The People’s Oligarchs
The leading polling agency of the nation, VTsIOM, presented its list of Top Wealthiest Russians. The rating of money bags didn’t suffer material changes vs. the previous year.
The rating of richest and wealthiest Russians compiled in view of the public polls differs very much from the similar rankings of business mass media. As it turned out, common Russians haven’t heard about such worthy men of property as Alexey Mordashov, Viktor Vekselberg, Vladimir Evtushenkov or Vladimir Lisin, whose scores in serious ratings are very high.
But prompted in addition to spot some other familiar businessmen in the offered list, 24 percent of the polled proved able to recall Mikhail Fridman and 22 percent remembered the name of Alexander Lebedev. The most notorious businessman of the country, RAO UES CEO Anatoly Chubais, is still unknown to 9 percent of respondents.
Another surprise is the fourth score of former YUKOS CEO and today’s prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Each ninth of the polled apparently believes this convict had laid aside enough money before he was arrested three years ago.
Of interest is that the list sets forth the Russians, who are just occasional visitors here (rating’s leader Roman Abramovich) or don’t go to native land at all (Boris Berezovsky and Mikhail Gusinsky).
One more question of the poll seems worth mentioning. Asked who of the oligarchs have built up their fortune by fair methods, Vladimir Potanin and Roman Abramovich have the greatest number of votes (8 percent each). Anatoly Chubais leads amidst the business swindlers (77 percent), Boris Berezovsky has 71 percent, Mikhail Khodorkovsky – 66 percent and Roman Abramovich - 64 percent. At the same time, 24 percent of Russians believe Abramovich spends a portion of his money for charity.
One after another current, the nation thinks the Top 16 Wealthiest are Roman Abramovich, Boris Berezovsky, Anatoly Chubais, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vladimir Potanin, Mikhail Gusinsky, Yury Luzhkov, Vladimir Putin, Elena Baturina, Oleg Deripaska, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Alla Pugacheva, Boris Yeltsin, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Vladimir Bryntsalov and Philip Kirkorov.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 02, 2006
|
