Putin Ticks Off the Oligarchs

The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave a vintage performance today, as he traveled to the troubled town of Pikalyovo and gave one of Russia’s top oligarchs a dressing down on national television.

Putin showed up in Pikalyovo, where the three main factories stopped working months ago. (I wrote about this situation a week ago here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/cold-hunger-and-job-losses-ignite-dissent-in-russian-town-1690418.html)

To summarize the situation, the town of over 20,000 was on the brink of collapse after the factories shut, with no alternative sources of income available. The last straw for the residents was when the hot water was shut off a few weeks ago, and a number of angry residents stormed the building of the town’s administration. Earlier this week they decided to bring their protests to a wider audience and blocked the main road near the town, causing miles of traffic jams.

Today, Putin, in nearby St Petersburg for a major economic forum, decided to pay the town a visit, bringing members of his cabinet with him. Also present was Oleg Deripaska, who until last year was Russia’s richest man and one of the richest in the world. He more than any other of the oligarchs has suffered from the financial downturn, with some estimates suggesting he’s lost as much as 90% of his $40 billion wealth in the past year. He owns one of the factories in Pikalyovo, and Putin was not in a compromising mood.

“You have made thousands of people hostage to your ambitions, your lack of professionalism – or maybe simply your trivial greed,” spat Putin in his most quietly menacing tone, leaning back in a chair and sporting a beige sports jacket.

“Why was everyone running around like cockroaches before my arrival? Why was no one capable of taking decisions?”

Deripaska bowed his head like a naughty schoolboy and mumbled that while they hadn’t come to an agreement yet, they would do soon. Putin, disgusted, demanded that he sign the contract immediately, throwing a pen down at him and beckoning him over using aggressive language.

It’s a massive humiliation for Deripaska, and just the kind of TV grandstanding that we’re used to from Putin. But it marks a very interesting new departure in Russian politics. The key issue of the financial crisis here has been how much the state is willing to help prop up the oligarchs. Clearly people like Deripaska can’t simply be abandoned when their companies determine the fates of so many Russians. But today showed that Putin feels strong enough to abuse them in public.

The aim is clearly to shift the blame from what is happening now from the government to “robber barons”. For now, it seems to be working – Putin was greeted with applause by the Pikalyovo residents.

Photo by World Economic Forum