Putin rebuked the factory owner, Russian billionaire Deripaska (right-standing), for his poor management.
BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua)-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin severely humiliated Russia’s richest man in a live TV broadcast.
According to the United Daily News, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently visited the northern industrial town of Picalovo. Three local factories were shut down due to the economic crisis, which caused social unrest, including the factory of Basel Cement Company operated by Deripaska.
When Putin visited the factory acquired by Basel Company in 2007, he severely reprimanded the factory as a "garbage dump".
Deripaska was still the richest man in Russia last year, with an estimated value of about $30 billion. He stood up from his seat and bowed his head to sign the agreement under Putin’s cold stare.
Then he snapped an order in a small conference room, where Deripaska, local leaders and trade union representatives sat around, as if the students who had made mistakes were reprimanded by the harshest teachers.
The agreement signed by Deripaska agreed to supply raw materials to the factory and let it resume production.
Yelled at Russian billionaire oleg djeripaska: "Oleg! Have you signed the agreement? I didn’t see your signature, come here and sign it right away! " Putin threw his pen on the table and beckoned Deripaska to come over.
After Deripaska signed the agreement, Putin only nodded in approval and shouted at Deripaska, who was still holding the pen and angrily walked back to his seat, "Give me my pen back!"
This week, Deripaska was humiliated on Russian TV, symbolizing the status of the Russian rich who once had supreme power in the past few years.
In the process of privatization of assets after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, many Russians seized huge wealth and became rich people with unprecedented political influence. But now the global financial crisis has caused the Russian rich to shrink their wealth greatly and bear huge debts. Many rich people rely on the government’s bail-out and can only bow their heads in the face of Putin.
Forbes estimated in 2008 that there are more than 100 billionaires in Russia, second only to the United States, but this year’s billionaires list, Russia has only 32 people on the list.
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