Why are some people living in Moscow, Russia are rich people? I thought Russia is a poor country in general?

Question

Of course, not eveyone in Moscow is rich, but there are some extremely rich people that often being mentioned in the new media.

Their richness is in fact, close to or surpass that of the other Western nations'.

What are their businesses that make them rich, and how did they become rich?

I wish to know as much information as possible.

thank you.

Answer 1

Russia is rich in natural resources like gold, oil, diamonds and many others rare minerals. Despite the murderous Soviet legacy (which killed many more of their peoples than the Nazis did 1933-45) the Soviets invested heavily in education and technology so most Russians are literate and the country has lots of research institutes focussed on putting science to work.
The country is not very democratic so the powerful people there are capable of capturing a lot of the wealth for themselves.
Often the poorer the country the richer the people in charge seem to be. Some African dictators buy the most expensive real estate in Switzerland, USA or London UK.
The best way to measure wealth is how much an average person has to work to buy things. Bangladesh salaries are low and you have to work for several hours to buy a Coke Cola. Swiss salaries are very high and you work for a few minutes to buy a Coca Cola. But in US$ term the Coke is much more expensive in Switzerland than Dakar.
THe higher the level of productivity and income the better off people are but average people from richer countries feel rich when they go on holiday to poorer countries. That's way a lot of working class Germans and French and Brits go on holiday to Thailand, Eastern Europe etc so that they can afford to live like the rich people back home.
The super rich in Moscow got rich also by dodgy privatisations of formerly state owned assets. They didn't pay the true value but probably bribed or killed those who stood in the way.

Finally Russia is now a kind of market economy, market economies tend to get richer year by year as the average person tries to make their life better by producing more value than they are paid. Its called exploitation in left wing language and value added by others. and is the basis on which the world moves forward

Answer 2

First of all there in Russia is very big difference betwen Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and the rest Russia and between rich people and poor ones.

Secondly there is very big market (about 170 million citizens) and almost everything arrives to whole Russia through those 2 cities as well as export of raw materials.

Thirdly the most of business was captured by mobsters or by ex government relaited people almost for free.

The fifth place is that this country is developing very quickly and it's easy to become rich if you on the right wave.

Also there in Russia are very many swindlers, scammers and etc. So everyone should be very carefull when doing business with Russians

Answer 3

It is because of free enterprise. But also it is because after free enterprise was made legal, the people with power granted the "free enterprise" contracts to a few people with the right contacts. Free enterprise in Russia is like America in the 1920's with the gangsters and all that. There is an opening up of markets, and also endemic graft and corruption. Putin clamping down on free speech and his political manouvering means that the shaking down of the corruption may take a very long time. Russia is a very complex situation to understand, and you could spend several lifetimes just understanding the complicated history and the way their markets work, right down to how the average consumer thinks. It is not like America. It will not be like America, as it has its own history and its own economic realities. I hope this helps!

Answer 4

You see the Gini coefficient in Russia is very high. The Gini coefficient measure social inequality in a country by comparing differences in income between the poorest and the richest. The population of a country is divided into 10 groups by income. The average income of the richest group is compared with the average income of the poorest group.
The problem in Russia is that many entrepreneurs acquired assets at very cheap prices in the 90-s. They have been able to make the acquired businesses very profitable. So you see the inequality in incomes in Russia were caused by poorly planned privatizations of state factories and other assets.

Answer 5

You can find info on most of the super-rich in Russia on sites like Wikipedia and Answers.com. Just type in the name...