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  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • RYAN DUFFY: So with the fall of communism

  • came a lot of questions.

  • Chief among them, when you're dividing up decade's worth of

  • state-owned assets, who gets what?

  • The short answer is a very lucky few.

  • In the early '90s, private citizens with the best

  • connections to the powers that be, we're essentially just

  • gifted a whole bunch of previously

  • state-controlled assets.

  • It's all best personified by the Russian oligarchs, a group

  • of super-powerful businessmen who control a disproportionate

  • amount of the country's wealth.

  • We came to Moscow to see how the 0.00001% live.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • RYAN DUFFY: We're about to go meet Sergey, who we've heard

  • really enjoys a life of real opulence.

  • We've been flying over all this land, and you're like,

  • OK, so when do we get to Sergey's place?

  • And they're like, this is Sergey's place.

  • This entire fucking place is Sergey's.

  • He owns pretty much the entire north of Russia.

  • Sergey Veremeenko is an oligarch thought to have had

  • connections to both the Russian mob and the Putin

  • government, who made his fortune through coal, metals,

  • and later banking.

  • His 26-year-old wife, Sophia, joined us for lunch.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: Thank you so much for your hospitality.

  • Cheers.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • SOFIA ARZHAKOVSKAYA: I saw like six

  • bodyguards behind him.

  • After we hung out, and had coffee, and chatted, he stood

  • up, and there was like six bodyguards.

  • Oh my god, who is this guy?

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • SOFIA ARZHAKOVSKAYA: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: Really?

  • Wow.

  • SOFIA ARZHAKOVSKAYA: In 2006.

  • RYAN DUFFY: I didn't know.

  • That changes the dynamic of the table.

  • I've never sat at a table with a Mrs. World before.

  • SOFIA ARZHAKOVSKAYA: Yep.

  • RYAN DUFFY: That's amazing, in 2006?

  • Wow.

  • SOFIA ARZHAKOVSKAYA: It was a huge scandal as well.

  • RYAN DUFFY: So they thought there was cheating or some

  • backroom deals?

  • SOFIA ARZHAKOVSKAYA: They were saying right away that he was

  • standing right there with the gun, saying, you know, now put

  • a crown on her.

  • RYAN DUFFY: I assume that's not the case, right, Sergey?

  • SOFIA ARZHAKOVSKAYA: Of course not.

  • He was surprised as I am that I won.

  • RYAN DUFFY: Right, but just because he's a powerful guy

  • people would just assume that the corruption, the word that

  • gets thrown around all the time.

  • And that's a very Western perception of Russia, right?

  • Is that business and finance is very closely tied to, you

  • know, corruption and that.

  • How do you kind of stay on top of that?

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • [BELL TOLLS]

  • RYAN DUFFY: After our caviar, Sergey took us to view his

  • collection of Russian religious art.

  • Valued at over $200 million, it's thought to be the largest

  • in the world.

  • So this is essentially one tenth of Sergey's collection

  • of icons, housed here at a private museum.

  • Not at his main house.

  • Just at one of the country houses he has.

  • He built a private museum.

  • It's stunning.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • SOFIA ARZHAKOVSKAYA: He's the favorite holy icon for the

  • businessman to pray to.

  • RYAN DUFFY: Why is this the favorite of the businessman?

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: Should I be concerned about the wolves and

  • the bears that we don't shoot?

  • All right, vodka's the answer.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: Let's go.

  • RYAN DUFFY: So in Sergey's down time,

  • he's an avid hunter.

  • So much so that he this entire estate of cabins out here

  • where he hunts wild boar, among other things.

  • So he's brought us out to traipse through the snow and

  • hunt some boar.

  • But outfits are first and foremost.

  • And by hunting, Sergey meant we'd be stationed in a heated

  • hunting blind while his bodyguards scattered bags of

  • corn into a lit area that we'd fire into with a sniper rifle.

  • Not exactly sportsman like, but a lot of fun.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • [GUN SHOTS]

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: Congratulations.

  • [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: We've been up for 48 hours.

  • And we've been drinking vodka since 2 PM.

  • But Sergey says it's time to go to the sauna.

  • So it's time to go to the sauna.

  • We've got our hats.

  • We've got our robes.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: I don't know what that means, probably not good.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: The saying in the United States, Sergey, is it's

  • not gay if it feels good.

  • How have things changed?

  • Obviously, over the last two decades, Russia has undergone

  • dramatic changes.

  • Where do you see this going?

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: Oh yeah.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: This seems like a really bad idea.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: Oh!

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • Yeah!

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

  • RYAN DUFFY: Oh, Jesus Christ.

  • SERGEY VEREMEENKO: Cheers.

  • RYAN DUFFY: Cheers.

  • Fuck all.

  • [RUSSIAN MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

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