Moscow Azerbaijani-Juhuro "Oligarchs" and the Eurasian Trade Networks

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of 'Juhuro' post-Soviet Oligarch entrepreneurs in the evolving trade networks in Eurasia. 'Juhuro' is the self-described name of the Caucasus 'Mountain Jews'. Several Oligarchs from a specific subgroup of Juhuro, mostly from the Jewish settlement of "Krasnaya Slovoda" in the northern Azerbaijani town of Quba, became active participants in cross-border trade and have been the most silent developers of new post-Soviet markets in Moscow since the 1990s. They later moved on to other businesses, such as real estate and investments. Based on long-term anthropological research and field work examining Caucasus Jews in various locations, in this paper, I explain what enables the success of these Jews from the periphery of Azerbaijan and analyse their role in mediating and connecting Russia, Azerbaijan, other states and societies along the renewed 'Silk Road'.