Maniac of liberalism
Climbing to Pinochet
Alfred Reicholdovich Koch presents himself as a descendant of German colonists who escaped from the war-torn congestion of Europe in the second half of the 18th century, torn apart by war and disease, to master the untouched black soil of immense New Russia at the invitation of Catherine the Great. His father, Reinhold Davidovich, was moved from the Krasnodar Territory to Kazakhstan with the beginning of the war. They do not remember the ancestors of the mother in biographies: who is interested in these Russians?
Alfred Koch himself was born in 1961 year. In 1969, his family moved from Zyryanovsk in the East Kazakhstan region to Tolyatti for the construction of a VAZ. My father advanced into the factory bosses, and Alik was in the "golden youth" of the city, but, according to the recollections, "he chose his friends more simply to dominate them." He entered the Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute saving from the army: not from the best, but allowing him to enter the circle of "masters of life", and also in the fashionable specialty "economic cybernetics" - not in the first capital, but in the second. He acted easily: it seems that "spare parts (the deficit, which his father was in charge of at VAZ) —MD) played a significant role."
The candidate's “Methods for the integrated assessment of the territorial conditions for the placement of industrial facilities”, written on the “VAZ” materials, was liked by Chubais, but his circle had already been formed and the key roles were dismantled. However, even then Koch's erudition, as they recall, produced a deafening effect on Chubais. Chubais began to treat him as a source of new, diverse, always interesting knowledge. When confronting opinions, Koch usually "squeezed" Chubais.
In the 1987 year, after defending his thesis, Koch got a job as a junior researcher at the research institute who developed new materials for shipbuilding. Among the engineers, the economist could not build a career, and in 1988, he moved to the Polytechnic Institute as an assistant department. The position did not correspond to the scientific degree of the candidate of sciences, but was not connected with responsibility and allowed to search for new opportunities.
Only in the 1990 year, demonstrating a beautiful concept of development, which was then a rarity (according to another version, under the protection of Chubais; perhaps both are true), Koch became chairman of the executive committee of Sestroretsk District Council of St. Petersburg. The position gave a resource: Koch began to arrange for reformers field seminars in rest homes near Sestroretsk and, becoming useful, entered the team. Then he met with Gaidar.
Already in April, 1991, when the country was writhing after the exchange of money from Pavlov (Koch was proud that he did everything for his breakdown, signing permissions to exchange any amounts - according to his assurances, free of hate for the state, of which he was a part) a surge in retail prices, Koch, in a group of 12 liberals, attended an installation course at the Chilean Institute for Freedom and Development, Sergio Castro, one of the Chicago boys who served Pinochet. But in Chile, Koch, as the head of the district center, who was not interested in macroeconomics, was on the sidelines, and he was not taken to an audience with Pinochet, despite the positive attitude towards the American executioner of Chile.
But he was waiting for an increase at home: in August 1991, Koch became the first deputy director of the Leningrad State Property Fund, and since 1992, he became deputy chairman of the St. Petersburg State Property Management Committee.
On the crest of a wave: revenge on the hated country?
With the beginning of privatization, Koch was taken by Chubais to the State Committee on Property and in August 1993 became the deputy "main voucher": privatized the real sector. It seems that the American "experts" aimed privatization at the destruction of key industries - primarily in the defense sector. The struggle against the directors of enterprises who wanted to simply own them was conducted with sophistication and was an uncompromising collision of intellects and wills. On the edge of this struggle was "Alik" Koch.
His other task, apparently, was the transfer of advanced defense technologies to NATO countries.
According to the testimony of journalist Oleg Lurie, the "closed" report of the Accounts Chamber on 1992-1995 years pointed to "the seizure by foreign firms of controlling stakes in leading ... defense industry enterprises and ... whole of its industries. American and British firms acquired controlling stakes in MAPO MiG", Sukhoi Design Bureau, Yakovlev Design Bureau, Ilyushin Airline Complex, Antonov "... Siemens acquired more than 20% of the Kaluga Turbine Plant, which produces unique equipment for nuclear submarines. Russia not only loses ownership of ... defense enterprises, but also loses the right to manage their activities in the interests of the state."
