Briefing Book: Russia

BRIEFING BOOK: RUSSIA

William Browder

William Browder is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management.

He grew up in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Felix Browder, a professor of mathematics at Rutgers University. William’s grandfather was Earl Browder, the founding leader of the U.S. Communist party.

William Browder attended the University of Chicago, where he earned an economics degree. He then went on to get his M.B.A. from Stanford University. Later, he worked for Boston Consulting and Salomon Brothers. In 1996 Browder started Hermitage Capital Management. He was the largest portfolio investor in Russia from 1996 to 2005, until the Russian government suddenly took away his visa and declared him a threat to national security. He was banned from Russia in 2005 after allegations that his firms had evaded tax, but Browder says his company was targeted by criminals trying to seize millions of dollars worth of his assets. Browder continues to speak out against corruption in Russia.

MORE ON BROWDER:

Bill Browder : at home after mean streets of Moscow - Times Online Times Online

Yukos lawyers acquire 'huge weapon', says Bill Browder Telegraph

William Browder , Founder And CEO, Hermitage Capital Analyst Wire

William Browder : The Threat of Minority "Squeeze Outs" in Russia Hermitagefund.com

Russia 'is now a criminal state', says Bill Browder BBC

MENTIONED ON THE SHOW:

Last year the government imprisoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky for tax fraud and dismantled his oil company, Yukos. This led many Western observers to question Putin's commitment to free markets and democracy. Browder took a different view: Since then, he says, businesses have increased their tax payments. Oligarchs have fallen in line. Putin, well aware of the economic fallout, has met with Western business leaders and moved to assure investors he won't go after more companies. In 2005 the Kremlin enacted tax reforms, proposed amnesty for repatriated funds held offshore and enacted a law restricting the reversing of privatizations.

The Show Trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky Wall Street Journal

Russian Oligarch Back On Trial; What's The Crime? NPR

A number of Browder’s associates in Russia - as well as lawyers acting for his company - have been detained, beaten or robbed, including Sergei Magnitsky. Sergei Magnitsky, Browder's tax attorney, testified that police, members of the judiciary, tax officials, bankers and the Russian mafia had been involved in a $230m tax fraud against the Russian treasury. He was arrested, imprisoned, and denied medical attention, despite his having written numerous complaints to the court, prosecutors and the prison authorities requesting medical treatment. Held for 11 months without trial, he died eight days before he would have had to have been released if he were not brought to trial. HERE are some of his prison conditions complaints.

U.S. Investor's Lawyer Dies in Moscow Jail Wall Street Journal

Still No Justice for Family of Sergei Magnitsky Khodorkovsky Center

Prosecutors Start Check Over Magnitsky's Death The Moscow Times

Kremlin sacking linked to Sergei Magnitsky case - Times Online Times Online

Sergei Magnitsky , lawyer for Hermitage Capital in Kremlin case dies in Prison Times Online

Sergei Magnitsky : Russia launches official probe into lawyer's death Telegraph (UK)

Sergei Magnitsky's Letter From Prison Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty

The death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky : What Russia's 'legal nihilism’ means in practice Washington Post

RUSSIA

Russia is a world power which will determine in part what the world is going to look like in the future. No one is sure what place Russia wants to occupy in the world. Some people look at Russia and conclude that the picture is all bad. And certainly in the last few years, Russia has moved backward on a number of measures of democracy and human rights. But overall, it still remains a much more open and free society than it was during the communist era. And even today, there do appear to be two Russias -- one characterized by a thuggish police state, using its oil wealth to wield power, stifling civil society, democracy, and a free press. And the other is the Russia of younger people, more modern, connected to the world, aware of global trends and hoping that Russia will participate in them more fully.

Click HERE for The Economist Country Briefings: Russia Last year, Russia dropped 12 places on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness index.

For the full report click HERE

Here is Transparency International’s corruption index.

Download HERE

Russia now ties with Bangladesh and Syria on that index.

Read more about Russia from Transparency International HERE

The Economist Magazine says the government has utterly failed to create a legal and political structure to support business and enterprise

“The long arm of the stat e” The Economist

More from The Economist country briefing: Russia HERE PRESIDENT SAAKASHVILI

Mikheil Saakashvili

Mikheil Saakashvili is the third and current President of Georgia.

Saakashvili was born in Tbilisi to a historian mother and a physician ather. The oldest of three boys, Saakashvili left Georgia for the Ukraine where he graduated from the School of International Law of the Kiev State University in 1992.

After college, Saakashvili worked as a human rights officer for the interim State Council of Georgia until he received a fellowship from the United States State Department.

Saakashvili earned his LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 1994. In 1995, Saakashvili was admitted to the New York Bar. Also in 1995, Saakashvili became the first former Soviet citizen to obtain a prestigious diploma in Comparative Law of Human Rights from Strasbourg Human Rights International Institute. From 1995 to 1996, Saakashvili studied law at the doctoral level at The George Washington University National Center of Law in Washington, D.C. He also interned in the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler for nearly one year before being offered a job. Saakashvili declined the firm’s job offer and returned to Georgia instead. He returned to Georgian politics in 1995 when he won a seat in parliament. After becoming the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee responsible for creating a new electoral system, an independent judiciary and a non-political police force, he became very popular.

In January 2000, Saakashvili was appointed Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and on October 12, 2000, Saakashvili became Minister of Justice. One year later, Saakashvili founded the United National Movement (UNM), a right-of-center political party.

In 2003, Saakashvili and hundreds of thousands of supporters, stormed parliament calling for the President’s resignation in a successful movement called the “Rose Revolution.” The President stepped down from office a day later, ending a 12-year term and soon after, Saakashvili became the youngest president in Europe.

Georgian Opposition Accuses Government Of Bribery RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Georgian Daily Wants To See State Deal With Russian Energy Company RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Putin: 'No Intention to Meddle in Georgia's Internal Affairs' Civil Georgia PANEL ON RUSSIA

Stephen Cohen

Stephen Cohen is an American scholar of Russian and Slavic studies.

Born in 1938 in Owensboro, Kentucky, Cohen earned a B.S. degree and an M.A. degree in Russian Studies from Indiana University. In 1969, Stephen Cohen received his Ph.D. in Government and Russian Studies from Columbia University. From 1968-1998, Cohen taught politics and Russian studies at Princeton University. Since 1998, Cohen has been professor of Russian Studies and History at New York University.

Stephen Cohen’s work focuses on Russian politics and history since 1917. Cohen has received many fellowships and awards including two Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowships, three ACLS Grants, the Rockefeller Foundation Humanitarian Fellowship, the Newspaper Guild Page One Award for Column Writing, and the Olive Branch Award for Magazine Writing.

Stephen Cohen has written several books on Russia and US-Russian relations. His books include:

Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War

Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution

Rethinking the Soviet Experien ce

Failed Crusade: America and th e Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia

Bret Stephens

Bret Stephens is the deputy editor of the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. He also writes the Journal's "Global View" column on foreign affairs, which runs every Tuesday in the U.S. and is also published in the European and Asian editions of the paper. He previously worked for the paper as an op-ed editor in New York and as an editorial writer in Brussels for The Wall Street Journal Europe.

From March 2002 to October 2004 Mr. Stephens was editor-in- chief of The Jerusalem Post, a position he assumed at age 28. At the Post, he was responsible for the paper's news and editorial divisions. He also wrote a weekly column. In 2004, Mr. Stephens was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, where he is also a media fellow. Raised in Mexico City and educated at The University of Chicago and the London School of Economics.

The End of Nuclear Diplomacy Wall Street Journal

Read more of Stephens’s Wall Street Journal articles HERE