Editing Oligarchy (section)

=== Russia ===
{{Main|Russian oligarchs}}

After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991 and the subsequent [[privatization]] of state-owned assets, a class of Russian [[business oligarch]]s emerged. These oligarchs gained control of significant portions of the economy, especially in the energy, metals, and natural resources sectors.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scheidel |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Scheidel |title=The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-0691165028 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NgZpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 51] & [https://books.google.com/books?id=NgZpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA222 222–223]}}</ref> Many of these individuals maintained close ties with government officials, particularly the [[President of Russia|president]], leading some to characterize modern Russia as an oligarchy intertwined with the state.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Russian oligarchs: What are they and how have they changed over time? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60731864 |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=BBC}}</ref>

In 1996, fearing the possible victory of the [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation|Communist Party]], the oligarchs, especially the [[Seven Bankers]], funded and substantially supported [[Boris Yeltsin]]'s [[Boris Yeltsin 1996 presidential campaign|re-election campaign]] in [[1996 Russian presidential election|that year's election]], continuing to manipulate him and exert influence over his government over the next several years.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Daniel|author1-link=Daniel Treisman |last=Treisman |date=November–December 2000 |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20001101fareviewessay946/daniel-treisman/blaming-russia-first.html |title=Blaming Russia First |magazine=Foreign Affairs |access-date=May 13, 2025|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040803112056/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20001101fareviewessay946/daniel-treisman/blaming-russia-first.html |archive-date=3 August 2004 }}</ref> After Yeltsin's successor, [[Vladimir Putin]], came to power in 1999, he cracked down on many oligarchs, arresting several for [[tax evasion]] and forcing others into exile.<ref>{{cite news|title=European Court: Khodorkovsky's Rights Violated|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/european_court_rules_khodorkovskys_rights_violated/24210627.html|access-date=2022-03-02|website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|language=en}}</ref> By the end of the 2000s decade, however, Putin had created a new class of oligarchs consisting mainly of his own personal friends and colleagues, continuing to crack down on those who opposed him.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Aslund|first=Anders|date=2019-08-13|title=Putin's Economic Policy and Its Consequences|language=en-US|work=Oxford University Press|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55391047-putin-s-economic-policy-and-its-consequences|access-date=2023-01-28|isbn=978-0190697761}}</ref> According to [[NPR]], he "changed the guy sitting in [the] chairs, but he didn't change the chairs".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-02-04 |title=What Americans can learn from the story of Russia's oligarchs |url=https://www.ijpr.org/npr-news/2025-02-04/what-americans-can-learn-from-the-story-of-russias-oligarchs |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=Jefferson Public Radio |language=en}}</ref>