Are Russian Oligarchs "Criminals"?

If so, why? If not, why not?

Russia, right?

It is true that most of the industries in Russia are owned by a small group of powerfull businessowners.

Has their been abuse? Yes. Maybe Russia should just break them up with some anti-trust laws.

But do they provide jobs? Yes. Also, I believe the Russian government is indebted to them. Doesn't the government owe them money??? I am talking about power and water industries.

As far as the media industries are, they are under attack by Putin. Didn't Putin try to shut down a media network there? Also, It seems that Putin has some control over the media.

Khodorkovsky, Abramovich, Potanin, etc

I am amazed that anyone is still using the old "they create jobs argument". Let's do the maths. In the Soviet Union there was virtually full employment, with very little underemployment. Now there is massive unemployment and underemployment. In that case, would you care to explain just where these so called "jobs" came from?

I think that most of the oligarchs are criminals...the manner in which they profited from the fractions of pennies on the dollar purchases of formerly-state-run enterprises during Yeltsin's early days (speaking specifically of Berezhovsky and Khordorkovsky).

Particularly Khordorkovsky. MENATEP and Rosprom are two institutions that are primarily responsible for adding a thin little veneer of legitimacy to the raping of the Russian people of their natural resources and industry in true robber baron style. Khordorkovsky was front and center in the running of MENATEP.

One who I do not think is a criminal is Smolensky. He's had significant opportunities to cash in (literally since he created his own bank) on his financial windfall from privatization but he has seemed content to stick to banking.

the most controlled medias seem to be Russia, China, and the US.