Moscow's suburb for billionaires

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...nt/6577129.stm

Moscow's suburb for billionaires

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Moscow

Most people in Britain are now familiar with the scruffy, boyish and
invariably unshaven features of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea
football club, and Russia's most famous billionaire.

Roman Abramovich (right) with fellow tycoon Arkady Gaidamak
Roman Abramovich is Russia's most famous billionaire
This week we learned that Mr Abramovich is one of a growing list of
hyper-rich Russians.

According to Forbes magazine Russia now has 60 billionaires.

Unlike Mr Abramovich, most of them live in Moscow, which, if I'm not
much mistaken, makes the Russian capital home to more billionaires
than any other city in the world.

It is quite a change for a place that 15 years ago had no
millionaires, let alone billionaires.

How exactly these people have got hold of such vast wealth in such a
short time is a very good question, and one many ordinary Russians
would like answered.

It is one reason why Russia's richest people like to keep their
identities and their lifestyles secret.

Secret city

Ever since I arrived in Russia I've heard tall stories of a secret
city deep in the forests outside Moscow where the rich indulge their
fantasies in sprawling palaces of marble and gold. It sounded like a
good story. I didn't expect it to be true, let alone that I'd get an
invite.

Huge mansion in a suburb outside Moscow in Russia
Russia's 'secret city' is lined with huge mansions
It came via a rather circuitous route. The sister of one of my
colleagues in the BBC Moscow bureau is in the same class as the 18-
year-old daughter of one of Russia's richest men.

For some peculiar reason Svetlana, not her real name, thought it would
be fun to invite a BBC television crew to film her parent's country
cottage.

That's what they call them in Russia: cottage. If that brings to mind
white washed walls, a thatched roof and climbing roses, then forget
it.

We had agreed to meet Svetlana at a shopping mall on the edge of
Moscow. Up she swept in a purple Maserati sports car. Out jumped her
hulking bodyguard, dashing round to open the door for her. I don't
know what I was expecting to emerge, a leggy blonde dripping with
diamonds and brimming with self confidence I suppose.

Instead, out stepped a diminutive, dark-haired woman, painfully shy,
and dressed like a secretary, albeit one who shops at Prada.

Her crew-cut bodyguard looked me up and down, clearly horrified at the
prospect of this grubby journalist scuffing the beautiful cream
leather interior of Svetlana's Maserati. There was immediate relief
when I suggested I follow in the BBC's beaten up old Peugeot.

Different world

The first signs of the secret city were enormous green fences, at
least 20 feet (6 metres) high, and topped off with closed circuit
cameras.

Japanese style building
The billionaire's daughter describes this Japanese-style house as her
'shed'
Then ahead of us at the end of a long forest flanked road a gap
appeared in the fence. As the Maserati approached the gate swung opens
and we swept through.

Suddenly we plunged out of the forest, and in to a different world. It
was a little like a scene from Doctor Who. One minute we were in
Russia, the next in Beverly Hills.

On either side of us huge mansions stood in spacious grounds. Some
looked vaguely Georgian, others Victorian, one like a Bavarian castle.
Vitaly, the BBC driver, turned to me, his face deadpan. "When did we
cross the border?" he asked.

Svetlana's "cottage" was a spectacular 3,000 sq m Art Deco pile. How
big is that? Big enough for an indoor swimming pool, a cinema, a
bowling alley, a ballroom, and the piece de resistance, its own indoor
ice rink!

"This is our newest house," Svetlana told me as we walked past a large
bronze sphinx in the gardens. "My father's been building it for five
years."

She wasn't sure how much it had cost, "probably 20 million," she
guessed.

"So how many other houses do you have?" I asked.

"A couple in Moscow, two in the south of France, and one in Corsica,"
she said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

She shops in Paris and Milan, where she flies on one of her fathers
private jets.

Gilded cage

All these toys have not made Svetlana a happy girl.

"I live in a gilded cage," she told me. "I have no friends and no
freedom."

I did feel sorry for her, but only a little.

A mile down the road, firmly back in Russia, I went to see Mrs Rima.
The 75-year-old showed me around the one-room shack she built with her
own hands.

She survives on a pension of £60 a month.

I asked her what she thinks of the rich people who live behind the
high green walls.

"They're all thieves," she said. "All that money is stolen from the
people."

It's a view millions of Russians would agree with. Fifteen years ago
everything in Russia was owned by the state. Today a quarter of
Russia's economy is owned by 36 men.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 21 April, 2007
at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for
World Service transmission times.

