Alekperov first came to prominence in 1989 when he became deputy energy minister of the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev. Before the break up of the Soviet Union he was appointed CEO of the Lukoil oil company, where, during the Yeltsin years he obtained a 10 percent stake, enough to make him today one of Russia's ten richest people, with a fortune estimated at $4 billion. But this was a much lower percentage than that taken by the chairmen of rival oil companies, the same chairmen who are today finding themselves exiled or in court as President Putin brings the oligarch to heal. The success of Alekperov...