Why read long analytical articles in Vedomosti about why the Russian economy is stagnating, GDP growth is grinding to a halt, and why with each passing year we are sinking deeper into the role of a raw-material appendage to the developed world? Just look at the top three spots on the list "Russia’s 25 Most Expensive Top Managers — 2013." These are supposed to be the very best. The flagships of the economy. People whose unique knowledge and expertise have supposedly made their work worth such enormous pay. Here it is. The list of the best: 3rd place. Alexei Miller, with an annual income of $25 million.
A pointless oddball who worked under Putin on the St. Petersburg Committee for External Relations, then was placed at Gazprom to turn it into the world’s biggest feeding trough for Putin’s other friends. The Rotenbergs supply the large-diameter pipes. Contractors spun off from Gazprom structures and then privatized collect astronomical profits for work priced at astronomical rates. A colossal drop in production and the shale gas fiasco, which Miller considers a "myth"—that is the legacy he will leave behind. Well, apart from the Swiss bank accounts and property in the south of France, of course. 2nd place. Andrei Kostin, with an annual income of $35 million.
A man whose hat is on fire a hundred times more fiercely than the biggest Olympic torch (a Russian expression meaning someone is transparently guilty). He turned the state bank VTB into an organized criminal group, where it’s thief upon thief all the way down. Just read my LiveJournal posts tagged "VTB", and everything will become clear. He is constantly begging the state for bailouts to plug the holes in his bank, holes caused by the leadership’s total incompetence and corruption. 1st place Igor Sechin, with an annual income of $50 million
Another incompetent ghoul from the St. Petersburg mayor’s office. He sat in Putin’s reception office. When it became possible to "resolve big issues" from that office, he set up a miracle business for Gunvor—a Swiss intermediary that became the main exporter of Russian oil. Now he has moved to the state-owned Rosneft and runs it as if it were his personal property. So these are the strange "top managers," with their equally strange "success stories" and equally strange "lists of achievements." What is telling is that all three of the highest-paid executives are from state companies. Managers cannot set their own salaries if the main shareholder—the state—does not agree to the amount. This obviously suggests that running state companies is officially regarded as the very ideal of efficiency. And Gazprom, VTB, and Rosneft are, apparently, the best companies in the country. And finally, in light of this ranking, we should all send warm regards to Putin’s All-Russia People’s Front (ONF) and its vigorous work to limit compensation for employees of state corporations.