In the passage above, the character’s use of the French loanword «apropos» (from French à propos) in the context of business negotiations over forming a ZAO stands out. This linguistic detail accurately captures the business culture of mid-1990s Russia, when foreign borrowings flooded into everyday commercial jargon, often used without a full grasp of their nuances.
The linguistic angle
The word «apropos» was indeed used in Russian speech of the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly among the educated classes, as a stylistic marker of refinement. By the 1990s its use had become rare, which makes the character’s choice of the term telling:
- In its original French usage it introduces a fitting remark «by the way»
- In the 1996 context it reflects an attempt to mimic a «Western» style of negotiating
- In practice it’s used as a rough synonym for «accordingly» or «thus» – not quite correct usage
The legal context of the era
The scheme described – forming a ZAO with three founders and subsequently siphoning off assets – matches the realities of 1995–1997, when:
- The minimum charter capital for a ZAO was 100 times the minimum wage (roughly $10,000)
- Property could be valued at book value rather than market value
- «Apartment schemes» were a common method of off-the-books payment
The economics of it
The sum mentioned, $941,000, is roughly equivalent to $1.5 million in 2023 prices. For 1996 that worked out to:
| Measured in | Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Average annual salary | ≈ 800 yearly wages |
| Volga automobiles | ≈ 50 units |
| Moscow apartments | ≈ 7–9 two-room flats |
The staginess of the pitch
The line «arrange a two-room apartment for you in Moscow,» tossed off with no further conditions attached, is characteristic of:
- Tax-evasion schemes run through sham transactions
- Concealed forms of bribery during privatization
- Off-the-books compensation to «grey» partners outside formal contracts
Dropping «apropos» into this context creates an ironic contrast between the pretense of European business etiquette and the semi-criminal scheme actually being described – a characteristic detail of the era of primitive capital accumulation.