Comments - Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Kimzigfeld

Steven

Steven — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The Forbes rich-list is crowded with Russian names and most of them are Russian politicians, members of the richest on the planet, Russian parliament - Duma. As many as 12 billionaires are members of the State Duma. The stockbroker Suleiman Kerimov is the richest among them with wealth of $US 17.5 billion. Gleb Fetisov is the second richest with wealth of $US 3.9 billion. The total net worth of all twelve rich people crosses $US 41 billion.

Syed

Syed — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Wealth, influence due to wealth and its use to gain political power are as old as the concept of government. It is gaining power in Russia and the scale of wealth and its use in political sphere in is just unimaginable.

Elias

Elias — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Before I write anything I would like to say that I simply love to read the way you write. Now coming to this article I must admit that my jaws dropped when I saw the figures you mentioned. This seems so unreal. When the Iraq war started someone told me that the only non-millionaires in George Bush’s cabinet were Collin Powell, Richard Armitage and Condoleezza Rice. It was the wealthiest cabinet in American history. It seemed fantastic then. Today, they must be getting severe complex seeing the amount of wealth some of the richest Russian parliamentarians have.

Thanks for letting us know about this startling fact. I wonder how many times the media in the outside world pointed this out. I am not sure if the average Russian is aware of this.

Jarno

Jarno — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

No wonder that the Communist Party is growing popular by the day. With economic disparity between the rich and the poor so huge that dissent is going to drip down to the grassroot levels of the population. It is a matter of time when Putin and the super rich Oligarchs in Russia will start feeling real heat from the common man. If history is anything to go by, then Putin should know that a bloody revolution cannot be ruled out in the near future.

Dan

Dan — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The West might have to soon decide whose side it is going to take. If they support Putin they would be supporting a despot. If they support the opposition the biggest of which is the Communist Party they run the risk of helping getting Russia back into the Stalinist system again. Though personally I don’t think the Communist Party will do something like that to Russia if voted to power. It would be like just another political party in power with a left inclination.

Dzej

Dzej — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Why is Mikhail Khodorkovsky in jail now? I guess he was a fool enough not to have towed Putin’s line. He surely isn’t a man of conscience or principles to have opposed Putin in the political arena bringing Yukos and his own downfall so much so that he ended up in a notorious uranium mining labor camp that has a reputation as a place from which nobody returned alive.

The ‘poor’ man could have been so well off now. He was Russia’s wealthiest man and by now his wealth could have grown even bigger. He lost the plot completely.

Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The Russians are increasingly growing sick of the rich-poor divide especially where living in cities have become prohibitively expensive. The country doesn’t provide as many opportunities as cities to make a living and as a result the youth is getting restive.

Anti Putin demonstrations have become more frequent and audacious than before. If the Russians say that they are happy seeing a resurgent Russia capable of taking a stand against the West on foreign policy and other issue then those are the voices of the elite. You are right when you say that the income inequality score rivals that of sub-Saharan Africa. Good governance and Russia had always been a fantastic conception given that first the corrupt and meet Tsars ruled it, then came the communists and after it a brief period of dark age during Yeltsin and now the autocracy of Putin.

What signal the mega rich Russian parliament is sending to the common people they err... represent? It seems Russia is in for some bleak times ahead. Putin won’t get asylum should he is forced to flee someday. Well, maybe a comfy apartment in Belgrade is what he can hope to get if he is lucky.

Alexandra

Alexandra — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

suleiman kerimov survived a high speed car crash in French Riviera about a year and half back destroying his ferrari enzo. me sure that many russians prayed that he never survived. this man on a luxury trip in a luxury resort town in a expensive car. are these really political people suppose to see problem of citizen or just like feudal noblemen in king putin’s court and assembly. very strange country russia is becoming.