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From Soviet Union to Russian Oligarchic Power System and to Putin

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The World Disorder

Abstract

The collapse of the Soviet Union sent Russia into a downward spiral, and if it were up to the USA and NATO, it would have been reduced to a peripheral country. In the mid-1990s, Boris Yeltsin drunkenly presided over the sell-off of state assets, and in the midst of this primitive capital accumulation process, the oligarchs emerged from the decomposing bureaucracy as the new ruling and owning class, becoming real factors of economic and political power.

In 1998, Russia was hit by a severe economic crisis that brought the country to the brink of total collapse. Yeltsin could no longer sustain himself in power and resigned. He was succeeded by Vladimir Putin, who immediately went about to restore Russia’s power.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Michael Lind, 2006, p. 134.

  2. 2.

    “George Bush, Address Before a Joint Session of Congress (September 11, 1990).” Miller Center—University of Virginia. Available at <http://millercenter.org/president/bush/speeches/speech-3425>.

  3. 3.

    António Sousa Lara, 2014, pp. 18 and 25.

  4. 4.

    “Back in the USSR—How could the Kremlin keep them down, after they’d seen our farms?” Boston College—Winter Magazine 2004. Available at: <http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/winter_2004/ll_ussr.html>. Access on September 21, 2014.

  5. 5.

    Michael Lind, 1999, p. 511.

  6. 6.

    Margareta Mommsen, 2003, pp. 56–57, 63–70 passim; Darrel M. West, 2014, pp. 7, 103–104.

  7. 7.

    Marilyn Berger, “Boris N. Yeltsin, Reformer Who Broke Up the U.S.S.R., Dies at 76.” The New York Times, April 24, 2007.

  8. 8.

    “The Fundamental Flaws of the Clinton Administration’s Russia Policy. Russia’s Road to Corruption—How the Clinton Administration Exported Government Instead of Free Enterprise and Failed the Russian People—Chap. 4. Speaker’s Advisory Group on Russia. United States House of Representatives 106th Congress. U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. Report Date: September 2000.” Available at <http://fas.org/news/russia/2000/russia/part04.htm>.

  9. 9.

    Michael Dobbs (Washington Post), “In Bid to Support Yeltsin, IMF Lends Russia $10.2 Billion.” The Seattle Times, March 27, 1996. Available at <http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960327&slug=2321108>.

  10. 10.

    Rusland Dzarasov, “Cómo Rusia volvió al capitalismo.” Nueva Sociedad, 253, Buenos Aires: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Septiembre/Octubre 2014, pp. 120–135.

  11. 11.

    Yasmine Ryan, “Russia’s oligarchs guard political might—Under Putin, a new middle class has emerged, but socio-economic changes haven’t yet translated into political clout.” Al Jazeera, March 4, 2012. Available at: <http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/02/2012225212624758833.html>.

  12. 12.

    Ibidem; Grigory Yavlinsky, “Russia’s Phony Capitalism.” Foreign Affairs—Council of Foreign Relations, May/June 1998. Available at: <http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/54018/grigory-yavlinsky/russias-phony-capitalism>.

  13. 13.

    Darya Pushkova (RT correspondent), “Prominent Russians: Vladimir Potanin.” RT, February 1, 2010. Available at: <http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/business/vladimir-potanin/>; Anastasia Barchenko, “The price of divorce for Russian oligarchs.” Russia Beyond the Headlines, March 23, 2014. Available at: <http://rbth.com/business/2014/03/23/the_price_of_divorce_for_russian_oligarchs_35297.html>.

  14. 14.

    Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark, “‘He won, Russia lost’—Roman Abramovich, Britain’s richest man, has lavished millions and millions upon Chelsea Football Club.” The Guardian, May 8, 2004.

  15. 15.

    Anastasia Barchenko, “The price of divorce for Russian oligarchs.” Russia Beyond the Headlines, March 23, 2014. Available at: <http://rbth.com/business/2014/03/23/the_price_of_divorce_for_russian_oligarchs_35297.html>.

  16. 16.

    “Q&A: Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Russia.” BBC News-Europe, December 23, 2013. Available at: <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25467275>.

  17. 17.

    “Arrested Oil Tycoon Passed Shares to Banker Rothschild.” The Washington Times, November 2, 2003.

  18. 18.

    Kathrin Hille (Moscow), “The pursuit of Yukos’ wealth.” Financial Times, January 12, 2014. Available at: <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4658d96-7b7d-11e3-84af-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3EWrKjn6p>.

  19. 19.

