One of the biggest private beneficiaries of Sochi is Arkady Rotenberg, a boyhood friend and former judo partner of Mr Putin, who got rich by selling pipes to Gazprom, another state company. According to Bloomberg, Mr Rotenberg’s companies have won contracts worth $7.4 billion, more than the budget of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Dmitry Peskov, Mr Putin’s spokesman, insists that “no friendship can grant you access to Olympics projects.”
A contract for the most expensive bit of the Olympics—a road connecting seaside venues with the mountains and costing nearly $9 billion—went to Russian Railways, the state rail monopoly headed by Vladimir Yakunin, a former KGB general and comrade of Mr Putin’s. Russian Railways also awarded a subcontract for the road to a private company, SK Most, with close links to Mr Yakunin. SK Most has a controlling stake in Millennium Bank, where the board of directors at one point included Mr Yakunin’s wife, and which supports his church activities. According to its website, the bank is now jointly owned by Russia Railways and its subcontractors, and is chaired by Mr Yakunin’s vice-president. Last year 25% of SK Most was bought by Gennady Timchenko, another of Mr Putin’s old acquaintances.