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{{Short description|Group of Russian oligarchs}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{expand Russian|date=February 2022|Семибанкирщина}}
{{Infobox Russian term
| title = Semibankirshchina
| russian = семибанкирщина
| rusr = semibankirshchina
| native pronunciation = {{IPA|ru|sʲɪmʲɪbɐnˈkʲirɕːɪnə|}}
| literal meaning = rule of seven bankers
}}
The '''Seven Bankers''' ({{langx|ru|семибанкирщина|translit=semibankirshchina}}) were a group of powerful [[Russian oligarchs]] who played an important role in the political and economic spheres of the Russian Federation between 1996 and 2000. In spite of their internal conflicts, members of the group worked together in order to re-elect [[Boris Yeltsin]] in the [[1996 Russian presidential election]], and thereafter to successfully manipulate him and his political environment from behind the scenes.

Initially, the clique of seven businessmen were identified by oligarch [[Boris Berezovsky (businessman)|Boris Berezovsky]] in an October 1996 interview. In an article published on 14 November 1996, journalist {{ill|Andrei Fadin|ru|Фадин, Андрей Васильевич}} coined the term {{lang|ru-Latn|semibankirshchina}} as a takeoff on the [[Seven Boyars]] who deposed [[Tsar]] [[Vasili IV of Russia|Vasili Shuisky]] in 1610 during the [[Time of Troubles]]. Later, other persons were included in the list, but the catchy term remained.

==Origins==
Russian oligarch [[Boris Berezovsky (businessman)|Boris Berezovsky]], in a 29 October 1996 interview in the ''[[Financial Times]]'', named seven Russian bankers and businessmen from six businesses that he claimed controlled about 50% of the [[economy of Russia]] and most of the [[mass media in Russia]],<ref name="Kostovicova">{{cite book |editor-last1=Kostovicova |editor-first1=Denisa |editor-last2=Bojicic-Dzelilovic |editor-first2=Vesna |year=2009 |title=Persistent State Weakness in the Global Age |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7pMlM456xpUC&pg=PA104 |location=Farnham |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |page=104 |isbn=978-0-7546-7612-6}}</ref><ref name="MoscowTimes" /><ref name="Kotz" /><ref name="Goldman">{{cite book |last=Goldman |first=Marshall I. |author-link=Marshall Goldman |year=2003 |title=The Piratization of Russia: Russian Reform Goes Awry |url=https://archive.org/details/piratizationofru0000gold/page/132 |url-access=limited |location=London; New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=132 |isbn=978-0-415-31529-6}}</ref> and had helped bankroll [[Boris Yeltsin]]'s [[Boris Yeltsin 1996 presidential campaign|re-election campaign in 1996]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chazan |first1=Guy |last2=Thornhill |first2=John |date=5 March 2015 |title=Mikhail Fridman: The Alpha oligarch |url=https://www.ft.com/content/b47de3d4-c325-11e4-ac3d-00144feab7de |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |access-date=12 January 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180313153207/https://www.ft.com/content/b47de3d4-c325-11e4-ac3d-00144feab7de |archive-date=13 March 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Schmouker |first=Olivier |date=9 December 2009 |title=Qui est Mikhail Fridman? |url=http://www.lesaffaires.com/secteurs-d-activite/general/qui-est-mikhail-fridman-/507444 |newspaper=[[Les Affaires]] |language=fr |access-date=31 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214235007/http://www.lesaffaires.com/secteurs-d-activite/general/qui-est-mikhail-fridman-/507444 |archive-date=14 December 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Kotz">{{cite book |last1=Kotz |first1=David M. |last2=Weir |first2=Fred |author-link2=Fred Weir |year=2007 |title=Russia's Path from Gorbachev to Putin: The Demise of the Soviet System and the New Russia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2X2TAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA218 |location=New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=218 |isbn=978-0-415-70146-4}}</ref><ref name="Goldman" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Lloyd |first=John |author-link=John Lloyd (journalist) |date=8 October 2000 |title=The Autumn Of the Oligarchs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/08/magazine/the-autumn-of-the-oligarchs.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=30 March 2018}}</ref>

