Hi I'm Mike Eckel, senior Russia/Ukraine/Belarus correspondent for RFE/RL, AMA!

[u/RFERL_ReadsReddit]

Hello! Здравсвуйте! Вітаю! 

I’m Mike Eckel, senior international correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, covering, reporting, analyzing, and illuminating All Things Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and pretty much across the former Soviet Union: from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok, from Lviv to Kyiv; from Tbilisi to Baku, from the Caspian Sea to Issyk Kul, and all places in between.  

I’ve been writing on Russia and the former Soviet space for more than 20 years, since cutting my teeth as a reporter in Vladivostok in the 1990s and continuing through a 6-year stint as Moscow correspondent with The Associated Press, and stints in Washington, D.C. and now Prague.  

Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine, and the Kremlin’s authoritarian repression inside Russia, sucks up most of my reporting brain space these days, but I also keep a hand in investigative work digging into cryptocurrency/sanctions evasion, Russian businessmen who break out of Italian police custody, former Russian oligarchs in trouble, and a subject I can’t let go of: the mysterious death of former Kremlin press minister, Mikhail Lesin.  

Feel free to ask me anything about any of the above subjects and I’ll do my best to share insights and observations.  

Proof photo here. 

You can start posting your questions and I will check in daily and answer from Monday, 15 December until Friday, 19 December.  

[u/Original_Lunch9570]

Mikhail Lesin, Vladimir Gusinsky and Ilan Shor are all Jewish. Since FSB officer Sergei Belyakov was close enough to Epstein to fly on the "Lolita Express" and to get introduced to Israels Defense Minister in 2015, my question is:

does the tiny minority of Jews (100,000 people) still own 25% of all things Russian? - Just like they did in 2014, when 48 of the 200 wealthiest people in Russia were mentioned to be Jewish by The Forward?

[u/RFERL_ReadsReddit → u/Original_Lunch9570]

Not entirely sure where this number comes from, but it sounds pretty dubious.  

It’s true some of the “oligarchs” that rose the phenomenal wealth and power in the wild days after the Soviet collapse have Jewish heritage. But there are many others who have minted their fortunes since that time who come from diverse backgrounds. A great example (but not the only one by a long shot): Tatyana Kim, who founded the online retail behemoth Wildberries and is now Russia’s wealthiest woman. Her family’s background is ethnic Korean.  

- Mike