"Vic's sun" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...nt/6577129.stm

Moscow's suburb for billionaires

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Moscow

Most people in Britain are now familiar with the scruffy, boyish and
invariably unshaven features of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea
football club, and Russia's most famous billionaire.

Roman Abramovich (right) with fellow tycoon Arkady Gaidamak
Roman Abramovich is Russia's most famous billionaire
This week we learned that Mr Abramovich is one of a growing list of
hyper-rich Russians.

According to Forbes magazine Russia now has 60 billionaires.

Unlike Mr Abramovich, most of them live in Moscow, which, if I'm not
much mistaken, makes the Russian capital home to more billionaires
than any other city in the world.

It is quite a change for a place that 15 years ago had no
millionaires, let alone billionaires.

How exactly these people have got hold of such vast wealth in such a
short time is a very good question, and one many ordinary Russians
would like answered.

It is one reason why Russia's richest people like to keep their
identities and their lifestyles secret.

Secret city

Ever since I arrived in Russia I've heard tall stories of a secret
city deep in the forests outside Moscow where the rich indulge their
fantasies in sprawling palaces of marble and gold. It sounded like a
good story. I didn't expect it to be true, let alone that I'd get an
invite.

Huge mansion in a suburb outside Moscow in Russia
Russia's 'secret city' is lined with huge mansions
It came via a rather circuitous route. The sister of one of my
colleagues in the BBC Moscow bureau is in the same class as the 18-
year-old daughter of one of Russia's richest men.

For some peculiar reason Svetlana, not her real name, thought it would
be fun to invite a BBC television crew to film her parent's country
cottage.

That's what they call them in Russia: cottage. If that brings to mind
white washed walls, a thatched roof and climbing roses, then forget
it.

We had agreed to meet Svetlana at a shopping mall on the edge of
Moscow. Up she swept in a purple Maserati sports car. Out jumped her
hulking bodyguard, dashing round to open the door for her. I don't
know what I was expecting to emerge, a leggy blonde dripping with
diamonds and brimming with self confidence I suppose.

Instead, out stepped a diminutive, dark-haired woman, painfully shy,
and dressed like a secretary, albeit one who shops at Prada.

Her crew-cut bodyguard looked me up and down, clearly horrified at the
prospect of this grubby journalist scuffing the beautiful cream
leather interior of Svetlana's Maserati. There was immediate relief
when I suggested I follow in the BBC's beaten up old Peugeot.

Different world

The first signs of the secret city were enormous green fences, at
least 20 feet (6 metres) high, and topped off with closed circuit
cameras.

Japanese style building
The billionaire's daughter describes this Japanese-style house as her
'shed'
Then ahead of us at the end of a long forest flanked road a gap
appeared in the fence. As the Maserati approached the gate swung opens
and we swept through.

Suddenly we plunged out of the forest, and in to a different world. It
was a little like a scene from Doctor Who. One minute we were in
Russia, the next in Beverly Hills.

On either side of us huge mansions stood in spacious grounds. Some
looked vaguely Georgian, others Victorian, one like a Bavarian castle.
Vitaly, the BBC driver, turned to me, his face deadpan. "When did we
cross the border?" he asked.

Svetlana's "cottage" was a spectacular 3,000 sq m Art Deco pile. How
big is that? Big enough for an indoor swimming pool, a cinema, a
bowling alley, a ballroom, and the piece de resistance, its own indoor
ice rink!

"This is our newest house," Svetlana told me as we walked past a large
bronze sphinx in the gardens. "My father's been building it for five
years."

She wasn't sure how much it had cost, "probably 20 million," she
guessed.

"So how many other houses do you have?" I asked.

"A couple in Moscow, two in the south of France, and one in Corsica,"
she said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

She shops in Paris and Milan, where she flies on one of her fathers
private jets.

Gilded cage

All these toys have not made Svetlana a happy girl.

"I live in a gilded cage," she told me. "I have no friends and no
freedom."

I did feel sorry for her, but only a little.

A mile down the road, firmly back in Russia, I went to see Mrs Rima.
The 75-year-old showed me around the one-room shack she built with her
own hands.

She survives on a pension of £60 a month.

I asked her what she thinks of the rich people who live behind the
high green walls.

"They're all thieves," she said. "All that money is stolen from the
people."

It's a view millions of Russians would agree with. Fifteen years ago
everything in Russia was owned by the state. Today a quarter of
Russia's economy is owned by 36 men.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 21 April, 2007
at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for
World Service transmission times.

