MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For decades, American businessman Michael Calvey was bullish on doing business in Russia. He was the co-founder of a venture capital firm that had attracted billions of dollars for Russian companies. All seemed well until a falling out with a Russian business partner persuaded Russian prosecutors to charge him with fraud. Now free after a legal saga that went on for five years - including a two-month stint in a notorious prison, house arrest and a conviction now nullified that Calvey still contests - he's written about all this in a new book called "Odyssey Moscow." And Mr. Calvey's with us now. Welcome. Thanks so much for joining us.
MICHAEL CALVEY: Thanks, Michel. I'm very happy to be here.
MARTIN: So, you know, Russia's relations with the West have waxed and waned, mostly - I don't know - waned over the 20-plus years you were in business with the country. I just wondered, but all that time you were able to build your business - could you just talk a little bit about that?
CALVEY: Well, I started working on projects investing in Russia when, you know - it was at the same time Yeltsin came and spoke to a joint session of Congress and had a standing ovation in 1992. So there was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and support from the West towards the Yeltsin regime and towards the new Russia that they were building.
MARTIN: You talked a lot in the book about how there were certain red flags that you - that were there but you kind of ignored. Could you talk a little bit about that?
CALVEY: What I didn't really see and appreciate was behind the scenes in the banks, in the energy companies, of course in every ministry, but also, especially in every courthouse in Russia, the control and depth of control of the FSB over that, the eroding freedoms, you know. It took my arrest to see it up close in the sort of cynical face of that system.
MARTIN: The FSB being the former KGB. What was the logic that you think now of your partners wanting to see you arrested? It seemed that you had useful contacts, transatlantic relationships. What do you think was the point?
CALVEY: Yeah. Well, first of all, we made, you know, a hundred investments in Russia, and this was the only one where we ended up in a conflict with other shareholders of the same companies. The reason for the conflict - to be very short about it - is that we discovered that these two individuals, who were shareholders of a small bank that merged with one of ours, had stripped cash out of the company just before the merger, and, you know, it became a dispute. We ended up suing them in London, as the agreement stipulated. They realized they were going to lose and they could have lost everything, so they persuaded the FSB to launch a criminal case against me as the best way to save themselves.
MARTIN: You describe - just the whole experience of going through the Russian court system is really disturbing. Can you tell me what about that experience really stands out to you?
CALVEY: Well, it was straight out of Kafka, and I did read Kafka's "The Trial" while our trial was going on, and it was, you know, almost word for word in some cases. But it seemed to me that the investigators realized within about a month that what they were accusing us of just was flat not true. It didn't happen. But they sort of think that all businessmen are guilty of some crimes. They just couldn't find it or prove it. But they also, at that point, realized that what they were doing was causing huge damage to the Russian economy and investment climate. So that's kind of where I think a compromise was made in the system, where they took me out of this notorious and miserable prison but kept me under house arrest, and it still took another couple of years to find a kind of face-saving way for the system to say, you know, they did something wrong. We couldn't prove it, but, you know, they've been punished enough, so we should sort of let them go.
MARTIN: I wonder if there's a lesson there for this administration, which seems to feel that an American presence, perhaps in Ukraine, or increasing the American business presence in Ukraine would present an obstacle to further aggression. From your experience, is that a valid idea?
CALVEY: If that can be one of the carrots or incentives for Russia to come to the table and to make concessions that guarantee Ukraine's independence in the long-term future, then that's a worthy goal. And it would make sense. About the investment in Ukraine, you know, I personally don't expect there to be much value in those mining projects or effort, you know, or resources, rare earth minerals that are being talked about.
MARTIN: And why do you say that?
CALVEY: Those are mining projects. So before you could get anything out of those projects, you'd need to put billions of dollars into infrastructure and other types of operations. If there were super valuable and enormously profitable rare earth minerals in Ukraine, they would have been developed years ago by the many sharp-elbowed and wealthy Ukrainian businessmen who exist.
MARTIN: So the question then becomes that - sort of the argument is that an American presence - an increased American business presence in Ukraine, and presumably Russia, would be sort of protective.
CALVEY: One of the things that the war showed is that with countries like Russia and possibly also the United States, geopolitical matters will always outweigh business considerations. And when conflict, you know, in those matters arises, business people can be discarded like pawns on a chessboard. And I know what it feels like to be a pawn. I don't want to become one again.
MARTIN: Your case drew international attention. I was just curious about why you decided to write a book about your experience.
CALVEY: It was a life-changing experience both for miserable and, in some ways, inspiring reasons. Inspiring - if you read the book, you'll understand why.
MARTIN: Well, let me just pause there because I was struck by, obviously, I think a lot of us have, you know, really, you know, horrifying images of what these prisons are like. But one of the things I found really striking was just the camaraderie with other prisoners and how they rallied to the occasion. Would that be a fair way to describe it?
CALVEY: Yeah. They, you know - how they supported each other. They supported me. It was especially a contrast with what I expected. I expected to be put in a cell with a bunch of hardened criminals who would be trying to intimidate me to admit guilt or something. And so it was inspiring. And I do dedicate the book to them, so you know, they were amazing guys. They had none of the advantages that I did. They didn't have the support of presidents of the United States and the whole Russian business community and a huge fund with an army of lawyers to support, and yet they were the ones giving me advice when I needed it.
MARTIN: Michael Calvey is the author of "Odyssey Moscow: One Man's Journey From Russia Optimist To Prisoner Of The State (ph)." Mr. Calvey, thanks so much for talking with us.
CALVEY: Thank you, Michel.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
