Russia And Venezuela VP Drop Hints Of Something Big As Trump Says Land Strikes Could Start 'Soon'

[Passages]

2. Times have changed. Putin is more ruthless and unrelenting, and certainly more paranoid since Covid shutdown.

How Putin Conquered Russia's Oligarchy
March 29, 2022

Greg Rosalsky

Note: This is Part Two of a two-part Planet Money newsletter series on the Russian oligarchs. You can read Part One here and subscribe to the newsletter here.

In the summer of 2000, 21 of the richest men in Russia exited their bulletproof limousines and entered the Kremlin for a historic meeting. In the previous decade, these men had risen seemingly out of nowhere, amassing spectacular fortunes as the country around them descended into chaos. Through shady deals, outright corruption, and even murder, these rapacious "oligarchs" — as Russians had come to derisively call them — had seized control of much of Russia's economy, and, increasingly, its fledgling democracy. But now, their nation's newly elected president, Vladimir Putin, wanted to tell them, face to face, who was really in charge.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/03/29/1088886554/how-putin-conquered-russias-oligarchy