Russian Spy Priests and Venture Capitalists

I'm reading two excellent stories that use different prisms to examine the growing tentacles of the intelligence services in Russian society.

In the first, Andy Higgins, my former colleague at The Wall Street Journal, produces one of his best pieces in a couple of years. It's a look at how Vladimir Putin has re-corrupted -- or perhaps just increased the corruption -- of the Russian Orthodox Church. The church, which was a conspiring arm of Stalinism, has granted Putin deific cover, silencing any priest who strays from Putin's pronouncements. Higgins' main character, Sergei Taratukhin, transforms in the telling from a stiff-backed human rights proponent and defender of imprisoned oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky into a sniveling sycophant of the Putin regime. As the Journal is not yet free on line, you might have to borrow or buy a copy to read this one. But it's worth it.

The second piece, by New York Times writer Andrew Kramer, offers a new take on the often-told story of the FSB's intrusion into high Russian business. Now senior intelligence officials are the ranking investors in multi-billion-dollar venture capital equity funds. The story's lead character is Oleg Shvartsman, a smooth, English-speaking VC who wanders into Silicon Valley and smoothly informs his interlocutors that he represents these spies. He was outed by a Kommersant reporter. Shvartsman does not deny his words but says that, for his indiscretion, the reporter should "drink poison." How apt.

Photo: DionGillard
Rights: Creative Commons