[4] With the significant increase in the sale of hydrocarbons from the Soviet Union to the West especially Germany, the USSR would gain much needed hard currency.
[4] But luck would support Pavlov by coinciding with the moment when the "oil in exchange for pipes" scheme occurred was when Gorbachev "gifted the GDR" to West Germany and in that short period the United States did not have the slightest opportunity to prevent the "oil for pipes" program from occurring.
[4] With hard currency from these hyrdocarbon sales, both Gazprom, which did not become Neftegazprom due to the merger of the oil industry, and the newly created joint-stock company Lukoil became the founders of the bank Imperial at the end of 1991.
[6] Before obtaining a license to conduct foreign exchange transactions in 1993, Imperial used Lebedev's company Russian Investment and Finance Company (JSC RIFK) (Russian: «Русская инвестиционно-финансовая компания» (РИФК)) to conduct its transactions on Soviet debts through RIFK's foreign accounts.
"[6][b] Beginning in 1994, the head of security at Imperial was Boris Antonovich Boyarskov (Russian: Борис Антонович Боярсков; born 9 July 1953, Leningrad).
[citation needed] In 1995, after an article in the newspaper Moscow News, the Department for Economic Crimes of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate investigated the activities of the bank's head S. Rodionov, his wife, and Minister A. Fomin for embezzlement of budget funds.
The case "was hushed up," and the author of the article in "Moscow News" was offered money for silence by unknown individuals.