Earlier quoted context omitted.
While all that you said is true regarding the current situation, 2000s were a different story regarding economics. Putin's pocket oligarchs did not have the same amount of influence and in that period of time plenty of new independent businesses were created, some of which became large companies. Yes, some of those are now being taken over by state, but again, that's not what was happening in 2000s. In 2000s Russia o…
The large ones were not independent in anything but the name long before being taken over by state. All the Oligarchs or larger businesses had to cooperate. Ukrainian Maidan was 2014. And it happened only after years of Russia trying to buy and influence Ukrainian politics. It was Orange revolution that happened in 2004. Putin became acting president in 1999 - that gives us like 5 years before 2004. Also, afaik, jour…
>The large ones were not independent in anything but the name long before being taken over by state.
Let's take a few concrete examples of really big companies: VKontakte, Wildberries and Magnit. How exactly Putin and his gang exercised the control over them before acquisition (Wildberries still belongs to the founder)?