Posted on 12/26/2022 5:03:35 AM PST by Timber Rattler
As the cracks in Russia's war on Ukraine deepen, Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the West are now saying Russian President Vladimir Putin tricked them into appearing to support his invasion of Ukraine, according to an extensive investigation published Saturday by The New York Times.
Many of Putin's top advisors didn't know the full extent of his plans to invade Ukraine on February 24 until they were already underway, according to The Times. Senior aides at the Kremlin were trying to read his body language, telling some that Putin had "this warlike twinkle in his eyes," the paper reported.
"If everyone around you is telling you for 22 years that you are a super-genius, then you will start to believe that this is who you are," Oleg Tinkov, a former Russian banking mogul who turned on Putin this year, told The Times. "Russian businesspeople, Russian officials, the Russian people — they saw a czar in him. He just went nuts."
But as the "special military operation" has dragged on, some Russian oligarchs have expressed doubt and frustration after they were heavily sanctioned by Western nations as a result of their allyship with Putin, the Times reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Russian siloviki may be setting information conditions to justify the nationalization of oligarchs' resources to sponsor Russia’s war effort. Wagner financier Yeveniy Prigozhin attended the funeral of a deceased Wagner Group mercenary in St. Petersburg on December 24, where he stated that Russia needs to confiscate luxury possessions and accommodations from elites who ignore or do not support the war effort out of fear of losing their privileged lifestyles. Prigozhin added that these affluent individuals support a vision where ”Western curators” dominate Russia in return for the sponsorship of their lifestyles and compared today’s Russian oligarchy to Ukraine’s or to 1990s Russia. Prigozhin ignited a scandal regarding the burial of the Wagner serviceman in recent weeks to push his political objectives — such as the legalization of Wagner in Russia — and his statements advocating redistribution of wealth at the funeral gained significant traction on the Russian internet. Wagner-affiliated milbloggers widely supported Prigozhin’s criticism of Russian officials and praised his support for the war effort. Prigozhin may be using such populist proposals to elevate his authority in Russian society or influence a return of stricter nationalization measures.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also indirectly attacked Russian oligarchs on December 22, however, stating that Russians who drain Russia’s money from abroad and do not have a connection with the country “represent a danger” to Russia. Putin claimed that while the vast majority of Russian businessmen are patriots, there are some who do not share the sentiment. Putin concluded that "everyone strives not only to stay, to live and work in Russia but to work for the benefit of our country.” Putin previously nationalized big businesses in the early 2000s to consolidate his authoritarian kleptocracy and may be attempting leverage nationalization to coerce elites to support his war in Ukraine or seize their property to fund military expenses.
That’s hogwash. I remember Putin telling them that the property rights in the West are illusory and they need to invest back home.
Whose who listened are very happy. The guys who screamed how bad Putin is and used to put Ukrainian flags on their Twitters are now getting their wealth confiscated by Canada and the EU.
Regular Russians are laughing their asses off.
At least five prominent Russian businessmen have reportedly died by suicide since late January, with three of them allegedly killing members of their families before taking their own lives.
Four of those six were linked to the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom or one of its subsidiaries, while the other two were associated with Lukoil, Russia’s largest privately owned oil and gas company.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/business/russian-oligarchs-deaths-intl/index.html
I remember Putin telling them that the property rights in the West are illusory and they need to invest back home.
BTW, i don’t know who you talk to, but Russian citizens are not laughing.
-Russian oligarchs say Putin tricked them into supporting his war in Ukraine, per The New York Times.
-When Putin announced the invasion, they were gathered before cameras “to tar everyone there,” The Times reported.
-In the weeks that followed, Russian businessmen were hit with heavy sanctions by Western countries.
As the cracks in Russia’s war on Ukraine deepen, Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the West are now saying Russian President Vladimir Putin tricked them into appearing to support his invasion of Ukraine, according to an extensive investigation published Saturday by The New York Times.
Many of Putin’s top advisors didn’t know the full extent of his plans to invade Ukraine on February 24 until they were already underway, according to The Times. Senior aides at the Kremlin were trying to read his body language, telling some that Putin had “this warlike twinkle in his eyes,” the paper reported.
“If everyone around you is telling you for 22 years that you are a super-genius, then you will start to believe that this is who you are,” Oleg Tinkov, a former Russian banking mogul who turned on Putin this year, told The Times. “Russian businesspeople, Russian officials, the Russian people — they saw a czar in him. He just went nuts.”
But as the “special military operation” has dragged on, some Russian oligarchs have expressed doubt and frustration after they were heavily sanctioned by Western nations as a result of their allyship with Putin, the Times reported.
Andrey Melnichenko, a coal and fertilizer billionaire, woke up on February 24 to “madness” in Ukraine, but he and other businessmen already had a meeting scheduled with Putin for that day, per The Times. He joined rows of other business moguls who were equally surprised by Putin’s invasion. When Putin finally entered the room, he told those assembled and the cameras set up behind them that he didn’t have a choice about invading, per the outlet.
Melnichenko told The Times that he felt the entire situation was “irrational” and he felt “shock,” but the damage was already done. Another business mogul at the meeting, who remained anonymous, told the paper that they had all been gathered before the cameras in an unknowing show of support for Putin’s decision to invade – even if they disagreed with it.
The goal of the stunt, the anonymous businessman told The Times, was “specifically to tar everyone there” and “to get everyone sanctioned.”
Putin’s plan to force his followers to have some skin in the game worked. The Times reported that dozens of business tycoons, including Melnichenko and the anonymous businessmen, were hit with heavy sanctions from western nations. In the weeks and months that followed, Russian oligarchs had their assets frozen and were banned from traveling to some countries as the Ruble fell into freefall.
Some of Russia’s wealthiest have since pleaded with the West, offering Ukrainian money in exchange for being excluded from the heavy sanctions, Business Insider previously reported.
But Putin’s war has increasingly become a point of pride for the Russian president, who seems to hope it will cement his glory in Russian history.
“What he thinks about obsessively, and quite possibly falsely,” has shaped “the biography of the whole world,” Konstantin Remchukov, a newspaper editor from Moscow, told the Times of Putin’s fixation with Ukraine.”
With every passing day, it’s becoming more and more likely that this war will only end in nuclear war. Maybe that’s what the planet needs to root out the evil that has so taken over.
11th month now
this war could drag on for years ... as will the sanctions
enjoy the show ... we are
Everyday FR becomes DU because Ukrainian sycophants have become the enemy of MAGA.
On or about October 28, 2013, TINKOV expatriated from the United States by
renouncing his U.S. citizenship before a diplomatic and consular officer of the United States.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1256141/download
Perfect.
The domestic sympathy meter for sanctioned oligarchs is pretty low among average Russians. Having looted their own country’s resources often in concert with foreign interests. The fact that the US and EU targeted these guys as a force to try to weaken and remove Putin….is a tell.
Some US policy makers really think “ democratic” political change comes from billionaires overthrowing leaders and protecting their interests?
Same-o in Ukraine. Poroshenko and now Zelensky.
It sure is, and those that thought they could get protection and keep their money by cooperating with America, soon found out they were No Longer Useful Idiots.
With friends like the American Deep Swamp ....
Yep, extraordinary stupid, but more so for non-Russian oligarchs. You know why T-bonds aren’t selling well anymore.
‘I don’t really care, do you?’
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