Oleg Shvartsman’s now infamous interview with Kommersant (full translation here), in which he pulled back the curtain on the functioning of the Russian government’s velvet reprivatization, is causing some major blowback. Today the Moscow Times reports that several investors, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Israeli bank Tamir Fishman, have suddenly pulled out of their plans to launch an investment venture after hearing this news of the siloviki campaign to carry out soft, partial (“velvet”) thefts of companies and assets by driving down their value via tax, regulatory, and other state authorities – a more skillful implementation of the Yukos methodology. Welcome to the world of business with today’s Kremlin – at least we finally know what “Putin’s Plan” consists of. However losing his partners on an $81 million venture is the least of Shvartsman’s problems.