Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of the American basketball team New Jersey Nets, was elected yesterday as the leader of the Party of the Right Purpose, and on that occasion he promised to threaten the communists and become the second political party in the country.
The leadership of this metal industry tycoon over the pro-business party, which supports the head of state Dmitry Medvedev for a second term in 2012, is the first appearance of a powerful businessman on the Russian political scene in almost a decade, writes Reuters.
"We have to take over the parliament. In the near future, to become the second largest party and, after that, the first"
The Russian Federation is an empire by structure
After oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested and stripped of his fortune in 2003 during the tenure of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is widely expected to run for president again next year, business leaders have followed an unwritten rule to stay out of politics.
In an address to more than 170 party members in Moscow yesterday, Prokhorov criticized Russia's one-party rule, while claiming that the Right Cause Party was not "oppositional".
"Our country is called the Russian Federation, but according to its structure it is an empire. Only presidential power works here, and this type of government cannot bring stability, let alone development," said this metal king, promising to introduce the Party of the Right Purpose into parliament in the elections later this year.
"We have to take over the parliament. In the near future, to become the second largest party and, after that, the first," he emphasized.
He owns 17 percent of Rusal
Prokhorov has good relations with the Kremlin, and "Forbes" magazine estimated his wealth at 18 billion dollars.
Putin's ruling United Russia has 315 of the 450 seats in the Duma, the lower house of parliament. The Right Cause Party was founded two years ago and has no seats in parliament.
Prokhorov got rich by selling a quarter of his stake in the metals production company Norilsk Nickel on the eve of the 2008 financial crisis.
It owns a 17 percent stake in the largest aluminum processing company in the world - Rusal, and a 30 percent stake in the leading Russian gold producer.
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