The word {{lang|ru-Latn|semibankirshchina}} was subsequently coined by the Russian journalist Andrei Fadin of the ''Obshchaya Gazeta'' newspaper, in a 14 November 1996 article titled "Semibankirshchina as a New Russian Variation of Semiboyarshchina".<ref>{{cite magazine |date=23 June 2003 |script-title=ru:Словарь русского публичного языка конца XX века |trans-title=Dictionary of the late 20th-century Russian public language |url=http://kommersant.ru/doc/390624 |magazine=[[Kommersant|Kommersant Vlast]] |language=ru |issue=24 |page=64 |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> He wrote that "they control the access to budget money and basically all investment opportunities inside the country. They own the gigantic information resource of the major TV channels. They form the President's opinion. Those who didn't want to walk along them were either strangled or left the circle." Slightly over a year later, Fadin was killed in a car accident.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mitrofanov |first=Sergei |date=22 November 1997 |script-title=ru:Погиб журналист Андрей Фадин |trans-title=Journalist Andrei Fadin died |url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/188217 |newspaper=[[Kommersant]] |language=ru |issue=202 |page=3 |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]] also used this word in his critical 1998 essay ''Russia Under Avalanche'' to describe the current political regime and to warn people of what he considered an organized crime syndicate that controlled the President and 70% of all Russian money.<ref>{{cite book |last=Solzhenitsyn |first=A. |author-link=Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn |year=2006 |script-title=ru:Россия в обвале |trans-title=Russia Under Avalanche |url=http://www.solzhenitsyn.ru/proizvedeniya/publizistika/rossiya_v_obvale/rossiya_v_obvale.pdf#page=29 |language=ru |location=Moscow |publisher=Russkiy put |page=57 |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref>

Berezovsky named the following seven persons: Stolichny Bank head Alexander Smolensky; Mikhail Khodorkovsky, president of the Menatep financial and oil empire; Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, of [[Alfa-Bank]]; Vladimir Gusinsky, head of the Most banking and media group; Vladimir Potanin, former head of ONEXIM Bank and then–first deputy prime minister in charge of the economy; and Berezovsky himself.<ref name="MoscowTimes">{{cite news |date=5 November 1996 |title=British Paper Names Banking Clique |url=http://old.themoscowtimes.com/sitemap/free/1996/11/article/british-paper-names-banking-clique/316590.html/ |newspaper=[[The Moscow Times]] |access-date=26 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330080020/http://old.themoscowtimes.com/sitemap/free/1996/11/article/british-paper-names-banking-clique/316590.html/ |archive-date=30 March 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In some lists some other people were included, and eventually the clique was recognized to consist of:
*[[Boris Berezovsky (businessman)|Boris Berezovsky]] – United Bank, [[Gazprom Neft|Sibneft]], [[Channel One (Russia)|ORT]]
*[[Mikhail Fridman]] and [[Petr Aven]] – [[Alfa Group]]
*[[Vladimir Gusinsky]] – Most Group, [[NTV (Russia)|NTV]]
*[[Mikhail Khodorkovsky]] – [[Bank Menatep]], [[Yukos]]
*[[Vladimir Potanin]] – [[ONEXIM Bank]]
*[[Alexander Smolensky]] – Stolichny Bank
*[[Vladimir Vinogradov]] – Inkombank
*[[Vitaly Malkin]] – [[Rossiysky Kredit]]<ref name="MoscowTimes" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Treisman |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Treisman |year=2012 |title=The Return: Russia's Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aaoSGqMw0VsC&pg=PA446 |location=New York |publisher=Free Press |page=446 |isbn=978-1-4165-6071-5}}</ref><ref name="Kostovicova" /><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Butrin |first=Dmitry |date=5 March 2002 |script-title=ru:Итоги капиталистической десятилетки |trans-title=Results of the capitalist ten-year plan |url=http://kommersant.ru/doc/312965 |magazine=[[Kommersant|Kommersant Vlast]] |language=ru |issue=8 |page=66 |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref><ref name="PowerPunch">{{cite AV media |date=6 October 2015 |script-title=ru:Семибанкирщина. Удар властью |trans-title=Seven Bankers. Power Punch |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntGbeO41C5I |language=ru |publisher=[[TV Centre (Russia)|TV Centre]] |access-date=26 February 2025 |via=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>

Petr Aven, who was close to Berezovsky, describes appearance of the word {{lang|ru-Latn|semibankirshchina}} in his book ''The Age of Berezovsky'' as follows: "He [Berezovsky] didn't use this word, but he gave an interview to the ''Financial Times'' in which he said that seven businessmen were de facto ruling the country. He named a fairly random list — whomever he could recall at the time. I was listed together with Fridman; there was one representative of each group there."<ref>{{cite book |last=Aven |first=Petr |author-link=Petr Aven |year=2023 |title=The Age of Berezovsky |url=https://petr-aven-books.com/ |page=356 |access-date=2025-01-08}}</ref>

