Sahwa
EuropePlease donate to the closed windows fund, tovarish
Stay away from them windows, Vladdie.
Admitting the country is broke, and it's the war that has done it, and asking the filthy rich to loosen their grip on their gold... let's see how this works out for him. Considering Putin is one of the richest men in the world, if not the richest, I expect they'll tell him to go first, go big, with receipts, or go home.
This take is laughable. Pu has been telling oligarchs and state companies to do this or that since forever. The post is a nothingburger. Pu is literally the head of the mafia and has a severe micromanagement habit, his job is to decide who gets which companies and state contracts and how much everyone is allowed to steal. All the current oligarchs owe their riches to Pu, because almost everyone of them were friends of his since the nineties or earlier, and were put into their positions by him. When he tells someone that they need to share more, they do that, or they go work as the governor of Kamchatka (if they're lucky).
Just like in the FSB, the worst thing one can decide to do is be disloyal to Putin. The chekists aren't fond of that.
But wouldn't there then be the risk of them having various state mechanisms turned against them, up to and including defenestration? Billionaire mysteriously dies and state collects a portion of their assets... or something.
There's a podcast called Sad Oligarch. It talks about just how many rich Russians have died under mysterious circumstances since Putin started his war.
I imagine that's due to a combination of dissent against the war or insufficient support for it? And then, is the implication that their holdings were usually scooped up by the state?
If not the state itself then the state owned companies that they controlled, or one of Putin's allies.
But yeah, the podcast is worth a listen.
Billionaire mysteriously dies and ~~state collects a portion of their assets~~ generously donated all his wealth and assets to the mother Russia in his will.
There you go.
This is a very western view, where the rich are very powerful.
In Russia, it doesn't work like that, because it is not a state of law. If you refuse the dictator, he will order your murder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicious_Russia-related_deaths_since_2022
On the flip side, Putin is not immune to polonium tea either.
I don’t think this man ever “asks” for anything.
Isn't he an oligarch himself?
He is the oligarchiest.
Putin trying to imitate Trump? That's a bit of a role reversal.
