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Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire Russian businessman and politician, reckons the Kremlin should help rescue Cyprus from financial collapse. But Vladimir Putin does not appear to be listening. Here’s why.

Writing in Wednesday’s edition of Vedomosti, the Russian business daily, Prokhorov argues:

Cyprus is an important partner of Russia and we must support it. I remain a supporter of a united Europe where Russia is a leading European economy. Even now we have an opportunity to demonstrate our position as a strong player in the global arena.

The article appeared as Michael Sarris, the Cypriot finance minister, arrived cap in hand in Moscow after his country’s parliament rejected a €10bn EU-led rescue that requires €5.8bn to be seized from Cypriot bank accounts.

Sarris’s Moscow schedule included talks with Anton Siluanov, his Russian counterpart, and a meeting with Igor Shuvalov, Russian first deputy prime minister. The talks followed President Nicos Anastasiades’s half hour phone call with Putin late on Tuesday. Anastasiades’s office said the call had been “fruitful and constructive”. But on Wednesday, Sarris admitted Russia’s finance ministry had not offered him anything “concrete”, while Putin had not even found time to meet him.

It could be that instead of reading Prokhorov in Vedomosti, Putin has been trawling the internet to take the temperature of public opinion. Despite historic cultural and religious links between the two countries, most Russian bloggers are against coming to the rescue of Cyprus.

Envy is one reason. Why, after all, would ordinary Russians struggling to make a living want to bail out a country where, on the surface at least, people have it so easy? “The rich are asking the poor for help,” says a blogger called Veteran on the gazeta.ru news website. “Cypriots should help Russians. Their salaries and pensions are higher.”

Such views are probably enough to worry Putin who has always, in public at least, positioned himself as a man of the people, dedicated to the well-being of ordinary people.

Live Journal, Russia’s most popular social networking website, has been buzzing with Cyprus chat. Economically savvy bloggers believe Russia, rather than criticizing the terms of the EU bailout, should accept it as far better than pouring its own money into what could be a black hole. Here, for example, is Vlad_gorn:

It does not surprise me that Russian authorities are ready to spend as much as necessary to rescue their resources and those of their close friends. And it’s much easier for the Cypriots to get (Russian) money – without any strings attached so that Russian depositors won’t suffer – than fulfill the conditions of the European Union…

But what I don’t understand is what Russia sees in the future in Cyprus… In a short time the situation will repeat itself in any case. As a result of being too stingy to pay 10 per cent [on their Cyprus bank accounts] and additional taxes in future, Russian depositors in my view risk losing everything.

Putin, even if he would like to, cannot be seen by his people to be in a rush to rescue Cyprus.

Prokhorov – worth $13bn according to Forbes magazine – made his fortune in banking and natural resources, and is carving out a new role as a Russian politician. He wants the government to join forces with business to solve the Cyprus question. He wrote:

It’s important that the Russian authorities and business representatives present a united front. The authorities must respect the position of business and private business back up the position of the state. This will guarantee the stability of the Russian financial system and its depositors.

Of course, Prokhorov could solve Cyprus’s problem at a stroke by putting his hand in his own pocket. But that would not square with his ideal of a “united front”.

Related reading:
Cyprus: a chance for Putin to join rescue… and fight corruption, beyondbrics
Russians join locals as big Cyprus losers, FT
Why Cyprus ripples are hitting Russia harder than Ukraine, beyondbrics
Russia’s Cyprus problem, beyondbrics