>> oleg tinkov is one of russia's most passionate cyclist. >> he is number one. >> he is one of the most prolific, patriotic and outspoken businessman. >> if you have to go to war, you go to war. >> he is also happy to weigh in on the extremes of russian business. >> it is normal for us. it is a normal environment for us. an aggressive environment. >> after months chasing him, we to the got oleg tinkov chair. >> i am russian, you are

american. we would never get along. as your product -- proactive -- proctor question. >> my conversation with a siberian tycoon. sowe would never get along asked for question. >> you set up in a click to -- a collective as mrs.. genes, then electronics, then ravioli, then beer. where did you get the idea to start a bank? it was a different idea. the first time i got my credit card it was in singapore. i open a foreign account in 1992. i got a go kart. i was shocked to have a piece of plastic. it was sexy. for me, credit cards were more than credit cards. a status symbol. in 1983.y, my visa

i was decline for the visa to u.s. card, to have a gold credit card i can send, wow, you have a credit card, i can give you a visa. i always thought that credit card businesses is lucrative and interesting. russia is huge. >> what is your story, your background? >> born in siberia. was working in the mines. my father was working for 40 years. i worked for one year in siberia. then i went to the army. i was in the kgb for two years. business and then perestroika came in. in new york, there were a lot of foreigners. clothing to bring the

and cosmetic foreign stuff. i try to help them sell it. that is where my business started. you have to be stupid in russia if you are 20 in 1992 and you don't make money. anybody can make money because the government collapsed. sellan take something and something and make money. very easy. i was at the right time at the right place. >> is it still that way in russia? >> it is different, of course. >> you have to be smarter. >> that is why my kids are in the u.k. my boys are in oxford schools. in russia, it is much more difficult because markets are divided. now it is a competition. but still, no competition compared to u.s. or u.k.

>> is easier in russia to make money? >> easier than here, but there is competition. you have to have a capital now, courage. it is not like an anglo-saxon world. 3, 4, five times easier to make money in russia done elsewhere. in the west. it is already more challenging. >> you are run of -- one of russia's biggest businessman. there are a lot of russian businessmen, as a businessman i am not even thousand. >> when people think of russia and business, they think of oligarchs. >> you have to understand the understand between oxford or and businessman. it has to do with the government

, because of the government. >> the oligarchs? >> oligarchs and the businessman. some of them making money because of their ties with the government. there are -- it has nothing to do with the government. are not a lot of them. as a businessman, i am small. >> when you are talking about the 1990's, the impression most people have of the 1990's is that it was the wild west. the chicago of the 1930's that was russia in the 1990's. give us a sense of what it was like. were you threatened? >> i was. chicago in the 1930's it was not as bad as the movies. it was tough.

>> criminal st. petersburg. >> aprotic berg was the capital of the criminals in russia. it was tough. was theetersburg capital of the criminals in russia. drugs, ititution, wasn't trading always. it is still the same. >> people talk about the fight between the guardians of the state and state property and business. .> big business such as gold natural resources or easy money such as drugs, prostitution. -- before itith was criminals or the gangs, now it is the government. money toshould pay the

do the business. for example, i never paid the money. any gangs.r paid >> you never paid a bribe? pay it now.i do not i pay taxes. i do my business. great business and real business. in real business, you do not have to do that. --coming up >> we are a huge country. that is why you are afraid. we would never do this. wake's is it harder for a foreigner to make money in russia that a russian? >> it does not make a difference. everything changes so quickly for the marketplace. dos is a difficult place to the business. that is why it is profitable. ♪

>> the euro will be 62 in november. you could afford one million euro.

that is russia. >> it means unpredictability for business, what does it mean for russians that go they are inbecause a ruble environment. not much change. in general, they are not consumed with foreign products. more or less ok. abroad for travels holidays. it is a shocking number. russians are all over. there are only russians around. what happened? it is an injured think this is the -- it is an interesting statistic. a tiny fraction of people are traveling abroad. it is huge when you see them in the supermarkets in milan, but

it is tiny for russia. 10% of the people traveling abroad. >> what bothers you about the decline in price of oil? >> before the sanctions, it does not really matter for us. we have nothing to do with it. sanctions, fine. then it was an economic slowdown. good, but ok. now it is a real threat. oil prices will cause unemployment. russian economy, especially in the regions, so much tied to the oil price, a lot of export companies. they will lay off people now. love their jobs, they default on their credit, -- lose their jobs, they default on their credit. >> bad loans go up. >> i think the oil price could and it is a bad

sign for the russian economy. some people think it is good for russia, because finally russian economy will restructure and get away from the oil needle. i do not believe that. >> we have seen the price of oil fall before. >> when perestroika happened in see any majort changes in the russian structure of economy. somenot believe in it, but people believe russia and the structure of the russian economy will change because of the oil price. i am not so convinced. i think we will suffer for a couple of years. employment, itof is something russia has not had very much up. -- you mention unemployment.

