven-banker outfit). Despite approval ratings below 10% earlier in the year, Yeltsin defeated …

Boris Yeltsin Boris Berezovsky Mikhail Khodorkovsky Vladimir Gusinsky Vladimir Potanin +3 more russia oligarchs semibankirshchina elections yeltsin +4 more
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