Johnson's Russia List
#5106
21 February 2001
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#2
Time Europe
26 February 2001
Viewpoint: Closing the Door
Russia's elite think twice about foreign travel
BY YURI ZARAKHOVICH
Iosif Kobzon is a famous singer, prosperous businessman and influential
member of the Duma. He is known as the Russian Sinatra both for his talent
and for his alleged Mafia ties. But he will not be singing in the United
States: last month the U.S. embassy in Moscow turned down his visa
application for the third time. Oleg Deripaska, head of the giant firm
Russian Aluminum, did not attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting in
Davos last week; the group withdrew its invitation after a fellow businessman
filed a lawsuit accusing him of bribery and racketeering. Sergei Mikhailov,
an entrepreneur who spent a little over two years in a Swiss jail on charges
of heading a Mafia family before being released in December 1998 for lack of
evidence, raged at a press conference in Moscow late last month: "America is
now denied me, Europe is denied me, even Africa turned me away! They have
made me nevyezdnoi!"
The Explanatory Dictionary of the Soviet Language defines nevyezdnoi as "a
citizen not allowed abroad by Soviet authorities." Nearly the entire
population of the old Soviet Union was nevyezdnoi: only the elite were
allowed to travel to foreign countries. These restrictions were lifted in the
Gorbachev era, but now a new nevyezdnoi class is emerging. This time, it's
the elite who are restricted, and not just by the state.
Foreign governments and private institutions, suspicious of the spendthrift
habits, mammoth bank accounts and princely villas that have become trademarks
of nouveau riche Russians abroad, are beginning to close their doors and
their borders to some of the richest. And many powerful Russian tycoons must
think twice before boarding an outbound flight lest they share the fate of
Pavel Borodin, the erstwhile Kremlin property manager and multimillionaire
who was arrested last month in New York on an extradition request from
Switzerland alleging involvement in money laundering.
Like Borodin or Mikhailov, these rejectees have not been proved guilty of any
specific crime that would warrant their exclusion. Yet perhaps it is good
that they must stay home. Too many of the Russian high and mighty have used
their positions over the past decade of reform to line their pockets. Graft
is universal. Last year an estimated $24.6 billion left Russia, money
garnered mostly through bribery, kickbacks and outright theft and sent to
private accounts in offshore banks. That's an increase of 30% over 1999, and
the total capital drain from Russia over the past decade is more than $250
billion.
Russian thieves have been siphoning billions abroad in order to enjoy
civilized life far from their plundered country. But what can they do with
their foreign villas and bank accounts if they lose access? Might their
nevyezdnoi status compel them to reinvest their ill-gotten gains in their own
national economy? A major oligarch is said to be looking into the development
of ski resorts in the Caucasus Mountains. Might the lure of potential profits
force Russian tycoons to pacify Chechnya more effectively--and less
barbarously--than the government has been trying to? Will they, indeed, find
ways to make their money serve them here--and benefit their country, too? If
so, the West is doing Russia a great favor by making Russian business and
political big shots nevyezdnoi.
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