    Lenin tried to develop state capitalism, not as the ownership and operation of companies by the State, as Stalin did afterward, but as private capitalism permitted and controlled by the State, and he pursued foreign investments through concessions to companies from Germany, the United States, etc., with plenty of optimism that they would flow to Soviet Russia. According to the traditional parameters of Marxist theory, Lenin argued that planning would only be effective with a highly developed and concentrated economy and not in a country with approximately 20 million small and scattered farms, a disintegrated industry, and primitive and barbaric forms of trade. Stalin extinguished the NEP, in 1927–1928, with the 5-year plan, nationalizing the economy and turning the Soviet Union into an autarchy, without considering that it was inserted in the capitalist world market from which it could not escape nor isolate itself. See Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, 2009, pp. 63–72 and 142–143.

  20. 20.

    Leon Trotsky, 1936. pp. 119, 283–287, 306, 324–325.

  21. 21.

    Ibidem, p. 12.

  22. 22.

    Silvio Pons, 2014, pp., 318–320.

  23. 23.

    See Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, 2009, pp. 131–132.

  24. 24.

    Martin Armstrong, “The US did not cause the fall of the Soviet Union—that is a False Belief on Both Sides.” Armstrong Economics, March 18, 2014. Available at <http://armstrongeconomics.com/2014/03/18/the-us-did-not-cause-the-fall-of-the-soviet-union-that-is-a-false-belief-on-both-sides/>.

  25. 25.

    Ronald Hatchett, “Yeltsin: Fighting To Stay On Top.” JOC.com, August 18, 1992. Available at: <http://www.joc.com/yeltsin-fighting-stay-top_19920818.html>.

  26. 26.

    Brian Whitmore, “Russia: The End of Loans-For-Shares—Nearly a decade ago in a move that reshaped Russia’s political landscape, the ailing and embattled Kremlin leader Boris Yeltsin sold off the crown jewels of the country’s economy to a select group of oligarchs. Russian President Vladimir Putin is now ready to buy them back.” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, September 29, 2005. Available at: <http://www.rferl.org/articleprintview/1061761.html>.

  27. 27.

    “The Russian Crisis 1998”. Economic ReportRabobank—Economic Research Department.

  28. 28.

    Available at <https://economics.rabobank.com/publications/2013/september/the-russian-crisis-1998/>. Access on September 21, 2014.

  29. 29.

    “Russia—an economy on the brink”. BBC News, August 24, 1998. Available at: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/150383.stm>.

  30. 30.

    Russia’s Road to Corruption—How theClinton Administration Exported Government Instead of Free Enterprise and Failed the Russian People. “Chap. 8—1998: Years of Bad Advice Culminate in Russia’s Total Economic Collapse.” U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. Report Date: September 2000. Available at: <http://fas.org/news/russia/2000/russia/part08.htm>.

  31. 31.

    Alan Little, “Business; Economy—Parliament calls on Yeltsin to resign.” BBC News, August 21, 1998. Available at: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/155494.stm>.

  32. 32.

    Sharon Lafraniere, “Stepashin Confirmed as Russian Premier.” Washington PostForeign Service, May 20, 1999, p. A19. Available at: <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/russiagov/stories/stepashin052099.html>.

  33. 33.

    CIA Fact Book. Available at: <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html>.

  34. 34.

    Ibidem.

  35. 35.

    “Russia’s economy under Vladimir Putin: achievements and failures.” Analysis and Opinion—RIA Novosti, January 3, 2008. Available at <http://en.ria.ru/analysis/20080301/100381963.html>.

  36. 36.

    CIA Fact Book. Available at: <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html>.

  37. 37.

    Chris Vellacott and Lidia Kelly (London/Moscow), “Russia can run on empty for a year if sanctions block new bonds.” Reuters, September, 2014. Available at <http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/02/ukraine-crisis-russia-bonds-idUSLN0R330720140902>.

  38. 38.

    “Russian State takes bigger part in the economy, despite trumpeted privatization plans.” RT, November 6, 2012. Available at: <http://rt.com/business/russia-state-economy-privatization-043/>.

  39. 39.

    Vivian Oswald, 2011, p. 75.

  40. 40.

    “Gorbachev: Putin saved Russia from disintegration.” RT, December 27, 2014. Available at: <http://rt.com/news/217931-gorbachev-putin-saved-russia/>; Ilya Pitalev, “Serious meetings needed to settle situation around Ukraine—Gorbachev.” Itar–Tass, Moscou, December 26, 2014. Available at: <http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/769544>.

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Moniz Bandeira, L.A. (2019). From Soviet Union to Russian Oligarchic Power System and to Putin. In: The World Disorder. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03204-3_7

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