The Most Powerful Man In Russia

Vladimir O. Potanin was in top form. After his chauffeur-driven BMW dropped him off inside the Kremlin gates, the athletic 36-year-old president of Oneximbank strode into the office of President Boris Yeltsin. Looking Yeltsin in the eye, he shook his hand and took the place of honor at the table across from the head of state. Trailing behind Potanin were five of Russia's other business princes in their hand-tailored suits and silk ties, including the aggrieved Mikhail M. Fridman, 33, chairman of conglomerate Alfa Group, and media magnate Vladimir A. Gusinsky, 45. Potanin had bested them in the sale of one of the state's crown jewels: a 25% stake in telecommunications giant Svyazinvest.

Yeltsin was stern. For two months, the captains of industry gathered in his office had been waging a media war against one another as they angled for the last choice government assets on the block. Together with the country's energy czars, these biznesmen control about one-half of Russia's industrial wealth. In U.S. terms, it was as if Jack Welch, Bill Gates, and John Reed had taken to the airwaves to fight about a takeover. Potanin had angered rivals by refusing to play by normal Moscow rules, where state assets would be divvied up among tycoons at private sessions. Instead, he had insisted on a competitive auction for Svyazinvest and had paid a princely sum for it, breaking the game wide open. Now, his opponents wanted Yeltsin to bar him from future sales. But the President didn't agree and embraced Potanin's new credo of competition. Yeltsin promised that future privatizations would be fair and open to all players. After the meeting, Potanin declared: "We're ready to compete."