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Post-Soviet business oligarchs tended to achieve vast wealth by acquiring state assets very cheaply during the privatisation process started by the Yeltsin government. Specific blame for their ascent to power is often levied on Anatoly Chubais and Yegor Gaidar, two of the ' Young Reformers ' chiefly responsible for ' shock therapy' privatization in the early 1990's. According to David Satter , author of Darkness at Dawn, "what drove the process was not the determination to create a system based on universal values but rather the will to introduce a system of private ownership, which, in the absence of law, opened the way for the criminal pursuit of money and power." The oligarchs have since come under fire for illegal activities at the time (including murders) and underpayment of taxes in the businesses they acquired.
Their defenders (who are often associated with Chubais's party, the Union of Right Forces) argue the companies they acquired were not highly valued at the time because they were still run on Soviet principles, with non-existent stock controls, huge payrolls, no financial reporting and scant regard for profit. They turned the businesses - often vast - around and made them deliver value for shareholders.
The most prominent oligarch is Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Others include Roman Abramovich, Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Potanin, Vladimir Bogdanov, Rem Viakhirev, Vagit AlekperovVagit Alekperov in Russian) (born September 1, 1950), current President of the leading Russian oil company LUKOIL. Alekperov, Vagit Alekperov, Vagit., Vladimir VinogradovVladimir Vinogradov in Russian), president of one of the largest banks in Russia called Inkombank. Russian oligarchs., Viktor ChernomyrdinViktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (born April 9, 1938) is a Russian politician. He became a member of the CPSU in 1961. From 1982 to 1985, he was deputy Minister of the Natural gas industries of the Soviet Union, and in 1985, he became Minister of gas indus, Viktor VekselbergViktor Feliksovich Vekselberg (born April 14, 1957) is a chairman of Tyumen Oil (TNK), Russia's third-largest oil and gas company. He took a controlling interest in the company in 1997 and has subsequently developed a joint venture with BP. He is also a c, Alexander SmolenskyAlexander Smolensky in Russian) (born in 1954), founder and president of one of the largest Russian banks called Stolichny Bank ( a. SBS/AGRO), which controls the newspapers Kommersant and Novaya Gazeta''. Smolensky, Alexander Smolensky, Alexander., Vladimir GusinskyVladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky in Russian) (born 1952), a Russian media baron, is known as the founder of Media-Most holding that included Most Bank, the NTV channel, the newspaper Segodnya and magazines. After moving abroad in the summer of 2001 he cre and Mikhail FridmanMikhail Fridman (born 26 June 1963) is a Russian businessman. He is one of the youngest of Russian oligarchs ( Roman Abramovich is younger). Along with Peter Aven, Fridman founded the Alfa Group Consortium, a holding company which today controls Alfa Bank.