6314
#12
gazeta.ru
June 17, 2002
Soviet-era businessmen come out of the shadows
By Yelena Shishkunova
The first Soviet entrepreneurs and former business partners German Sterligov and Artyom Tarasov have decided to remind Russia of their existence. Sterligov has recently engaged in the promotion of Russian-made coffins, while Tarasov plans to join the race for the governor’s post in one of Russia’s richest Siberian regions.
Shortly after Moscow’s billboards appeared with poetic slogans praising the high-quality coffins produced by Sterligov’s new firm, his former business partner Tarasov, too, decided to change the sphere of his business activity. Tarasov is set to run for the governor’s post in the region of Krasnoyarsk.
On Monday Tarasov, who has been living permanently in London for the past few years working as an investment consultant, arrived in Krasnoyarsk, where he convened a news conference and announced his intention to run for the post in the region where his mother’s side of the family comes from.
If he wins the race, he said, he will concentrate primarily on investment issues and provide the region with foreign investments. Tarasov told the news conference that he regards the work of a governor as the work of a manager. ''I have come to Krasnoyarsk seeking employment,'' he said.
Tarasov founded his first co-operative society in 1987. Some time later he opened two firms – Tekhnika and Istok – and thus earned his first millions. Law enforcers grew interested in the young millionaire, who had even made a generous 1 million rouble contribution to the Communist Party. Soon afterwards the Tekhnika firm was closed, and searches were conducted in the offices of Istok. Criminal proceedings were then instigated against Tarasov.
In 1990 Tarasov got acquainted with German Sterligov, after the latter returned to Moscow from a lengthy journey abroad. In his book ''The Godfather of the Kremlin: Boris Berezovsky'', the famous journalist Paul Khlebnikov wrote that Sterligov suggested that he and Tarasov set up a firm specializing in the sale of construction materials. Tarasov’s acquaintance, the head of Stolichnyi Bank Alexander Smolenskiy, extended the loan to the businessmen.
The private exchange Alisa, registered in the name of the brothers Sterligov, was fully controlled by Tarasov and Chechen national Malik Saidullayev, who later became a prominent businessmen and one of the most influential figures in the Chechen diaspora in Moscow, was in charge of security issues in Alisa in the early 90s.
Tarasov’s political career began in 1990 when he was first elected deputy to the Supreme Council of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. He opposed a proposal by Mikhail Gorbachev to transfer the Kuril Islands to Japan in exchange for investments, thus provoking the enmity of the first Soviet president. The criminal case hung over him like the sword of Damocles, forcing Tarasov to move to London.
In 1993 Tarasov won a seat in the State Duma elections, and in 1995 he took part in the parliamentary elections again, that time representing the environmentalist Cedar bloc. In 1996 he applied for registration as a candidate for the president’s post, but his application was rejected. Tarasov last attempted to enter politics at the governor’s election in St. Petersburg in the late 90s. He came forth in the race, and for several years since nothing has been heard of him.
As Tarasov told the press, ''I have arrived in the region to work.'' He intends to officially inform the regional electoral authorities of his intention on Tuesday.
The Krasnoyarsk elections are scheduled for September 8. The chairman of the regional Legislative Assembly Alexander Ouss, the governor of the Taimyr autonomous area Alexander Khloponin and the mayor of Krasnoyarsk Pyotr Pimashkov have already announced their decision to run for the post, vacated after the tragic death of General Alexander Lebed.
Back to the Top Next Article
- Back to the Top -