The “damned nineties” are over. But privatization is moving ahead at full speed. And now it is no longer the “oil sector” being privatized, but something even more interesting: vodka. This strategic resource always enjoys favorable market pricing. Quite recently, VTB surprised everyone by announcing that it would sell the best assets of the state-owned Rosspirtprom that had ended up in its hands. Why? No one understood. A crisis is not the best time to sell, especially since the original plan was for VTB to transfer the distilleries back to Rosspirtprom itself. And there is only one explanation... No, not “godlessness,” as you may have thought. Though that is clearly part of it. It turned out that the state had an unexpected partner in Rosspirtprom’s factories: Arkady Rotenberg, Vladimir Putin’s former judo coach. After studying the financial statements of 11 alcohol plants that FSUE Rosspirtprom is supposed to hand over to VTB against its debt by government decision, Vedomosti found that Rotenberg’s people are present in almost all of them. So much for judo. So much for promoting physical culture. So much for “caring for our young people so they won’t hang around courtyards and will do sports instead” (quote). One would think that in the era “when Russia rose from its knees” (a common patriotic slogan), such an obvious “vice business” as vodka production should definitely remain in state hands. But apparently Putin’s judo coach will manage it better. Let me give an example. From real life. From Kirov Region. Do you know who the biggest taxpayer is there? Not the timber industry, not the power companies, not machine-building, and not the chemical sector. The Urzhum Distillery pays more taxes into the regional budget than anyone else. The region still owns 25% of the shares. The rest was privatized too. Now they are kicking themselves.