With the current Russian sanctions regime taking its toll on the country’s coffers, the Kremlin is increasingly finding new ways to draw money into state-controlled financial institutions. One of their newfangled methods is quite unconventional: for the past year, the Kremlin has been systematically destroying the largest private banks in the country. As a result, of the top 10 largest Russian banks today, the only privately owned one that has not been targeted by the authorities is Alfa Bank, owned by Putin’s long-time crony Mikhail Fridman.
OP-ED
Karina Orlova: Russia’s great bank takeover
A man walks out of the headquarters of B&N Bank in downtown Moscow on Sept. 21, 2017.
