World | financial crisis As Oligarchs Lose Billions, Kremlin Steps In Russia bails out first businessman, but more trouble looms By Jason Farago Posted Oct 29, 2008 7:11 AM CDT Copied Alfa Group head Mikhail Fridman, right, leaves a press conference in Moscow, Monday, June 16, 2008. Fridman is partaking in a $50 billion bailout set up by a Russian state bank. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) The Kremlin is allowing an individual businessman to tap into a $50 billion rescue fund, reports the Wall Street Journal, signaling a shake-up of the relationship between the Russian government and the country's oligarchs. Mikhail Fridman, whose creditors declared him in default on a $2 billion loan from Deutsche Bank, got the bailout from a state bank controlled by Vladimir Putin—but other capitalists might not be so lucky. Moscow insiders say the government is seeking to keep important assets under Russian control, rather than let them pass to foreign creditors. But the billions in debt that the oligarchs racked up makes that a tall order. A critical test comes this week when Oleg Deripaska, often called Russia's richest man, faces a deadline on a loan secured by a 25% stake in a Russian metals giants; if he defaults, it would go to American and British banks. Read These Next 11 people hurt in a "brutal act of violence" in Michigan. We knew Letterman would pipe up about Colbert eventually. A parent's nightmare, in a white cardboard box. Now we know why Ghislaine Maxwell may have opened up to the DOJ. Report an error