Bank of Moscow Labyrinths.

I am long passionate about the history of Russian in the period that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a former police officer, I have a keen interest towards the period when Russian organized crime flourished as never before or after – late 80s and early 90s. Those years were really tough, organized crime expanded into all sectors of the Russian economy and even government. Russian industry had been totally controlled by the hands of corrupt oligarchs who worked with organized crime to secure their status quo. Corruption enjoyed an overwhelming presence in the Russian political society, as some oligarchs and criminals were former politicians. This period of Russian history has produced many gossips, most of which were selectively targeted at several well known names, such as Abramovich, Potanin, Khodorkovsky, Luzhkov, Sobchak, Gaidar, and many others. The fact is that the truth is shrouded in mystery, and many people, including former key actors of those times’ political arena, use this disorientation of people hence to distort the truth and hide it. Soon you will understand where I am pointing at.

My passion for this period brought me in a bookstore where I discovered a new book – ‘The Bank of Moscow Labyrinths’, allegedly written to describe the process of how Russia primary resources, along with the so called financial flow, were gradually settling abroad. The social inequality has risen sharply during the 1990s, and this rise occurred on the account of clear events. The author’s illiteracy in terms of facts that have already been fully proven was very surprising. Intentionally or unintentionally, the author Jossiv Kim has substantially distorted the real facts. This is interesting, because some of the facts he brings in in his book were scandalous events widely covered by the media. It is impossible not to know such painfully obvious things. I cannot believe that Jossiv Kim who is a man with a criminal background and should draw on first-hand experiences for his novel, was not aware of some fundamental facts. To me, ‘The Bank of Moscow Labyrinths’ does not just look as an unsuccessful attempt to write a book. It looks more as an attempt to sabotage the truth and cast a shadow over the names mentioned in the book. If this is done deliberately, and not due to Josiv Kim’s ignorance and unprofessionalism, then shame on him.

The book has recently been translated in English, which made this reading available to non-Russian speakers. What has amazed me from the very beginning is the quality of translation – it was extremely poor, much poorer that it was expected from such a low-budget edition. It looks as if the readers’ interests do not really count to the author and translator. The translation makes the book impossible to read. As a conclusion, I would like to say that those looking for real information about Russia in late 80s and early 90s. Jossiv Kim is a slanderer, a dog on a chain writing for the sake of bleaching the reputation of his criminal bosses. His book lacks any objectivity and do not show events the way they really happened. Do not waste your time on this book.