==History==
It is generally considered that the group was created in March 1996 when the political consultant [[Sergey Kurginyan]] invited a group of thirteen Russian oligarchs to sign the so-called "Letter of Thirteen" (headlined as "Come Out of the Dead End!") in an attempt to cancel the [[1996 Russian presidential election]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shlapentokh |first1=Vladimir |author-link1=Vladimir Shlapentokh |last2=Arutunyan |first2=Anna |author-link2=Anna Arutunyan |year=2013 |title=Freedom, Repression, and Private Property in Russia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVtsAAAAQBAJ&dq=letter+of+13+1996+russia+seven+bankers&pg=PA35 |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=35 |isbn=978-1-107-04214-8}}</ref><ref name="Butrin_2006">{{cite magazine |last=Butrin |first=Dmitry |date=24 April 2006 |script-title=ru:Нижедописавшиеся |trans-title=The undersigned |url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/669096 |magazine=[[Kommersant|Kommersant Vlast]] |language=ru |issue=16 |page=19 |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> The manifest was published in ''[[Nezavisimaya Gazeta]]'' and suggested that two major candidates—Boris Yeltsin and the [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation|Communist]] leader [[Gennady Zyuganov]]—should strike a "political compromise" in order to prevent "the economical collapse". It contained eight tips that described the position of business elites. The letter was called "a provocation" by the Communists and thus ignored.

After the plan failed, half of those oligarchs formed what became known as the Seven Bankers—a group of seven business moguls, ironically named after the 17th-century [[Seven Boyars]], who owned the majority of Russian media resources and who decided to promote Boris Yeltsin every way possible. Since Yeltsin was highly unpopular by that time, with only 3–8% support, a complex technology of [[crowd manipulation]] was developed by [[Gleb Pavlovsky]] and [[Marat Gelman]]'s think tank Foundation for Effective Politics,<ref name="Kartofanov">{{cite news |last=Kartofanov |first=Sergei |date=29 August 1996 |script-title=ru:Подход к победе Президента |trans-title=Approach to the President's victory |url=http://www.fep.ru/publications/pr/ng290896pr.html |newspaper=[[Nezavisimaya Gazeta]] |language=ru |issue=160 |access-date=26 February 2025 |via=Foundation for Effective Politics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008190755/http://www.fep.ru/publications/pr/ng290896pr.html |archive-date=8 October 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> with the involvement of American specialists (the latter fact was used as a basis for the comedy film ''[[Spinning Boris]]'' released in 2003).

Known as an extremely "dirty" election campaign both inside and outside of Russia,<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Simes |first=Dimitri K. |author-link=Dimitri Simes |date=26 June 2016 |title=Russia and America: Destined for Conflict? |url=http://nationalinterest.org/feature/russia-america-destined-conflict-16726?page=2 |magazine=[[The National Interest]] |access-date=26 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630093929/http://nationalinterest.org/feature/russia-america-destined-conflict-16726?page=2 |archive-date=30 June 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> it was discussed in detail in Gleb Pavlovsky's report ''President in 1996: Scenarios and Technologies of the Victory'' published shortly after. As ''[[Nezavisimaya Gazeta]]'' summarized it, "the formula of victory: attracting the expert resources + dominating in the information field + blocking the competitor's moves + dominating in mass media + dominating in elites".<ref name="Kartofanov" /> The main analyst of the NTV TV channel Vsevolod Vilchek also admitted that they actively applied technologies of mass manipulation.<ref>{{cite web |last=Martynyuk |first=Viktor |date=22 February 2012 |script-title=ru:Медведев признался: в 1996-м президентские выборы выиграл Зюганов |trans-title=Medvedev confessed: Zyuganov won the presidential election in 1996 |url=http://www.km.ru/v-rossii/2012/02/22/vybory-2011-2012/medvedev-priznalsya-v-1996-m-prezidentskie-vybory-vyigral-zyuga |website=KM.ru |language=ru |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> Both the third president of Russia, [[Dmitry Medvedev]], and the former president of the Soviet Union, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], have since claimed that Yeltsin's victory was hoaxed.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Shuster |first=Simon |date=24 February 2012 |title=Rewriting Russian History: Did Boris Yeltsin Steal the 1996 Presidential Election? |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107565,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=26 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004224559/https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107565,00.html |archive-date=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Gotev |first=Georgi |date=4 February 2016 |title=Gorbachev: 'I am ashamed by Putin and Medvedev' |url=http://www.euractiv.com/section/europe-s-east/news/gorbachev-i-am-ashamed-by-putin-and-medvedev/ |website=[[Euractiv]] |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref>

