Global crisis triggers reshuffle of Russia's rich

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Russia's business elite is ripe for a dramatic reshuffle as the country's worst stock market crash in a decade wiped tens of billions off their fortunes in a matter of weeks. Many of the oligarchs - the term for the businessmen who amassed vast fortunes through the flawed privatizations of the 1990s and a natural resources boom under Vladimir Putin's eight-year presidency - have lost paper fortunes through plunging stock prices. But some of them are in a much more precarious position: the ones who borrowed heavily against their shares and who in some cases are being squeezed to sell assets or cancel business deals. "The funding squeeze globally has hit Russia more than most other places and you are seeing enormous stress on the oligarchs who borrowed to finance growth," said David Aserkoff, an analyst at Renaissance Capital.