Wolves are coming back into the Moscow region," a friend remarked last week as we sat in a village just outside the city, watching one of the heavier snowfalls of the winter. "The local administration just west of here is sending out hunters to cull them."
"Four-legged ones, you mean," I said. "Yes," he replied, "the Moscow wolves aren't in any danger."
In fact the two-legged city wolves are on the prowl. What diplomats and journalists routinely call economic reform in Russia is now more reminiscent of wolves tearing at the carcass of a giant beast. The new banking magnates--oligarchs as...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