Following the election, the Seven Bankers became the main power behind Russian politics and economy.<ref name="Kostovicova" /> Between 1996 and 2000, they gained control over the most valuable state enterprises in the natural resource and metal sectors and unofficially manipulated Yeltsin and his decisions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bower |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Bower |year=2010 |title=Oil: Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st Century |url=https://archive.org/details/oilmoneypolitics00bowe/page/94 |url-access=limited |location=New York |publisher=[[Grand Central Publishing]] |pages=94–97 |isbn=978-0-446-56354-3}}</ref><ref name="Butrin_2006" /> According to Boris Berezovsky, they acted through [[Anatoly Chubais]]—an architect of [[privatization in Russia]] and Yeltsin's right-hand man who granted access to him at any time.<ref name="MoscowTimes" />

All this resulted in further impoverishment of the population, criminalization of businesses and the [[1998 Russian financial crisis]].<ref name="PowerPunch" />{{unreliable source?|date=July 2022}} This was also the time when the word ''oligarch'' grew in popularity, substituting the ''[[New Russian]]'' [[nouveau riche]] term (both with extremely negative subtext). The 1999 saw the sudden rise to power of the unknown [[Federal Security Service|FSB]] officer [[Vladimir Putin]]. Boris Berezovsky and his associates claimed that it was him who single-handedly promoted Putin and insisted on his candidature as Prime Minister and President.<ref>{{cite web |last=Matthews |first=Owen |author-link=Owen Matthews |date=24 March 2013 |title=How Boris Berezovsky Made Vladimir Putin, and Putin Unmade Berezovsky |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/24/how-boris-berezovsky-made-vladimir-putin-and-putin-unmade-berezovsky.html |website=[[The Daily Beast]] |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |author-link=Luke Harding |date=23 March 2013 |title=Boris Berezovsky: a tale of revenge, betrayal and feuds with Putin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/23/boris-berezovsky-vladimir-putin-feud |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref>

Yet the following years saw a quick demise of most of the Seven Bankers and the rise of the new generation of "manageable" Russian oligarchy. Khodorkovsky, Berezovsky and Gusinsky turned into ''[[personae non gratae]]'' in Russia. Berezovsky and Gusinsky left Russia in 2000, while Khodorkovsky lost his business as well as freedom in 2003 and was exiled in 2013. Vinogradov died in 2008. On 23 March 2013, Berezovsky was found dead at his home, Titness Park, at [[Sunninghill, Berkshire|Sunninghill]], near [[Ascot, Berkshire|Ascot]] in Berkshire.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cobain |first1=Ian |author-link1=Ian Cobain |last2=Townsend |first2=Mark |last3=Goodley |first3=Simon |last4=Amos |first4=Howard |last5=Elder |first5=Miriam |author-link5=Miriam Elder |date=23 March 2013 |title=Boris Berezovsky found dead at his Berkshire home |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/23/boris-berezovsky-found-dead-berkshire-home |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> Smolensky still owned significant companies till 2019, but lost his political influence. He died in 2024.

==See also==
*[[Loans for shares scheme]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Freeland |first=Chrystia |author-link=Chrystia Freeland |year=2000 |title=Sale of the Century: Russia's Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism |location=New York |publisher=Crown Business |isbn=0-8129-3215-3}}

==External links==
* [http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/russia-bows-to-the-rule-of-the-seven-bankers-1.187734 Russia bows to the 'rule of the seven bankers'] at ''[[The Irish Times]]'', 29 August 1998
* [http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/oligarchs.htm The Russian Oligarchs of the {{sic|1990's|hide=y}}] by Thayer Watkins at [[San Jose State University]]
* [https://snob.ru/selected/entry/30178 Seven oligarchs who decided the fate of Russia] by Alexei Bayer at {{ill|Snob (magazine)|ru|Сноб (журнал)|lt=''Snob''}}, 21 January 2011 {{in lang|ru}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201013044/https://snob.ru/selected/entry/30178 |date=1 February 2019}} 

{{Boris Yeltsin}}
{{Privatization in Russia}}

[[Category:1996 neologisms]]
[[Category:Economic history of Russia]]
[[Category:Boris Berezovsky (businessman)]]
[[Category:Boris Yeltsin 1996 presidential campaign]]
[[Category:Mikhail Fridman]]
[[Category:Mikhail Khodorkovsky]]
[[Category:Russian oligarchs]]
[[Category:Russian political phrases]]
[[Category:Septets|Bankers]]
[[Category:Vladimir Gusinsky]]