|
The truth is, the campaign is over, and Putin won it on television. A major reason for that victory has been the support of Boris Berezovsky, one of Moscow's new "oligarchs," a small circle of industrialists and bankers who grew fantastically rich during the Yeltsin era by snatching up state properties at preposterously low prices. Berezovsky is the most notorious of the oligarchs, a former mathematician who has made billions in interests ranging from oil to aviation. To make sure he holds on to those interests, he has been very helpful to Putin. Berezovsky owns a string of newspapers and radio stations, and chief among his media holdings is a large interest in state television's Channel 1, or ORT, the most powerful channel on the dial. Last summer, Berezovsky unleashed a propaganda blitz that obliterated the opposition as surely as Russia's tanks obliterated Grozny. His motives were simple. Without access to the Kremlin, a tycoon is lost. Berezovsky needed a friend in power who would not only tolerate him but indulge him, as Yeltsin did.
David Remnick, The Black Box: Vladimir Putin may be Russia's next President, but who's really in charge?, The New Yorker, 27Mar00, pp. 40-50, p. 40. |