I see this word thrown around all the time on reddit and in the news. I thought Oligarchies were governments ruled by a few people. Do these rich Russians hold official government positions? Do they wield significant government influence in a country under Putin’s thumb?
Hi, you might be interested in answers in this thread by u/jbdyer and myself.
The term is a bit of a holdover from the 1990s, when a few private business owners wielded enormous economic and political power in Russia (especially the "Seven Bankers", who helped re-elect Yeltsin in 1996, and influenced his government appointments thereafter). The Russian oligarchs of today don't wield the same kind of independent power, and in many cases are not even the same people - "oligarch" in the contemporary context generally refers to someone whose wealth and influence is directly related to their personal relationship with Putin - usually they are former security officials, and often they are in control of state-owned enterprises.
As I note in my answer in the linked thread, the concept of "oligarchs" mostly comes from 1990s Russia, but it's not unique to that country - most post-Soviet states have their version of oligarchs, often literally being called that, with Ukraine being a prominent example.