Putin to crack down on Oligarchs

Speculation is rife that Putin will now use the crisis in the financial markets to erase the Russian oligarchs. Since he came to power 8 years ago he has been on the warpath against them and in a period of just two years many are now to be found either in prison or in exile.

The Kremlin is now in greater control of the country as $50 billion has been pledged by the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, to help cash strapped companies that are on the brink of disaster.

There are now more than a handful of billionaires who are in need of an emergency ‘bailout’ and even the richest man in Russia, Mikhail Fridman, has had to concede to needing help from the authorities which placed the Kremlin in a unique position given that they now have leverage over the country’s biggest companies.

The tables have now turned and it is the oligarchs who are now asking money from the government for state funds, and so now the state can dictate who can receive the funds and how companies actually use them to invest and develop.

So far $36 billion has been handed over in the form of emergency subordinated loans to banks whilst there is also plans to buy shares in major banks similar to a UK style bailout.

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