According to the joint letter of the FSB and the SVR, "the privatization of defense enterprises led to a massive leak of the latest technologies, unique scientific and technological achievements, almost for nothing, to the West. In general, the West acquired such a large amount of new technologies in Russia that NATO established a special program for their processing ".
Koch coped with his tasks so successfully that in March 1995 of the year, on the eve of the presentation by Potanin in the government of the idea of "pledge auctions", he became the first deputy chairman of the State Property Committee. “Mortgage privatization” - distributing the best Russian enterprises to create an oligarchy as a collective hostage of Yeltsin, probably seemed too dirty even to titled reformers - for this they needed Koch.
He supervised mortgage auctions as well as. about. Chairman of the State Committee on Property (Chubais was then elected to the State Duma, where he left, giving way to the post of A.I. Kazakov, the informal “personnel officer” of his team).
According to the Accounts Chamber, Chubais and Koch arranged for Western companies to receive preferential loans by more than 2 billion dollars by privatization structures, traces of which were not found either by the Chamber or the Ministry of Finance.
For military enterprises and technologies sold in 1993-95, the budget received miserable 450 million. By January 1996, the sale of the country was generally finished, and Chubais left the government, starting preparations for Yeltsin’s re-election by consolidating the oligarchy he had created.
According to the FBI, which Lurie refers to, Chubais just then created a mechanism for withdrawing from the country the privatization billions and "laundering" their parts to finance the rescue of Yeltsin. To this end, in January 1996, Barbados, then one of the most convenient offshore companies, arrived in Koh and old associate of Chubais Kagalovsky and his wife Gurfinkel, then "lit up" in the scandal with the laundering of Russian money through Bank of New York. In December, 1998, this story backfired on Koch: when he arrived in New York his visa was canceled, and he himself was expelled from the United States due to the ban on entering the country.
But before that, I remember, Koch earned the nickname of “unfinished”: when the government discussed the lack of money in the budget, he stood in the hall, loudly asking for words, went to the meeting table and solemnly vowed to get the missing funds by speeding up privatization. "If we don’t collect this money, shoot me!" - vysprenne turned Koch to the touched Chernomyrdin.
Of course, despite the acceleration of privatization, the budget did not receive the promised money, but in September 1996, Koch headed the State Property Committee on a permanent basis in time, and his influence, with the support of Chubais, began to grow.
In December 1996, Koch became a member of the ORT board of directors, in January 1997 - the deputy chairman of the government commission for securing budget revenues through privatization, in February - the deputy chairman of the commission for the management and privatization of the military-industrial complex, in March - the deputy prime minister (with the management of the State Property Committee) : no longer a performer, but a full member of the "team of young reformers."
The collapse of the "godfather" of the Russian oligarchy
Koch became the executor of the scandalous deal with the blocking stake in Svyazinvest: promised for nothing Berezovsky and Soros, he was transferred to the structures of Potanin, a strategic ally of Chubais. From the point of view of the struggle of the then dominant oligarchic clans, Berezovsky and Chubais, it was reasonable: it did not make sense to strengthen the position of the main competitor.
But Chubaisian frank and inevitable in its logical violation of the agreement caused Berezovsky's retaliatory strike.
A nursery against the background of their other accomplishments, a cheap prank: getting a fee for an unwritten book on privatization (with the pretentious heading “Sale of the Soviet empire”), was charged as. Void on the background of the assets that the liberals disposed of, the fee - on 90 thousand dollars to each of the five "co-authors" - was dizzying against the background of the total poverty (then a good one-room apartment in Moscow cost about 20 thousand dollars) and, most importantly, understandable to people.
As a result, Chubais was asked to resign in the autumn of 1997, and in March of the following year, before appointing a scapegoat for the consequences of liberal mayhem, Kiriyenko, who was not taken seriously, left the state service.
