Loans for shares scheme

Beginning in 1995, Boris Yeltsin's government began privatizing state-owned shares in companies through a loans for shares scheme.^[1] The scheme helped with "fundraising" for Yeltsin's 1996 reelection campaign and restructuring freshly-sold companies at the same time (in order to outweigh communist sympathizers as one source speculated).

Russian bankers constituted the majority of those who have provided the funds^{[clarification needed]} (see Letter of thirteen [ru]). The rest included such entities as Stolichny bank (Russian: Столичный банк) and World Bank (who made a loan for a small percentage of the Sibneft oil company) and even some targeted investments from USAID in assistance to Chubais, according to Richard Morningstar, a U.S. aid coordinator for the former Soviet Union.^[2]

The scheme was primarily overseen by Anatoly Chubais who was linked to USAID program managed by head of the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) at the time.^[3]^[2]

The scheme implementation ultimately resulted in the emergence of an influential class of enterprise owners, known as Russian oligarchs.^[4]^[5]

^ Hockstader, Lee; Hoffman, David (July 7, 1996). "Yeltsin Campaign Rose from Tears to Triumph". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
^ ^a ^b Wedel, Janine R. (1998-05-14). "The Harvard Boys Do Russia". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
^ Treisman, Daniel (September 2010). "Loans for Shares Revisited" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 23, 2012.
^ Oluwadare, Paul; Nicholls, Dominic; Giles, Keir; Galeotti, Mark; Baker, Stephanie (2 April 2025). "Special: How the West Fights Back". Ukraine: The Latest. England: The Telegraph. Today is a public holiday in Britain, so in a special Easter episode, Dom Nicholls chairs a panel of experts at the Oxford Literary Festival. Government adviser Keir Giles, academic Professor Mark Galeotti, and journalist Stephanie Baker discuss the Russian threat and how to deal with Vladimir Putin, including why the Russian President retains his stranglehold on power, the need for Europe to wake up on defence, and the impacts of economic sanctions. How can the West win?
^ Nicholls, Dominic; Giles, Keir; Galeotti, Mark; Baker, Stephanie (2 April 2025). "The Russian Threat: Why it has Grown and How to Fight Back". Sheldonian Theatre: Oxford Literary Festival. Government adviser Keir Giles, academic Professor Mark Galeotti and journalist Stephanie Baker discuss the Russian threat and how to deal with Putin, including why Putin retains his stranglehold on power, the need for Europe to wake up on defence and the impacts of economic sanctions. Giles has advised governments across the world on the Russian threat and is director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre. In Who Will Defend Europe? An Awakened Russia and a Sleeping Continent he says Europe has been outsourcing its defence to the United States for decades and now faces stark choices. Giles argues that Europe's unwillingness to confront Russia has nurtured the threat and Putin's ambition now puts the whole continent at risk. Galeotti heads the Mayak Intelligence consultancy and is an honorary professor at University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. In Forged in War: A Military History of Russia from its Beginnings to Today he explains how war and insecurity, both real and perceived, have driven Russia's destiny for centuries. He says the reasons for Putin retaining a stranglehold on power despite his ruinous invasion of Ukraine lie in an understanding of this history. Galeotti's other books include Putin's Wars. Baker is a senior writer on the projects and investigations team at Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Business Week. In Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia she looks at how the economic war against Putin and Russia has unfolded, from the seizing of superyachts to manipulation of the global price of oil. Baker says the economic war is changing the face of global trade. Discussions are chaired by Dominic Nicholls, associate editor (defence) at The Telegraph and presenter on the newspaper's UKraine podcast.

[wpjul7-1] Hockstader, Lee; Hoffman, David (July 7, 1996). "Yeltsin Campaign Rose from Tears to Triumph". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 11, 2017.

[:1-2] Wedel, Janine R. (1998-05-14). "The Harvard Boys Do Russia". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2021-06-19.

[:0-3] Treisman, Daniel (September 2010). "Loans for Shares Revisited" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 23, 2012.

[4] Oluwadare, Paul; Nicholls, Dominic; Giles, Keir; Galeotti, Mark; Baker, Stephanie (2 April 2025). "Special: How the West Fights Back". Ukraine: The Latest. England: The Telegraph. Today is a public holiday in Britain, so in a special Easter episode, Dom Nicholls chairs a panel of experts at the Oxford Literary Festival. Government adviser Keir Giles, academic Professor Mark Galeotti, and journalist Stephanie Baker discuss the Russian threat and how to deal with Vladimir Putin, including why the Russian President retains his stranglehold on power, the need for Europe to wake up on defence, and the impacts of economic sanctions. How can the West win?

[5] Nicholls, Dominic; Giles, Keir; Galeotti, Mark; Baker, Stephanie (2 April 2025). "The Russian Threat: Why it has Grown and How to Fight Back". Sheldonian Theatre: Oxford Literary Festival. Government adviser Keir Giles, academic Professor Mark Galeotti and journalist Stephanie Baker discuss the Russian threat and how to deal with Putin, including why Putin retains his stranglehold on power, the need for Europe to wake up on defence and the impacts of economic sanctions. Giles has advised governments across the world on the Russian threat and is director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre. In Who Will Defend Europe? An Awakened Russia and a Sleeping Continent he says Europe has been outsourcing its defence to the United States for decades and now faces stark choices. Giles argues that Europe's unwillingness to confront Russia has nurtured the threat and Putin's ambition now puts the whole continent at risk. Galeotti heads the Mayak Intelligence consultancy and is an honorary professor at University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. In Forged in War: A Military History of Russia from its Beginnings to Today he explains how war and insecurity, both real and perceived, have driven Russia's destiny for centuries. He says the reasons for Putin retaining a stranglehold on power despite his ruinous invasion of Ukraine lie in an understanding of this history. Galeotti's other books include Putin's Wars. Baker is a senior writer on the projects and investigations team at Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Business Week. In Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia she looks at how the economic war against Putin and Russia has unfolded, from the seizing of superyachts to manipulation of the global price of oil. Baker says the economic war is changing the face of global trade. Discussions are chaired by Dominic Nicholls, associate editor (defence) at The Telegraph and presenter on the newspaper's UKraine podcast.

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