THICK AS THIEVES

Alisher Usmanov had already nabbed a mining fortune in Russia—and was eyeing American tech companies—when he sat down with Forbes for tea and pastries at his 30-acre compound in the Moscow suburbs in early 2010. An early Facebook investor, Usmanov praised the U.S. as “technological country number one.” But the majority owner of Metalloinvest was careful to make his allegiances clear.

You can easily find several photos of the prime minister [Vladimir Putin] among the chandeliers and Italian marble at Metalloinvest’s Moscow headquarters. “I am proud that I know Putin, and the fact that everybody does not like him is not Putin’s problem,” says Usmanov. He stretches for a historical comparison: “I don’t think the world loved Truman after Nagasaki.” —Forbes, March 29, 2010