One of the first victims of the "writers' cause" was Koch, who also retired from all posts in August 1997 of the year. On the eve of the announcement of his dismissal, he fled with his family to the United States — allegedly “on vacation.” You shouldn’t blame him for it: a few days later, the head of the St. Petersburg Committee on State Property Management Manevich was killed. They say that it was on this occasion that one senior law enforcement officer, rereading the personal file of the murdered man, melancholically dropped the sacramental: "Some can save lives, just by planting them."
A side effect of the quarrels around Svyazinvest was the diversion of the forces of both oligarchic clans from Gazprom, which they aimed at in the summer of 1997; in the end, he did not get either Berezovsky or Chubais and remained formally state-owned.
As they recall, already on September 1 of 1997, Chubais gave his friend Alik the head of the board of directors of the American management company Montes Auri (Golden Mountains), where Chubais kept his money as a private investor. In the US, Koch intended to stay seriously and for a long time, not intending to return to Russia. It is to this period of his biography that the infamous interview of the Russian-language American radio station WMNB 23 of October 1998 relates.
WMNB. It is believed that Russia is a disaster, and its economic future is illusory. What do you think?
Koh I think so too.
WMNB. Can't see the light at the end of the tunnel?
Koh Not.
WMNB. How do you predict the economic future of Russia?
Koh Raw material appendage. Unconditional emigration of all people who can think, but do not know how to work (in the sense of - digging), who can only invent. Next - the collapse, turning into a dozen small states.
WMNB. And how long will it last?
Koh I think during the 10-15 years ... You understand ... During the 70 years when the world economy was being formed, Russia, or rather, the Soviet Union was outward, developed separately, according to some of its laws. And the world economy was formed without the Soviet Union.
And it is self-sufficient, there are sufficient resources, everything is there. And now Russia has appeared, but nobody needs it. (Laughs.) There is no place for it in the world economy, its aluminum and its oil are not needed.
Russia only interferes, it collapses prices with its dumping. Therefore, I think that the fate of (Russia) is sad, of course. "
Koch happily, childishly, happily laughed at the bleak state of Russia, its humiliation and the inevitable, in his opinion, transformation into a raw materials appendage of the West. The very idea that Russia has no prospects and no one needs, as far as can be judged, has introduced the recent vice-premier of “this country” into a state of unrestrained, uncontrollable enthusiasm. Perhaps he simply considers the tragedy of Russia to be his personal achievement.
11 September 1997, the Prosecutor General Skuratov, announced the verification of reports that Koch, heading the State Property Committee, received 100 thousand dollars for another unwritten book on privatization. On October 1, the Moscow prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case against Koch for abuse of office. And in November, detailed data on the “writers' case” were published - and that 60% of the fee was paid to Chubais, Boyko, Mostovoy, Koch and Kazakov in June. Chubais said that the authors planned to donate 95% of the amount to the fund that organized their funding, but it sounded so ridiculous that it no longer seemed to be used for protection. It turned out that Chubais lied - and for some reason no one was surprised.
And koh? Koch presented to the tax authorities copies of documents on the book, which added fuel to the fire: the deputy chairman of the board of ONEXIM Bank turned out to be the mediator between him and the Swiss publisher, and the employee of the Swiss subsidiary of ONEXIM was the owner of the generous publisher.
In May, the prosecutor's office accused Koch of apartment fraud in 1998: in December 1993 bought the three-room apartment of the then-market value of more than 100 thousand dollars for ... 2280 dollars for the whole apartment! He was assisted by a company in whose authorized capital the State Property Committee contributed several buildings in Moscow. Similar charges were brought against many officials of the State Property Committee, including the three deputy chairmen. The case was closed under an amnesty in December 1999, but all officials of the State Property Committee, including Koch, pleaded guilty.
In November, 1999, the prosecutor's office opened a criminal case against Koch regarding the pledge auction for Norilsk Nickel. The investigation came to an obvious conclusion: Koch helped ONEXIM Bank to get shares of Norilsk Nickel at a lower price. But this criminal case was closed under an amnesty.
Later, in August 2003 of the year, State Duma Deputy Melnikov announced that he had received copies of internal documents of ONEXIM Bank on opening Koch 1 on September 1997 of the “permission to spend” in 6,5 million. According to Melnikov, Koch intentionally violated the methodology for determining the starting price Norilsk Nickel shares and almost doubled it down: from 310 to 170 million dollars, after which, without justification, it banned Rossiysky Bank from its competitor on the pledge auction.
