Sunday, October 22, 2006

The Killings Continue in Russia

Russia continues to deteriorate. Here is a list of recent high-profile killings:

  • The business chief of Russian news agency Itar-Tass, Anatoly Voronin (stabbed to death)
  • Deputy Central Bank governor Andrei Kozlov (gunshot wounds)
  • Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of President Vladimir Putin (gunshot wounds)
  • Alexander Plokhin, branch head at VTB-24, the retail unit of Russia's second largest bank, Vneshtorgbank (gunshot wounds)
  • Enver Ziganshin, chief engineer of BP Plc's Russian gas unit, OAO Rusia Petroleum (gunshot wounds)

By recent I mean that the earliest murder on this list is from September 30 of this year.

I would add to the list Paul Klebnikov of Forbes magazine, author of Godfather of the Kremlin (an excellent book), who was killed in July 2004. He was a fearless critic of the crony capitalism which plagued Russia's transition to a market economy during the 1990's, and he wasn't much easier on President Putin. See here for further information.

Andrei Kozlov, the Deputy Central Bank governor, was the subject of an extensive article in the Wall Street Journal recently highlighting his achievements and his aims before his death. The following is a good summary (from another site):

Kozlov had taken it as his mission to stabilize and reform Russia's still-volatile banking industry -- to make it less of a resource for a few wealthy and powerful "oligarchs" and more an industry that could serve retail customers. Among his efforts had been a battle against money laundering, actions to close disreputable banks and steps to improve the credit of Russian banks -- including adoption of international accounting standards and tighter capital requirements.

Summarizing Kozlov's accomplishments, The Wall Street Journal quoted John Litwack, the World Bank's lead economist for Russia, who said, "No one contributed more than Andrei Kozlov to the creation of a modern banking system in Russia. We're hoping that Andrei's death will only strengthen the central bank's resolve to carry out the reform to its logical conclusion."

posted by JM @ 5:06 PM