For the Love of Russian Gold

<p><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>A sweeping exposé of corruption at the highest echelons of the Russian government in the 1990s during the fall of communism featuring an extraordinary cast of characters including Australia's PM Malcolm Turnbull Russia's first president Boris Yeltsin and the last-ever president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev.</strong></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Based on diary business-meeting and company records provided by executive Ludmila Melnikoff </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>For the Love of Russian Gold</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> chronicles one Australian company's audacious attempt to mine Sukhoi Log for gold the secret Russian jewel valued at $30 billion at the dawn of Russia's attempts at modernization. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>The Berlin Wall has come down and East meets West. Yeltsin becomes president of a bankrupt state. In the wild west of the new independent Russia tax havens flourish the mafia gains a foothold massive bribes drive business deals and synthetic drugs flood the markets. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Desperate for cash Russia opens its doors to foreign companies and Australian-born Ludmila is lured to the home of her ancestors to mine the Sukhoi Log allegedly the world's largest gold reserve. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>To do this she seeks the aid of charismatic mining magnate Ian MacNee and Australia's future prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. The two men share a passion for gold and for Ludmila-but one man is not what he seems.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Millions of dollars raised by merchant bankers in London New York and Australia flow into Siberia as the mining world eagerly watches. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>The stakes are high but the question remains: Is the never-before-unveiled Sukhoi Log really the literal gold mine they think it is or is it Russia's greatest grift?</span></p><p><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>As much as it is a shocking once-in-a-generation account of Russia's power structures in the </strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>'</span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>90s and a foreshadowing of its current administration <em>For the Love of Russian Gold</em> is also a personal heart-wrenching personal story of Ludmila's abuse and the coercive control she endured behind the closed doors of a multimillion-dollar mining enterprise.</strong></p>