我在俄罗斯的投资
直到今年 3 月，下诺夫哥罗德州前州长鲍里斯·涅姆佐夫被任命为第一副总理之前，我都没打算在俄罗斯投钱。我把他的任命看作是一次尝试，要将俄罗斯从强盗资本主义转向一个尊重法律、保护股东权利的资本主义。近期发生的事件证实了我的判断没错。
Until Boris Nemtsov, the former governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, was made first vice premier in March this year, I wasn’t planning to invest money in Russia. I perceived his appointment as an attempt to move away from robber capitalism to a law-abiding capitalism where shareholders’ rights are protected. Recent events have confirmed that I was right.
“斯维亚津电信”（Svyazinvest）股份的出售，充分体现了俄罗斯商业规则已发生的巨大变化。如今那里存在着通常所称的正常竞争：拍卖的赢家是出价最高的一方——无论这令输家多么不快。我已向斯维亚津电信公司投资 980 亿美元。迄今为止，这是我在俄罗斯最大的一笔一次性投资，而俄罗斯正成为全球最具吸引力的市场。
The sale of the “Svyazinvest” shares demonstrated the extent to which business rules in Russia have changed. There now exists what is usually called normal competition: The winner of the auction was the one who paid the most, however unpleasant this may be to the loser. I have invested $980 billion into the “Svyazinvest” telecommunications company. To this date, this is my biggest one-off investment in Russia, a country which is becoming the world’s most interesting market.
我的投资基金在早前曾对俄罗斯进行过可观的投资，尽管这些投资常常是我反对的，但最终都获得了丰厚的回报。包括“斯维亚津投资”交易在内，这些投资总额目前达到 25 亿美元。
My investment funds have made considerable investments in Russia on earlier occasions, and although this was often done in spite of objections on my part, these investments have turned out to be highly lucrative. The sum total of these investments, including the “Svyazinvest” deal, now amounts to $ 2.5 billion.
这意味着如今我同时扮演了慈善家和投资者的双重角色。过去我尽量不把资本投往索罗斯基金会开展业务的国家，因为担心自己的真实意图可能被误解。至于俄罗斯，自基金会正好十年前成立以来，我已在这里捐出数亿美元，因此克服了原有的偏见。我的投资不会干扰慈善活动——通过后者，我致力于在俄罗斯支持文化、科学、教育以及近期的医疗事业。恰恰相反，我打算扩大这些活动。
This means that today I play the roles both of a benefactor and of an investor. I used to do my best not to invest capital in countries where the Soros Foundation was operating, since I thought that my true intentions could be misinterpreted. In the case of Russia, where my Foundation has given out hundreds of millions of dollars since it was founded exactly ten years ago, I have overcome my prejudice. My investments will not interfere with my charitable activities, by which I strive to support culture, science, education, and lately medicine in Russia. On the contrary, I intend to expand these activities.
我对俄罗斯的“兴趣”何在？今天把钱投到俄罗斯，既有趣又有吸引力。俄罗斯目前亟需外资，所以我认定，尽管我这双重角色可能招来暧昧的反应，但我做的事是对的。更何况，我坚信俄罗斯正在努力迈向一个尊重股东权利的资本主义。这将帮助俄罗斯建设一个开放社会，尽管把开放社会等同于资本主义是错误的。
Wherein lies my “interest” in Russia? To invest money in Russia today is both interesting and attractive. Russia is currently in need of foreign investment, so I have decided that, despite a potentially ambiguous reception of my double role, I am doing the right thing. The more so because I believe in the current attempt to move to a capitalism where share-holders’ rights are respected. This will help Russia build an Open Society, although it would be wrong to identify the Open Society with capitalism.