It may sound strange, but I feel sorry for Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, the billionaires behind the Russian financial conglomerate Alfa Group, who were sanctioned by the British government last year and by the United States government just recently.
Of course, this is nothing compared to the deep sorrow I feel for the innocent Ukrainians who have become victims of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion. Nonetheless, there is something pitiable about pioneers of Russia’s post-Soviet market economy being punished over Soviet-style geopolitics.
Aven and Fridman — possibly more than any other high-profile Russian businessmen — embraced the new economic model introduced in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet planned economy. Exploiting any opportunity they could find, they made large investments — and earned big profits — in oil, telecoms and finance. If they needed to strongarm others to maximize their returns, so be it. They were textbook capitalists, destroying the old and creating the new.