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When Vladimir V. Putin returned to the Russian presidency in 2012, one of the first messages he sent to his political elite, many of them heads of banks and large corporations, was that the times had changed: Owning assets outside Russia makes you too vulnerable to moves by foreign governments, he told them. It’s time to bring your wealth home.
Nearly two years later, those words sound like preparation.
But Mr. Putin, whose return to the presidency was opposed by many urban liberals, now makes his most important decisions in an inner circle of men who emerged from Soviet security services. Among the first new projects in his new presidency was a push to “nationalize the elite,” requiring officials to sell off investments and properties outside Russia that could, in his view, undermine their loyalty in the event of a confrontation with the West.
Indeed, among the small group of people present when Mr. Putin made the final decision on Crimea, according to officials and analysts, were five or six former K.G.B. colleagues believed to have minimal assets outside Russia, and therefore not vulnerable to sanctions.
DJW001
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul
What's more, Crimea is a fixer-upper. It requires so much infrastructure repair due to the Ukrainian oligarchs' embezzling that it would be a drain on the Russian economy if they absorb it.
Among the first new projects in his new presidency was a push to “nationalize the elite,” requiring officials to sell off investments and properties outside Russia that could, in his view, undermine their loyalty in the event of a confrontation with the West.