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Comment by bmmayer1 | Hacker News Reader

Which knowledgeable circles?

This seems demonstrably untrue: "Thus the oligarchs were born which quickly led to the kleptocratic Russia we know of today"

Oligarchs have been a mainstay of Russian society since at least the time of Peter the Great when one of his main policy positions as Tsar was reducing the influence of the oligarchs (then called Boyars).

Plus, Russia under Soviet rule was unbelievably kleptocratic and corrupt.

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Most Russian oligarchs today trace their wealth back to the acquisition of shares in 1991, often with the help of loans from banks run by friends.

Larry Summers, when he was "advising", didn't make a secret of the fact that he didn't really care who "owned" most Russian assets provided it was in private hands.

> Larry Summers, when he was "advising", didn't make a secret of the fact that he didn't really care who "owned" most Russian assets provided it was in private hands.

Ideology over practicality. Lovely.

Anybody who was in a major Russian city in the 90s for instance, like myself and my family.

Parent post is accurate to a disturbing degree.

Thanks, would love to hear more about your experience (if you are willing to talk about it). It’s a dangerously underreported story in the West.

I really don’t see the connection particularly considering the new oligarchs post-Soviet period appear to be more intimately connected to organised crime than any soviet heritage power structures

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