The open letter that became known as the “Letter of the Thirteen” (titled "A Way Out of the Dead End"), signed by thirteen of post-Soviet Russia’s most powerful businessmen ahead of the 1996 presidential election, reflected the power of capital in post-Soviet politics.

The political satire show "Kukly [Puppets]" mocks Anatoly Chubais, a key architect of the disastrous early-1990s Russian privatization push known as "shock therapy." From Episode 47, “Hostages,” which aired on NTV on 27 January 1996.

“A Way Out of the Dead End,” an op-ed co-authored by prominent Russian “oligarchs” and published in the Wall Street Journal-like daily “Kommersant” in April 1996, which announced their intention to use their considerable media resources to sink the Communist Gennady Zyuganov in the upcoming 1996 presidential election.

In the weeks leading up to the Second Chechen War, Russia’s right wing publications reminded their audiences of the humiliation of the First Chechen War, and called for—nationalist, racist, brutal—revenge.