ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 addresses the question of why entrepreneurship is considered one of the most dangerous occupations in contemporary Russia. State predations on Russian businesses are not limited to extortion of facilitation payments. The increasing appetites of corrupt public officials involve unlawful seizures of entrepreneurial assets and businesses. The active involvement of regional and local government agencies in cases of unlawful business raiding is directly linked to Putin’s “vertical of power.” The existing kleptocratic regime is based on the notion of loyalty of public officials measured by the amount of illegal proceeds distributed by low-level bureaucrats to their superiors. Although illegal business raiding can be traced back to the collapse of the Soviet Union, its nature has transformed significantly since Putin’s rise to power in 2000. Public officials often hire criminals to conduct illegal raids on Russian entrepreneurs. Another commonly used raiding method is the fabrication of criminal cases against legal owners of targeted businesses. Entrepreneurs who dare to resist powerful state raiders often risk their freedom or even their lives. Based on an analysis of recent raiding cases against entrepreneurs, the chapter explores the roles of law enforcement, of the judiciary, and of regulatory agencies in the process of illegal asset seizures.
