Grigory Pasko: The Chichvarkin Chronicles
Everybody here seems to be talking about the video appeal of the not-yet-fully-imprisoned businessman to the man sitting in the president’s chair. Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a multi-millionaire businessman and founder of a mobile phone company Yevroset, was chased into hiding in London following an incident of apparent corporate raiding and political charges. He has most recently initiated a public outreach and dialogue on YouTube (as we Russians are prone to do), naming the names of his enemies, and pleading for the release and humane treatment of his colleague Boris Levin who is being held in pre-trial detention. I’m not sure that the case has attracted very much attention outside of the capital. Having driven 126 km from Moscow, I asked a person, the first one who happened to come my way, whether he knew who Chichvarkin was. He did not. Nor did another dozen people I asked.