Oligarch: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

An oligarch is one of the rulers in an oligarchy, i.e. a small group that rules.

Modern Russian oligarchs

In recent times, the oligarchs has been used to describe a small number of Russian businessmen who came to prominence under President Boris Yeltsin. They tended to achieve vast wealth by acquiring Government assets very cheaply during the privatisation process started by the Yeltsin government. Specific blame for their ascent to power is often levied on Anatoly Chubais and Yegor Gaidar, two of the 'Young Reformers' chiefly responsible for 'shock therapy' privatization in the early 1990's. According to David Satter, author of Darkness at Dawn, "what drove the process was not the determination to create a system based on universal values but rather the will to introduce a system of private ownership, which, in the absence of law, opened the way for the criminal pursuit of money and power." The oligarchs have since come under fire for illegal activities at the time (including murders) and underpayment of taxes in the businesses they acquired.

Their defenders (who are often associated with Chubais's party, the Union of Right Forces) argue the companies they acquired were not highly valued at the time because they were still run on Soviet principles, with non-existent stock controls, huge payrolls, no financial reporting and scant regard for profit. They turned the businesses - often vast - around and made them deliver value for shareholders.

The most prominent oligarch is Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Others include Roman Abramovich (the youngest of the oligarchs), Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Potanin, Vladimir Bogdanov, Rem Viakhirev, Vagit Alekperov, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Viktor Vekselberg and Mikhail Fridman.