But the state remained deaf to the charges: it seems that during the conduct of mortgage auctions, such frauds were the rule and not the exception.
Gravedigger "freedom of speech"
The arrival of V.Putin to power for a while returned Koch to the "clip" of the powerful. Probably, the main role in this was played by the protection of Chubais and the growing conflict of the second president of Russia with Boris Berezovsky, who somewhat overestimated his role in the new "power vertical".
In May 2000, Koch was introduced to the board of directors of Ust-Luga, and on June 10, to the board of directors of Gazprom-media. It was the time of the defeat of the media empire of Gusinsky, who, under the guise of “freedom of speech”, tried to tackle the usual blackmail of power - ultimately - with her own money.
Such arrogance justified itself in the "dashing nineties", but with the new "master of the Kremlin" she did not pass. Koch became the executor of the defeat of the “old” NTV and the pacification of its trying to rebel journalists, confirming that in Russia there are no carriers of a more totalitarian consciousness than the liberals.
With obvious enthusiasm, he settled old scores: during the time of the seven-bankers, Gusinsky, not admitted to collateral auctions, used the power of his propaganda not only against Chubais, but also against his entire team, in which Alik Koch played one of the first violins. “How subtly he can furnish his own bankruptcy as the bankruptcy of freedom of speech in Russia,” Koch said at the beginning of 2000's about Gusinsky.
In September, 2000 of the Year, "master of all trades" substantiated the position of the authorities in relation to the media empire of Gusinsky: "Since Gazprom is the main creditor of NTV, ... it should go to Gazprom-media, but not for how ... Gusinsky claims , to fulfill the commands of the Kremlin, but ... because we want to return our investments and do not want losses ... "He expressed his willingness to personally manage the television company, although he made a reservation:" I would like to attract professional managers. "
Of course, in April 2001, NTV shareholders, on the initiative of Gazprom-Media, elected not one of the “professional managers”, namely Koch, as chairman of the board of directors of NTV. In an open letter, he immediately accused the leader of the Gusinsky NTV, Yevgeny Kiselev, of lying and evading meetings. In the text, which can be addressed to any liberal, including himself, Koch rightly asked: “You say that you serve freedom of speech. But can it be used as a lie? .. Do you want me to say what you fear? You are afraid the truth. "
"The correct and fair struggle cannot be stylistically shameful. You have lost your style. This is the beginning of the end. This is false pathos. This is fake passionarity. This is fortissimo. Tear. This is all stylistically helpless. Flag from the toilet ... This is just bad. Bad for This is inept. Beethoven, played on the balalaika, is not Beethoven. What a nasty thing is your fish in the water. Kiselev on the operator's ladder, pronouncing an angry philippic with lips shiny from foie gras. Screeching. Like iron on glass. Pimples. And you? Must be older b. It is necessary to be. It is necessary to ventilate. Ventilate. Wash the floors. Relax. His lies you insult my mind "(the last phrase seems so like Koch, that he used it in his subsequent diatribe.)
In September, Koch tried to launch on NTV a television show under the characteristic name “Greed”, but after three releases he gave it to another presenter, referring to employment, and October 12 resigned as general director of Gazprom-Media, accusing his benefactors from Gazprom in "hidden intrigues".
Out of context
Koch tried to stay afloat - and at the end of February 2002, the Legislative Assembly of the Leningrad Region elected him a member of the Federation Council. But the figure was too odious, the election was challenged in court. Pobarahtavshis, Koch surrendered, abandoning the desired position, but referred not to procedural violations that were blamed on him, but to "rumors about money allegedly paid to parliamentarians," that is, a bribe, which, given his reputation, is plausible.
However, “Alik” didn’t give up - and at the end of April 2003 headed SPS election headquarters, promising “oligarch parties” third place - not just for a passing place on the list, but also a salary of half a million dollars a year. Koch showed himself to be a "multi-operator": he announced that he had headed the SPS headquarters in St. Petersburg, as well as the party newspaper (dismissing its editor), where he published his book "Vodka Box", writing himself fees.