On Apr 22, 10:26 am, Vic's sun wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...espondent/6577...

Moscow's suburb for billionaires

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Moscow

Most people in Britain are now familiar with the scruffy, boyish and
invariably unshaven features of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea
football club, and Russia's most famous billionaire.

Roman Abramovich (right) with fellow tycoon Arkady Gaidamak
Roman Abramovich is Russia's most famous billionaire
This week we learned that Mr Abramovich is one of a growing list of
hyper-rich Russians.

According to Forbes magazine Russia now has 60 billionaires.

Unlike Mr Abramovich, most of them live in Moscow, which, if I'm not
much mistaken, makes the Russian capital home to more billionaires
than any other city in the world.

It is quite a change for a place that 15 years ago had no
millionaires, let alone billionaires.

How exactly these people have got hold of such vast wealth in such a
short time is a very good question, and one many ordinary Russians
would like answered.

It is one reason why Russia's richest people like to keep their
identities and their lifestyles secret.

Secret city

Ever since I arrived in Russia I've heard tall stories of a secret
city deep in the forests outside Moscow where the rich indulge their
fantasies in sprawling palaces of marble and gold. It sounded like a
good story. I didn't expect it to be true, let alone that I'd get an
invite.

Huge mansion in a suburb outside Moscow in Russia
Russia's 'secret city' is lined with huge mansions
It came via a rather circuitous route. The sister of one of my
colleagues in the BBC Moscow bureau is in the same class as the 18-
year-old daughter of one of Russia's richest men.

For some peculiar reason Svetlana, not her real name, thought it would
be fun to invite a BBC television crew to film her parent's country
cottage.

That's what they call them in Russia: cottage. If that brings to mind
white washed walls, a thatched roof and climbing roses, then forget
it.

We had agreed to meet Svetlana at a shopping mall on the edge of
Moscow. Up she swept in a purple Maserati sports car. Out jumped her
hulking bodyguard, dashing round to open the door for her. I don't
know what I was expecting to emerge, a leggy blonde dripping with
diamonds and brimming with self confidence I suppose.

Instead, out stepped a diminutive, dark-haired woman, painfully shy,
and dressed like a secretary, albeit one who shops at Prada.

Her crew-cut bodyguard looked me up and down, clearly horrified at the
prospect of this grubby journalist scuffing the beautiful cream
leather interior of Svetlana's Maserati. There was immediate relief
when I suggested I follow in the BBC's beaten up old Peugeot.

Different world

The first signs of the secret city were enormous green fences, at
least 20 feet (6 metres) high, and topped off with closed circuit
cameras.

Japanese style building
The billionaire's daughter describes this Japanese-style house as her
'shed'
Then ahead of us at the end of a long forest flanked road a gap
appeared in the fence. As the Maserati approached the gate swung opens
and we swept through.

Suddenly we plunged out of the forest, and in to a different world. It
was a little like a scene from Doctor Who. One minute we were in
Russia, the next in Beverly Hills.

On either side of us huge mansions stood in spacious grounds. Some
looked vaguely Georgian, others Victorian, one like a Bavarian castle.
Vitaly, the BBC driver, turned to me, his face deadpan. "When did we
cross the border?" he asked.

Svetlana's "cottage" was a spectacular 3,000 sq m Art Deco pile. How
big is that? Big enough for an indoor swimming pool, a cinema, a
bowling alley, a ballroom, and the piece de resistance, its own indoor
ice rink!

"This is our newest house," Svetlana told me as we walked past a large
bronze sphinx in the gardens. "My father's been building it for five
years."

She wasn't sure how much it had cost, "probably 20 million," she
guessed.

"So how many other houses do you have?" I asked.

"A couple in Moscow, two in the south of France, and one in Corsica,"
she said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

She shops in Paris and Milan, where she flies on one of her fathers
private jets.

Gilded cage

All these toys have not made Svetlana a happy girl.

"I live in a gilded cage," she told me. "I have no friends and no
freedom."

I did feel sorry for her, but only a little.

A mile down the road, firmly back in Russia, I went to see Mrs Rima.
The 75-year-old showed me around the one-room shack she built with her
own hands.

She survives on a pension of £60 a month.

I asked her what she thinks of the rich people who live behind the
high green walls.

"They're all thieves," she said. "All that money is stolen from the
people."

It's a view millions of Russians would agree with. Fifteen years ago
everything in Russia was owned by the state. Today a quarter of
Russia's economy is owned by 36 men.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 21 April, 2007

at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for
World Service transmission times.

oh rilllllly!