In February 1997 the then director of the Aeroflot office in Vienna, Konstantin Bushlanov called my wife to ask for a favour. A Very Important Person – Mr Bushlanov gave no name at that stage – was expected to arrive from Moscow and would Valentina be kind enough to use her knowledge and contacts to recommend a discreet luxury hotel in the Austrian Alps in order for the family of the VIP to have a great and so much deserved skiing holiday.
The reason for the call to this particular number was simple. Several months before my wife and I had started publishing a magazine that we called Business Lunch that purported to give guidance and advice to the new breed of the Russian millionaires who had started to spend their money abroad without any particular knowledge of what was commonly understood in the West as ‘quality’: fine wines, excellent food, top-class hotels ‘with understatement’ and bespoke tailoring. Their usual choice of accommodation was the Ritz in London and Paris (not that I have anything against the Ritz) and typical must-have objects were Versace clothes, leathers and furniture. For jewellery many of the Russian nouveaux riches preferred either the Chopard or Chanel brands that proudly called themselves haut joaillerie. Such places as Savile Row in London or the Widder Hotel in Zürich were not yet on their map, while the new Ralph Lauren flagship store on Old Bond Street was still under construction. So we thought it might be a good idea to earn a little money from advertisers while at the same time giving good advice to the readers. Our Business Lunch became quite popular and, what was more important, Konstantin Bushlanov arranged for its free distribution on board Aeroflot flights going to and from Vienna. Besides, he was a nice, friendly guy, almost certainly not one of those GRU (Russian military intelligence) members who occupied most of the slots in the Aeroflot offices around the world.
Obviously, it was our duty to help: my wife immediately answered that we indeed had contacts in a very suitable venue just outside Salzburg. The offer was quickly accepted and we rushed off to have a discreet talk with Frau Herzog, the owner.
Standing high on the Gaisberg hill, the Vital Hotel Kobenzl is an oasis of tranquillity and relaxation. But what distinguished it from another true luxury hotel, a long-time favourite of ours, the Schloss Fuschl situated only about ten minutes away, was Frau Herzog herself. As a prominent member of the hospitality industry in the Salzburg area, she could ‘smell’ the right customer, and apart from offering all the appropriate amenities and breathtaking views from most of the rooms and the restaurant, she offered her very personal attention to those who could pay for it – well, but not over the top. With all-understanding Frau Herzog every detail was discussed and agreed upon and several days later we went to the Salzburg airport to pick up the guests.
They were a family of four and they arrived from Moscow by private jet. They introduced themselves as Badri, Olga, Roman and the 3-year-old David. We soon became quite friendly and visited Olga and her sons often, especially because Badri had from time to time to leave for Switzerland to meet a business partner. I sometimes played with David and remember well an odd Russian phrase that he used once when I showed him a simple magic trick. Observing my bare hand that a second ago had held a banknote, he said pensively: ‘Hmm, what a naughty child you are, man!’
Olga Safonova and her children enjoyed their skiing amid the tranquillity and splendour of the Austrian Alps tremendously. Badri, a black-haired Georgian in his early forties, was very generous to Frau Herzog and, to her great satisfaction, her wine cellar’s stock of great French vintages was regularly required.
At that time we did not know that Badri was actually the chief executive of the ORT, the leading Russian television channel which then belonged to the famed business tycoon Boris Berezovsky. Or that he made his regular shuttles to Lausanne to discuss the Aeroflot privatisation scheme with Berezovsky, who was his closest business associate. Or that his name was in fact Arkady Patarkatsyshvili, and that he would soon become the richest Georgian in the world. In 1997, after eight years away from Russia, there were quite a few things we were not aware of.