It’s time to take the word “oligarchs” out of the context of the 1990s. This is what oligarchy is—the rule of the rich, as Aristotle defined it.

Not just an alliance, but a familial fusion of money and power. Within a single family, every issue can be settled: how to make money, how to keep money, how to protect money and the family’s interests (for example, by fabricating a criminal case—“threw an object resembling a lemon at a police officer”—against someone who disagrees with the oligarchy).

Alexander Kolokoltsev, 32, the son of Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, has turned out to be a partner in the fast-growing real estate development group Stinkom, with assets of about $500 million.

Today, the “anti-corruption” tab on the Interior Ministry’s website looks especially ironic.

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