MOSCOW -- Ever since they bankrolled President Boris N. Yeltsin's re-election last summer, a clique of rich Russian businessmen has been amicably carving up among themselves the national assets they say they saved from communism.
But not anymore.
This summer, the capitalists have clashed over the spoils of a huge post-Soviet privatization program, sending shock waves through the Russian establishment. The coalition of millionaires and ministers that has been running Russia for a year is disintegrating.
The future shape of the government, and of economic reform, is being questioned.
The trouble began in July, when a 25 percent stake in Svyazinvest -- a communications conglomerate that owns most Russian telephone networks and broadcast facilities -- was auctioned.
First Deputy Prime Ministers Anatoly B. Chubais and Boris Y. Nemtsov have been saying for months that there must be no more sweetheart deals in privatization.
Two years ago, Chubais was criticized for some dubious "loans-for-shares" privatizations, in which his banking friends acquired stakes in state companies cheaply. In those days, favored bidders were left to organize auctions themselves, minimizing any rivals' chances.
Now, instead of giving away assets to repay political favors, ministers want to sell them for as much as possible to pay overdue wages.
To ensure the Svyazinvest sale was fair, the government organized it. It received two bids, both above its starting price of $1.18 billion. One was for $1.7 billion, the other for $1.9 billion. It sold to the higher bidder, a consortium set up through Vladimir O. Potanin's Uneximbank.
So far, so good.
But suddenly, the MOST media empire of rival tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky, leader of the losing bid, cried foul.
Gusinsky's newspaper, Segodnya, and his television station, NTV, accused Uneximbank of cheating. Gusinsky asked Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin to reconsider the sale.
Gusinsky seems to have genuinely felt aggrieved that his smaller bid lost, believing that it was his turn for a lucky break.
No trouble materialized when a 38 percent stake in the world's biggest nickel producer, Norilsk Nickel, was sold Tuesday.
Potanin's Uneximbank, which has had a controlling stake in Norilsk since 1995, kept the right to organize the sale. No independent audit was done; Uneximbank's bid of $250 million won, although Norilsk's estimated value is $750 million.
Pub Date: 8/10/97
