Corruption is Russia's biggest problem and certainly some entrepreneurs are in prison due to official corruption but that doesn't justify lumping it with Venezu

Corruption is Russia's biggest problem and certainly some entrepreneurs are in prison due to official corruption but that doesn't justify lumping it with Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Also, it should be noted that the word "entrepreneur" has a far different history in Russia than it does in the West. Many entrepreneurs got started in the 80s as "cooperatives" selling cheaply made jeans and other consumer goods in open air markets to a populace that had cash but little consumer goods to spend it on. This kind of private "profiteering" was illegal in the USSR thus the people doing this were already breaking the law and were getting used to getting away with this "crime." With the collapse of the USSR many of these groups expanded into other businesses- currency exchange, car sales, etc. Unfortunately, since the roots were illegal, many of the 80s entrepreneurs came from the elements of society that were willing to risk breaking the law to make money- often these people had a different view of competition- rather than make a better product or offer lower prices, it was much easier to beat up or sometimes kill your competition. As the 80s transitioned into the 90s, the violent groups became more and more powerful, with the early 90s becoming associated with open warfare among these groups. Those that survived into the late 90s, turned into legitimate businessmen - gone were the illicit activities, now these guys run banks, shopping centers, dealerships, real estate firms, etc. However many of them do have blood on their hands (and I'm not even talking about the large scale oligarchs and how they got their wealth)- should they be allowed to get away with murder or theft? How do I know this (other than a general interest in the subject)? My dad was intimately involved with the cooperatives in the 80s, we fled to the US during the early 90s, some of his friends (and sometimes their families) that remained in business didn't survive. I remember going back home in the mid-90s when things were still a bit crazy and driving through the city with armed escorts- some of the stories that I heard would raise the hair on your neck.