[7] In the article which popularized the term, "Концепция "золотого миллиарда" и Новый мировой порядок",[note 1] Kara-Murza alludes to the concept of a New World Order, a conspiracy theory associated with antisemitic tropes.
[7][2][1] According to Kara-Murza, in Russia it was Tsikunov who formulated the main idea of the “Golden Billion”: developed countries maintain high levels of consumption for their citizens, and endorse political, military and economic measures designed to keep the rest of the world in an undeveloped state and as a raw-material appendage area for the dumping of hazardous waste and as a source of cheap labor.
[11] In his opinion, reforms in the late USSR were imposed by Western elites to limit use of resources in Russia, with the ultimate goal of their actions was the creation of a centralized totalitarian World Government by 2005.
[8] Russian proponents of the Golden billion theory and even officials cite invented quote by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, falsely claiming she said it would be “economically feasible for only 15 million people to live in Russia".
[2] In May 2022, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council, accused "Anglo-Saxons"[note 2], of "hiding their actions behind the human rights, freedom and democracy rhetoric," while pushing ahead "with the ‘golden billion’ doctrine," which implies that only select few are entitled to prosperity in this world".
[23] This statement was made shortly after being accused of unlawful deportation of population (children),[24] a war-crime under Article 49 of Fourth Geneva Convention.
[2] The conspiracy theory of the "golden billion" was used in speeches by Mikhail Kovalchuk, Dmitry Medvedev, Nikolay Patrushev and Sergey Lavrov.
[28][29][2][30] Putin and the aforementioned officials attribute a unified will to the "golden billion", and that allegedly some secret forces deliberately arranged for one part of the countries to remain in humiliating poverty.