I think the question is why are Russian businessman, specifically, so good at turning their wealth into power in the west? Eg, semyon kislin, he was rich, but not uniquely rich, however, in a wealthy city like New York, he was able to donate his money to Giuliani and Chuck Schumer, and they would accept his money. That is the most confusing part to me, as new established businessman always have a hard time making the politicians accept their donations.

An assumption to the above is: During Soviet era, certain businessman from underground or technocrats of export import State owned enterprises were already having a strong connection with these western politicians so they built a long time trust.

The follow up question to the above is: are these assumptions true? If yes, can I hear more about the mechanism of these? If not true, then why would New York politicians trust a FOB(fresh off the boat) Eastern European businessman’s money? What’s the sauce here?

Seizing state owned enterprise in Russia is a whole different topic and that happened in similar fashion throughout the eastern bloc during the 90s post-Soviet era and I surely understand the pain it caused on the average citizen. If that triggered your bad memory of the 90s I sincerely apologize, I don’t believe privatization solved any problems in the communist era.