The internal party committee of the Union of Right Forces laid personal responsibility for the failure of the liberals (who never returned to the State Duma) to Koch’s “effective manager” - along with the political strategist Marina Litvinovich.
Experts melancholy called the reason for the defeat the pragmatic theft: they estimated that up to two thirds of the pre-election budget was stolen, that is, from 12 to 26 million dollars (and Koch's function was not only organization, but also financial management). It did not cause a scandal: after all, what could be more natural than the implementation by the liberals of their own liberal values?
After the collapse of ATP, Koch publishes a glossy magazine, The Bear. Believing himself to be a writer, he writes vivid notes on Facebook, promoting liberalism with sophistication, which Goebbels would envy.
In April, 2014, he said that he would not return to Russia from Germany because of the accusation of smuggling cultural property - a picture valued at 18 thousand rubles. (possibly, just as Norilsk Nickel was rated). Liberal parties, straining their strength, do not get tired of experiencing this irreplaceable loss.
Koch himself lives in the most comfortable conditions for himself and with pleasure devotes his soul to Russia, which he has not yet been able to destroy, but it seems he is full of hope.
His life was a success: the dream of the liberal came true.
Liberal intelligence
Liberalism is badly compatible with reason: understanding the goals of global monopolies, it is difficult to be the executor of their plans. This case is for maniacs - and their intellect is one-sided and flawed.
Understanding and feeling the details, Koch is pathologically incapable of perceiving what is happening as a whole. This made it indispensable in the course of reforms, when the liberals had to destroy the whole, hiding behind the solution of private problems. Intellect, observation and a sense of style are flattened out of him by amazing moral and ethical deafness and frank self-sufficient egoism. It is not so much a mind as a chaotic and entangled erudition, which Chubais, the genius of iron superficiality, confuses with depth - a phenomenon completely unknown to him. It’s not for nothing that the middle-aged Koh is already calling himself "Alikom" - infantilism has not gone away.
After the murder of Nemtsov, Koch took part in the liberal "carriage races", solemnly exclaiming his tremulous fear of becoming the next victim - along with Gudkov Jr. and Xenia Sobchak, whom he managed to identify as an accomplice in the murder: they say, princess of the St. Petersburg clan, catching Nemtsov in cowardice psychological calculation lured that from a cozy, safe Israel to a disgusting Moscow under the killers' bullets ... And at the same time promised "another wave of price increases" and the beginning of mass political repression in August 2015 of the year, oil at 20 dollars per barrel (of course, because of Putin’s policies) and Europe’s complete rejection of Russian gas in five years.
It seems that even now, as in privatization, he really doesn’t care what kind of nonsense to bear: then it was necessary to “crush” the country and distribute its pieces in the right hands, and now it’s dangerous to the West to think about Russia’s rights and interests.
In his controversy, Koch gladly uses both the shocking opponent’s rudeness and Chubais-like impudent lies (which he was repeatedly caught, for example, by Illarionov). At the same time, he is pathologically sincere: a kind of eternal baby of Russian liberalism, through whose mouth the truth speaks, revealing not only him, but the entire liberal clan. Like the German soldiers, who did not hesitate to undress from the village wells naked to wash themselves in the July 1941 heat of the year, Koch does not restrain the spontaneous flow of his sincerity. His rudeness is surprisingly organic. That is why he will go down in history.
In January 2002, confirming what was said in the above-mentioned interview, Koch called the Russian people "so-called."
It is no coincidence that Chubais called Koch a "true patriot of Russia": "Alik" truly embodies a liberal understanding of patriotism.
Commenting on the September 11 2001 attack, Koch noted that when they had blown up houses in Moscow before, he had no such feeling of involvement. And he explained: just in New York he has "all the streets of his family." But in Moscow it is not, and for a liberal this is normal ...
Looking at the liberals, even those who have retired from their jobs, are not at all like the Nazi butchers, we should not forget what these people have done to us, and what they still want to do - and they will do it if they are not stopped.
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