Imagine That! Putin Might Not Be So Pure After All
In a comment for The Huffington Post, Matvey Ganapolskiy notes that after nine years as president and two as prime minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin has firmly ensconced in his ministership.
According to Ganapolskiy, Putin and his team have accumulated significant capital as a result of YUKOS' takeover. He asks: "If Putin is so indifferent to worldly possessions, why is practically every key economic post filled by one of his pals?"
Ganapolskiy comments: "Putin has put Enemy #1, the businessman [Mikhail] Khodorkovsky, behind bars, spread leadership positions at gas and oil companies among his nearest and dearest and nationalized a slew of major enterprises, setting himself up, it would seem, for some serious personal enrichment...[he] may already have accumulated a nest egg to the tune of $40 billion."
He adds that without any real proof of Putin's double life the opposition can do little to mitigate against the Russian people's trust in Putin. However, he notes that the situation may now be changing: the opposition is preparing to celebrate the reappearance of some incriminating documents that hint at a dark chapter in Putin's life.