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ARKADY I. VOLSKY, 74, FOUNDER OF RUSSIAN BUSINESS LOBBY, DIES
By Andrew E. Kramer
The New York Times
Published: September 13, 2006
MOSCOW, Sept. 12 - Arkady I. Volsky, a confidant of the Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev and founder of Russia's most prominent business
lobby, died here on Saturday. He was 74.
The cause was complications of leukemia, according to the Union of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the business lobby he founded in
1991 and directed until last year; it became known as a club for the
Russian oligarchs.
Mr. Volsky belonged to a generation of officials whose careers
straddled the breakup of the Soviet Union. He worked under four Soviet
general secretaries and three Russian presidents and served as a
peace negotiator in two wars. His successor at the business lobby,
Aleksandr N. Shokhin, described him as "a man of the Soviet system
who was accepted by the capitalists."
Mr. Volsky grew up an orphan in Dobrush, Belarus, in the 1930's and
worked on the floor of the Zil truck and limousine plant in Moscow,
eventually becoming the factory's party boss.
Then, Mr. Volsky had his biggest career break without even interviewing
for the job. It came under Yuri V. Andropov, the former K.G.B. chief
who became general secretary, Mr. Volsky recalled in a recent interview
with the newspaper Kommersant, republished on Tuesday.
Mr. Andropov called Mr. Volsky to his Kremlin office; the two had
never met. "My legs felt like cotton," Mr. Volsky said. Mr. Andropov
said simply he would appoint the younger man as his top economic
adviser. Mr. Volsky said he replied, "Maybe I should tell you about
myself first." To which, Mr. Volsky recalled, the former spy chief
replied: "Do you really think you know more about yourself than I
know about you?" He started work the next day.
Mr. Volsky rode out the choppy Soviet leadership struggles of the
early 1980's to become a close aide to Mr. Gorbachev, serving as
a peace negotiator during the Nagorno-Karabakh war between ethnic
Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Earning his democratic credentials, Mr. Volsky was a supporter of
the dissident Andrei D. Sakharov. His ties with Communist factory
bosses, meanwhile, led him to found the business lobby in 1991, which
paradoxically was seen as a group opposed to capitalist reforms
because of the party background of its members. But soon enough
Russian industry was privatized, and Mr. Volsky began representing the
interests of the new owners, the rich businessmen known as oligarchs.
The Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs now represents the big
mining and energy businesses.
"He was always very flexible; he was friendly with any regime,
Gorbachev, Yeltsin or Putin," Irina M. Khakamada, a political reformer,
said in a telephone interview.
In his political work, under President Boris N. Yeltsin, Mr. Volsky
opened a negotiating channel with the Chechen rebels. It made headway,
though a separate Russian team reached a cease-fire deal before
Mr. Volsky's group.
Mr. Volsky is survived by his wife, Lyudmila; one son; one daughter
and six grandchildren.
By Andrew E. Kramer
The New York Times
Published: September 13, 2006
MOSCOW, Sept. 12 - Arkady I. Volsky, a confidant of the Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev and founder of Russia's most prominent business
lobby, died here on Saturday. He was 74.
The cause was complications of leukemia, according to the Union of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the business lobby he founded in
1991 and directed until last year; it became known as a club for the
Russian oligarchs.
Mr. Volsky belonged to a generation of officials whose careers
straddled the breakup of the Soviet Union. He worked under four Soviet
general secretaries and three Russian presidents and served as a
peace negotiator in two wars. His successor at the business lobby,
Aleksandr N. Shokhin, described him as "a man of the Soviet system
who was accepted by the capitalists."
Mr. Volsky grew up an orphan in Dobrush, Belarus, in the 1930's and
worked on the floor of the Zil truck and limousine plant in Moscow,
eventually becoming the factory's party boss.
Then, Mr. Volsky had his biggest career break without even interviewing
for the job. It came under Yuri V. Andropov, the former K.G.B. chief
who became general secretary, Mr. Volsky recalled in a recent interview
with the newspaper Kommersant, republished on Tuesday.
Mr. Andropov called Mr. Volsky to his Kremlin office; the two had
never met. "My legs felt like cotton," Mr. Volsky said. Mr. Andropov
said simply he would appoint the younger man as his top economic
adviser. Mr. Volsky said he replied, "Maybe I should tell you about
myself first." To which, Mr. Volsky recalled, the former spy chief
replied: "Do you really think you know more about yourself than I
know about you?" He started work the next day.
Mr. Volsky rode out the choppy Soviet leadership struggles of the
early 1980's to become a close aide to Mr. Gorbachev, serving as
a peace negotiator during the Nagorno-Karabakh war between ethnic
Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
Earning his democratic credentials, Mr. Volsky was a supporter of
the dissident Andrei D. Sakharov. His ties with Communist factory
bosses, meanwhile, led him to found the business lobby in 1991, which
paradoxically was seen as a group opposed to capitalist reforms
because of the party background of its members. But soon enough
Russian industry was privatized, and Mr. Volsky began representing the
interests of the new owners, the rich businessmen known as oligarchs.
The Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs now represents the big
mining and energy businesses.
"He was always very flexible; he was friendly with any regime,
Gorbachev, Yeltsin or Putin," Irina M. Khakamada, a political reformer,
said in a telephone interview.
In his political work, under President Boris N. Yeltsin, Mr. Volsky
opened a negotiating channel with the Chechen rebels. It made headway,
though a separate Russian team reached a cease-fire deal before
Mr. Volsky's group.
Mr. Volsky is survived by his wife, Lyudmila; one son; one daughter
and six grandchildren.