Name: Trust me, You DON”T Wanna be a Russian Billionaire
Uploaded: 2022-09-28T18:21:40.000Z
Duration: 10 min 19 s
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Alongside Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the internet is filled with news of how governments

around the world are seizing assets that belong to Russian billionaires, from yachts to jets

to mansions. This is Dilbar, a 700 million dollar yacht

belonging to Alisher Usmanov, a Russian billionaire allegedly linked to Kremlin. Germany seized

this superyacht after the US government sanctioned the oligarch in early March in a campaign

targeting Putin's allies.  Spanish authorities seized the "Valerie"

yacht reportedly linked to a Russian oligarch and former KGB agent Sergei Chemezov in the

port of Barcelona, according to Reuters.  The Italians seized Gennady Timchenko's yacht,

who is also a Russian billionaire. Italy also seized 116 million dollars worth of property

that belonged to a Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov.

Just when I was writing the script for this video, the US judge approved to seize 2 jets

that belong to a Russian billionaire Boris Abramovich.

Overnight, as if Russian billionaires become enemy number one of the west. Not a single

oligarch that's linked to Putin has survived sanctions. It's probably the worst time to

be a Russian billionaire. But why? why are Western countries imposing

personal sanctions on literally all Russian billionaires? Why are they seizing their mansions,

jets, and yachts? That all has to do with how these people became

billionaires in the first place. So here is a step-by-step guide on how to

become a Russian billionaire. The path to becoming a billionaire in the

US is clear. You become an entrepreneur. You start a business, grow it, and your stake

in that business will put you on the Forbes billionaires list if the business is worth

billions of dollars. That's how Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and other billionaires made their

fortunes in the US. Of course, all of them have done some shady things, but overall they

have built impressive companies. But in order to become a billionaire in Russia,

you don't go to business because the chances you will become a billionaire are low. That's

why you go to politics. The government is the most powerful and wealthiest

entity in the country, so your job is to get your hands as close as possible to the treasury.

Once your hands are on the treasury, you can spend that money however you want. 

Russia is not like the US, where government officials have to be accountable to the public.

It's the public that's accountable to the government, so if someone sues you fo r mismanaging

government expenditures, you don't have to worry about it because your position in the

government doesn't just give you money but also power. 

One phone call to the judge and the judge will rule in your favor. 

So rule number is - you either get into politics to become a billionaire or need strong connections

in the government to go to business. Without these connections, you are not going to go

far or end up in jail. Russia, as we know it today, is a relatively

new country. Until 1991, it was the Soviet Union where capitalism was illegal, so there

were no billionaires in the country. I mean, the top officials were the unofficial billionaires,

but after the collapse of the union, Russia had to move to capitalism literally overnight;

that's when Russia began to have its first official billionaires.

But they didn't become one by starting businesses or developing world-changing technologies.

Boris Yeltsin, who was the president back then in 1996, was about to lose re-election,

so he turned to the bankers who managed government funds since Russia's financial system was

still immature. So, government funds were deposited in commercial banks and mostly managed

by them.  The plan was simple, the bankers would lend

him 500 million dollars with an annual interest rate of 150 percent and will take the government's

shares in the biggest companies as collateral. If the government would not be able to pay

back its loans within a year, the banks would be able to keep these shares. Which is exactly

A year later, all of the seven bankers who created this scheme became billionaires. Mikhail

Khodorkovsky received a 45 percent majority stake in Yukos, Russia's largest oil and gas

company back then. Berezovsky and Abramovich got Sibneft. Vladimir Potanin received the

controlling stake in Norilsk Nickel, one of the world's largest nickel and palladium mining

and smelting companies.  Suddenly, companies that were built by the

soviet union over decades changed hands. These 7 people became the owners of Russia's largest

companies just because they were close allies of the former president.

So how do you become a billionaire in Russia - you become friends with top government officials,

preferable the president. Let's take a look at the current list of Russian

billionaires. Meet Arkady Rotenberg, who has a net worth

of 2.2 billion dollars. But until 1999, he was nobody. He wasn't a businessman neither

nor had any high government position, but he was Putin's long-time friend since the

days when they used to practice judo together. After Putin's rise to power, this judo instructor

suddenly became a successful business and joined the Forbes billionaires list. 

Well, how about Gennady Tymchenko, who has a net worth of almost 20 billion dollars as

of 2022. How do you think he built his fortune. Exactly! He became Putin'sPutin's friend way

before he became the president, so after Putin's inauguration, Timchenkoy's net worth skyrocketed.

Or meet this guy, Igor Sechin. He is not officially a billionaire, but the guy owns a 490 million

dollar superyacht. You don't own a half a billion-dollar yacht without having a few

billion dollars. He is the CEO of the largest oil and gas company in Russia, and guess who

appointed him to that position?  Exactly! 

Putin! Because he was his security guard before he

became the president. Or Kirill Shamalov, the ex-husband of Katerina

Tikhonova, Putin's daughter, so technically, he is the ex-son-in-law of the Russian President

Vladimir Putin. When you become the son-in-law of the most powerful man in Russia, you become

Russia's youngest billionaire. Connections are the most important thing in

making money in Russia. That's why there is a Russians proverb - Do Not Have 100 Rubles,

Have 100 Friends. The only problem with this way of becoming

a billionaire is that your wealth doesn't belong to you. I mean, it's official yours,

but it mostly belongs to the people who gave you the favors that enabled you to become

a billionaire. For example, Oleg Deripaska became a billionaire

as a result of massive illegal privatization after the collapse of the soviet union and

became a close ally of the government. He finances the lavish lifestyle of many of russia's

top officials, such as the ministry of foreign affairs, Sergey Lavrov. 

Lavrov and his family always fly private, even on personal matters, using Deripaska's

jets. Or former Deputy prime minister Sergey Prikhotka was spotted in Deripaska's yacht

with a bunch of escorts. The strategy is simple, we make it possible

for you to earn billions, but in return, you will share that wealth with us. But if you

ever try to turn against us, we are going to get rid of you.

Khodorkovsky, who challenged the government after building his net worth on behalf of

the government, was arrested for 10 years. Berezovsky was forced to leave the country,

and his life ended tragically, while Abromovich, who decided to bend the knee to the new Tsar,

wasn't just left alone but also generously rewarded.

Another problem with this strategy is that they can always come for you the moment they

dislike you. They can turn you into a poor prisoner in a blink of an eye, like the Magamedov

brothers, the brothers who earned a few billion dollars through government connections and

subsidies. But, the moment they went against some government officials, they found themselves

jailed and their assets seized. So, if you ever become a Russian billionaire, spend as

much money as you can because you can lose in a glimpse of an eye, and there won't be

any judge to save you. Spend your billions as if there is no tomorrow.