Putin in one week destroyed “Russia’s business ties to the West [that] took 30 years to build”

Russian businessman puts $1 million bounty on Putin

… it may never recover

Trying to enter the demented mind of Vladimir Putin is a challenging task. The man who watched the Berlin Wall fall and blamed Soviet leaders for the fall wanted to restore the Soviet Empire. 

The Russian people want to eat, not destroy Ukraine, though, and now, just a week after he invaded the country, it is isolated and the people face a year of starvation and return to Soviet destitution. 

The strange part of this is that Putin worked to develop the economy so that it could trade with Europe and the West. 

And then his megalomania or paranoia entered into the picture and he became Stalin II. 

It could end in his death.

His trip to Britain 19 years ago

In the early years, Putin was careful to do what the Russian Oligarchs who controlled the economy wanted. Now, one of them has put a million dollar bounty on his head. 

They realize that their gig is up.

How did he let this happen? It all appeared to be going so well 19 years ago when he visited the Queen of England to cement a financial relationship,

In the summer of 2003, Vladimir Putin flew to London on a special mission: cementing Russia’s business ties with the West.

He donned a white tie and tails to dine with Queen Elizabeth II. He sipped iced vodka with 700 bankers and business executives. And during an energy conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair, he watched the British company BP sign a commitment to invest $6 billion in a Russian oil and gas venture.

“Our priority is the step-by-step integration of Russia into the European and world economy,” Putin told the conference, stressing Russia’s desire to double its economy and attract investment in high-tech and aerospace sectors, too. Such cooperation, he said, three years into his presidency, would be “a great investment in strengthening Europe’s stability.”

Nearly 20 years on, those deals and plans lie in ruins as Western governments and companies isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. BP, Shell and ExxonMobil have said they will abandon multibillion-dollar investments in energy. Banks and insurance companies worldwide are cutting transactions with Russian counterparts.

Jeanne Whalen, “Russia’s business ties to the West took 30 years to build and one week to shatter,” Washington Post, March 4, 2022

The damage cannot be undone. Pulling back from Ukraine is apparently not an option for Putin. Without it, nothing will be restored — if the ties are ever restored.

Corruption of the Oligarchs

After the USSR was dissolved and Russia returned to a pre-Soviet era, democracy was on the minds of the people. They could never live with it. 

Instead, powerful oligarchs took over, and they allowed Putin to continue as he took over the reins of power — as along as he did their will. 

Now, the wealth of the oligarchs is being threatened, and Putin’s head is on the block, 

A $1,000,000 bounty for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin was offered to military officers by Russian entrepreneur Alex Konanykhin in a post he published on social media this week, as Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine.

"I promise to pay $1,000,000 to the officer(s) who, complying with their constitutional duty, arrest(s) Putin as a war criminal under Russian and international laws," wrote Konanykhin on LinkedIn. "Putin is not the Russian president as he came to power as the result of a special operation of blowing up apartment buildings in Russia, then violated the Constitution by eliminating free elections and murdering his opponents."

"As an ethnic Russian and a Russian citizen, I see it as my moral duty to facilitate the denazification of Russia. I will continue my assistance to Ukraine in its heroic efforts to withstand the onslaught of Putin's Orda," added the businessman. Orda is the Russian word for "horde," a predatory, plundering gang.

Tzvi Joffre, “$1 million bounty on Putin offered by Russian businessman,” The Jerusalem Post, March 2, 2022

However, these oligarchs are corrupt and have caused problems with the Russian economy in the past. 

Destroyed in a matter of days

The corruption in Russia has been a problem all along,

Russia’s economic integration with the outside world was never smooth and easy. Corruption and lawlessness often throttled industrial development, leaving the country too dependent on exporting its natural resources. The rigged privatization of oil and metals companies in the 1990s left an oligarchic class in charge of the economy.

Still, in the decades since the Soviet collapse, Russia’s economy struggled forward, slowly and imperfectly, forging important trade and investment ties with the outside world.

Jeanne Whalen, Washington Post, March 4, 2022

While things looked to be positive, the damage caused by the banking corruption in the United States was immense. In 2008, the economy went through difficult times, as it did after Putin annexed Crimea in 2014.

Still, the economy continued to grow until this week,

The unraveling of remaining ties in recent days has occurred with breathtaking speed. As the United States and European nations unleashed crippling sanctions, many banks and companies stopped doing business with Russian counterparts, concerned about violating sanctions or not getting paid. Many also expressed outrage over the suffering Russia was inflicting on the Ukrainian people.

Jeanne Whalen, Washington Post, March 4, 2022

Now, the damage is done, and it will be decades before the country recovers, and Putin himself may not survive if his private police and army decide that he is expendable. 

He is playing a game called brinksmanship. President John F. Kennedy destroyed the last dictator who did that, but Putin apparently did not learn that lesson.