Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 822 - 812: Once and for All

Chapter 822: Chapter 812: Once and for All

"Another sizable investment, but a pity it’s invested abroad! I understand, though; our domestic energy surplus means building more oil refinery bases would be wasteful," Gavriil sighed.

Wang Ye smiled knowingly, continuing along the same line of thought:

"Yes, we are a major energy-exporting country, and over there, they’re a major energy-importing country. If we manage to handle the relations between us well,

then in the future, our crude oil and natural gas will have huge export markets in both the East and the West.

That’s like walking on two legs; even if one side runs into trouble, it won’t be too impactful.

In the past, we focused more on the West, but now we need to pay more attention to the East as well."

Gavriil and Puding both nodded in agreement.

Under Wang Ye’s subtle influence over the past two years, they had indeed paid more attention to international development trends.

No longer like before, with their eyes solely on the West, they now frequently paid attention to our neighbor to the East.

The less they knew, the better off they felt; but once they learned about it, they were shocked!

The neighbor to the East’s development over the past few years had exceeded their expectations.

Although it could be said that it’s because the neighbor’s foundation was weak and its economy small, making it easier to achieve double-digit growth rates,

no matter how you looked at it, it was still one of the few major powers in the whole world!

GDP growth rate approaching or even surpassing double digits every year...

And looking at the current momentum, there were no signs of slowing down, like a high-speed train that, with just its inertia, could continue moving far ahead, not capable of stopping at all!

How exactly did they manage it!

Although they didn’t say it, they were actually very envious.

Because in Russia, the biggest problem in recent years was poor economic development, leading to various social issues.

After all, it all boiled down to one word: "poor."

Because of poverty, the government found itself hamstrung by a tight financial budget in planning its expenditures, always looking to save wherever possible.

Because of poverty, the salary standards for personnel across all departments and institutions had been cut, and not just in remote areas. Even in Moscow, the capital, many grass-roots workers’ salaries were not enough to support their families.

University professors could only earn three to five hundred US dollars a month, barely enough to cover basic necessities, let alone anything more.

How could this not lead to numerous conflicts?

The Kremlin’s support rate had even fallen continuously, leading to so many opponents appearing in the next year’s election.

This was a vicious cycle!

If the economic issue could be resolved, then essentially all problems would no longer be problematic...

This was also the reason why, when Wang Ye showed his talent and passion for the national economy, the Kremlin became increasingly favorable towards him!

They were really in need of such talents!

......

After discussing Wang Ye’s trip to China, the conversation naturally shifted to the most focused topic in the political arena recently, the election.

Of course, it was Gavriil who brought it up first, as some topics are more appropriate for him to initiate. Neither Wang Ye nor Puding were suited to bring it up proactively.

"Misha, I hear your faction is quite in demand lately, with many Congressmen from other factions planning to join. You should have a considerable advantage in next year’s election, how many seats do you plan to take?" Gavriil asked with a smile.

In fact, his question was somewhat sensitive because how many seats a faction plans to take is confidential in the early stages and not to be made public!

Especially under the circumstances of particularly fierce competition this time, if you reveal your real target too soon, you might get sniped by your rivals.

But Wang Ye didn’t hide anything in front of the two men and said frankly, "If nothing unexpected happens, our faction should be able to secure around a hundred seats next year. We are working towards this goal."

A hundred seats were indeed Wang Ye’s target.

But not his only target!

In his plan, at the very least, he aimed to secure a hundred Duma seats by next year, raising the faction’s power ranking to second place.

Moreover, Wang Ye couldn’t claim any less.

Because according to current public opinion polls, their faction had a twenty percent support rate, which guaranteed at least ninety seats...

If he insisted on saying fifty or sixty, wouldn’t that be a blatant deceit of Puding and Gavriil?

So he simply stated his conservative goal, keeping his higher targets to himself for now.

Puding raised an eyebrow, Wang Ye’s answer wasn’t surprising to him, and he was quite satisfied with the candid attitude.

It showed that Misha, the young fella, at least didn’t harbor any ulterior motives in front of him, willing to ’confess’ such faction secrets openly.

Gavriil grinned and nodded, "Indeed, considering the upward trend of your faction, next year there’s a high probability you’ll edge out Krov’s faction and become the second largest in the Duma! That’s really not bad, you’ve done a great job!"

Clearly, the Kremlin and the Second Faction also didn’t get along.

Last election, the Second Faction posed the greatest threat to Puding!

Next year’s election, of course, the Second Faction would not contentedly accept defeat; they would come back once more.

Wang Ye frowned, looking rather troubled as he said, "Ah, it seems Krov and his group have set their sights on me. I heard that yesterday on a TV program, a senior Congressman from the Second Faction started attacking me vigorously. And the attack was directed at United Aviation Group, Russian Auto Group, and such, things that are clearly beneficial to the country and the people. I really don’t understand how they turned them into tools for me to reap benefits!"