Against the Grain of Businesss and Politics

Alexender Mamut's current interest in Waterstone's bookstore in some ways goes against the grain of strategic investment by Russian oligarchs, although the British media has recently become a focus of attention.

Mr Mamut was a key supporter of First Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and is now regarded as one of the oligarchs closest to Prime Minister Putin.

Boris's Bookshelf received a copy of Mr Yeltin's autobiography, "Against the Grain", as a gift at the time of publication, and we read it with great interest.

Former President Yeltsin, who died in 2007, became identified with the political and economic problems suffered by Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States following the breakup of the Soviet Union.

However, it may well be that without the intervention of Boris Yeltin in rallying opposition to a military coup in 1991 Russia would not have accomplished the transition from communism to a market economy.

The rest, as they say, is history; and had this been different Alexander Mamut might not be investing against the grain in Waterstone's bookstore