Part 1: Two associates of President Vladimir Putin profited from a state scheme to buy expensive medical equipment - and sent money to Swiss bank accounts linked to a property known as “Putin’s palace.” FULL STORY
When Putin ordered up new hospitals, his associates botched the operation
Part 2: The president’s allies won contracts to build new medical centres across Russia. They failed, and the project hit $700 million in cost overruns. FULL STORY
Russian Railways paid billions of dollars to secretive private companies
Part 3: The state-owned rail giant, run by an old friend of President Vladimir Putin, has awarded vast sums to contractors who disguise their ownership, a Reuters investigation finds. FULL STORY
In murky Pentagon deal with Russia, big profit for a tiny Florida firm
Part 4: The Air Force relies on rocket engines made by a company overseen by associates of Vladimir Putin. Documents show a U.S.-Russian middleman stands to make $93 million on the contract. FULL STORY
Putin’s allies channelled billions to oligarch who backed pro-Russian president of Ukraine
Part 5: Russian bank granted huge loans to Dmitry Firtash, whose business empire boomed under Viktor Yanukovich. FULL STORY
How a 29-year-old Ukrainian tycoon made a killing on Russian gas
Part 6: Serhiy Kurchenko, who is suspected of acting on behalf of the former Moscow-backed president of Ukraine, gained $100 million on gas supplied at a preferential rate. FULL STORY
Opaque middlemen exact high price in Russia’s deals with the West
Part 7: Some major Western firms sell life-saving medical equipment to Russia via obscure intermediaries who bump up prices. It means Russian citizens pay over the odds and big profits disappear offshore. FULL STORY
Crunch time: As sanctions bite, Putin ally gets into apples
Part 8: When Russia recently banned imports of some foreign fruit and other foods, it was seen as retaliation against Western sanctions. The move will also benefit a venture by one of the president’s long-standing supporters. FULL STORY
For many Russians, a growing list of problems – but not with Putin
Part 9: Russia has boomed under President Vladimir Putin, but many Russians have missed out on the improvements and complain that basic amenities are poorly built or non-existent. Will a looming recession hurt his support? FULL STORY
Putin’s daughter, a young billionaire and the president’s friends
Part 10: The Russian leader’s younger daughter Katerina is emerging as a woman of influence in the next generation of Moscow's elite FULL STORY
About the series
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia became a wild east in which communist central planning was supplanted by crude, free-wheeling capitalism. FULL STORY
Капитализм «товарищей». Краткое содержание серии публикаций.
После развала СССР в 1991 г., Россия превратилась в своего рода «дикий Запад», где на смену центральному планированию советских времен пришел примитивный капитализм с господством права сильного. Небольшой группе людей, названных в прессе «олигархами», удалось баснословно разбогатеть, захватив контроль над государственными ресурсами, которые покупались по смехотворно низким ценам. Президент Путин, неожиданно пришедший к власти в 1999 году, восстановил стабильность в то время, когда высокие цены на нефть способствовали экономическому росту.
Однако критики путинского режима – как в самой России, так и за ее пределами – утверждают, что обладающая могущественными связями элита продолжает незаконно наживаться за счет государства.
В этом году журналисты агентства Рейтерс начали расследование того, как это происходит. Команда журналистов под руководством специального корреспондента Стивена Грея обнаружила свидетельства того, что главным способом обогащения на данный момент является не захват компаний, а распил государственных средств.
Репортеры внимательно рассмотрели то, как функционируют некоторые из главных бюджетных программ России, включая систему здравоохранения и РАО «Российские железные дороги». Они обнаружили, что крупные суммы государственных и общественных денег регулярно выплачивались никому не известным частным компаниям, а также то, что не менее крупные суммы получали отдельные лица «со связями». Часть этой информации – например, о многомиллиардных тендерах на аутсорсинг, проводившихся РАО РЖД, – находилась в публичном доступе. Репортеры проанализировали как эту информацию, так и другие данные, предоставленные источниками, включая отчеты о деятельности московских банков за два года. Дальнейшие детали были получены из многих десятков интервью, а также из результатов полевой работы в России и за ее пределами.
Несмотря на то, что данное исследование состоит из разнородных элементов, конечный результат укладывается в схему. Значительные суммы из государственного бюджета передавались через посредников отдельным лицам, имеющим связи с Путиным, либо компаниям, имена владельцев которых по-прежнему скрываются.
Comrade Capitalism: About the Series
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia became a wild east in which communist central planning was supplanted by crude, free-wheeling capitalism. A small number of people - dubbed “oligarchs” by the press - became enormously wealthy by seizing control of state assets or buying them at knock-down prices. President Vladimir Putin, who came to power unexpectedly on the last day of 1999, re-imposed stability, while stronger oil prices fueled growth.
But critics of Putin’s Russia, both inside the country and out, contend that a well-connected elite continues to enrich itself unfairly from the state.
Early last year Reuters journalists set out to investigate how that happens. The team, led by special correspondent Stephen Grey, found evidence that the key to making money now is not seizing control of firms but tapping into state spending.
The reporters examined some of the Russian state’s biggest spenders - including the health system and publicly-owned Russian Railways. They found that large sums of public money were regularly paid to obscure private companies, and that substantial expenditure was captured by well-connected individuals.
Some information - billions of dollars of Russian Railways’ tenders for outsourcing work, for instance - was publicly available. Reporters analysed that data and other information provided by sources, including two years’ records of transactions through two Moscow banks. Further details were gathered from dozens of interviews and on the ground reporting in Russia and other countries.
Though each element of the inquiries was different, the end results showed a pattern: Significant sums of state money were passing either through intermediaries with links to Putin or into companies with secretive owners.
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Comrade Capitalism: a Reuters investigation
Reporting team: Stephen Grey, Douglas Busvine, Jason Bush, Roman Anin, Elizabeth Piper, Brian Grow, Himanshu Ojha, Maria Tsvetkova, Tom Bergin, and Sevgil Musaieva.
Additional reporting: Timothy Heritage, Gleb Stolyarov, Jack Stubbs, Alexander Winning, Maria Golovnina, Jens Hack, Polina Devitt, Clare Kane, Christian Hetzner, Michele Kambas, Oleksandr Akymenko, Pavel Polityuk, Warren Strobel, Michele Martin, Maria Kiselyova and Wiktor Szary
Data: Himanshu Ojha
Web programming: Charlie Szymanski
Graphics: Matthew Weber, Maryanne Murray and Monica Ulmanu
Design: Troy Dunkley
Picture editor: Simon Newman
Video: Julian Satterthwaite, Juris Abramenko and David Dormer
Series editors: Richard Woods and Simon Robinson
Contact: stephen.grey@thomsonreuters.com
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/comrade-capitalism/
Вся подборка:
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/c