>> this oil price will hurt. we will still make money. we will make a decent amount of money this year. but still, this oil price will make unemployment and unemployment will create on the russian consumer sector, including banking. in such an environment, it is difficult to work. you cannot make a business loan in this country. everything changes so quickly for the marketplace. this is a difficult place to do business. risk-reward. much more risky, but much more rewarding. plus is more competition, it is as unpredictable as it was in the 1990's. >> that sounds very negative.

>> it is normal for russia. in the u.s., you would have died already. we will wait. >> you said you do not care about the sentience -- dissensions. what do you think about them? >> i do not know what they want to achieve. >> they say they want to punish resident hooton -- president hooton -- putin to change. >> they punish more businesses than vladimir putin. becausereater support of the sanctions. businesses.is the russian businesses. maybe less american businesses,

but still. i do not think it is a smart idea, but i am not a politician. >> to you by the idea that we hear a lot of in russia that the sanctions are good for russia because it forces russian businesses to make all the stuff that russia was buying rum other countries? >> i have heard this opinion, but i do not like it. to bek russia deserves integrated into the world. as a global economy in the global world. i cannot understand how we will be separated. i see the soviet union apart from the world, but how can russia be separated when you have microsoft offices and all of the major companies like coca-cola, we are integrated now in the world in russia. i cannot see how we can separate those economies. it is absurd.

play, iticians try to do not understand. it is too late, russia got so .uch integrated into the world how can you know punish russia economically without punishing yourself. ? >> do you think things will get better? everything we have seen, in terms of the relationship between russia and the west? >> i am optimistic. i was negative on the economy and the oil price, i am positive . a lot of my colleagues in russia are pessimistic about russia. we have to go to london. i do not share this opinion. russia is a huge market. 140 million people is a great place to make money. it is unpredictable. it is bumpy.

maybe not thement most sophisticated element in the world, but i do not see any crazy things going on. >> what is it that the west does not understand about vladimir putin? think russians want to go to baltic countries or to poland. this is a myth. it is impossible. you talk to anybody in russia, we do not think about it. we would not go to your crane -- ukraine. that is a myth that russians would go to baltic countries. >> to restore the soviet union. >> they need the support, money. russia would never -- we are the

biggest country in the world. we have so much land. >> you mentioned ukraine. the west is concerned about russia going into ukraine. what is at the west does not understand about russia and ukraine? notoscow and russia, we do need to occupy ukraine or make it part of russia. what we want, we want them to be neutral. they speak our language. we want them to be neutral. we see them as a buffer between western world and russian world. like finland. neutral. friends with europe and russia. the way russian elites see them. neutral, a buffer. you have poland, baltic countries, you put the missiles there, and so on. we are surrounded.

this is ukraine. maybe they want to be american in that part of the world? >> they want to have the same role. the same life when they go to europe and see the beaches. picture of europe and they want to have the same picture. it is not going to happen. a --ne from a stony years it isin 20 under european influence. they are more poor than they used to be in the soviet union. wife, she is my getting pensions of 200 euros a month. that is a pension. the finland pensioner it's 1000 euros. -- gets 1000 euros.

it is a dream. ukraine thinks once they are part of the euro, they will reach. they would never be. they agree with you, they do not want to be with russians for many reasons. we have to admit that. our pr as not as good as american pr. our pr is terrible. we do not know how to come up with what when you said on facebook you are ready to sign up as a soldier and go to crimea, was that a joke? beif it comes that i need to signed as a soldier to defend my old country, i will do that. i would do that for your country. >> but crimea is part of ukraine. >> it is russian territory. >> we talk professional societally -- cycling coming up.

>> the best team in the world. obsessed with obama and his administration. what they do externally is a total disaster. ♪

>> we have to talk about cycling. -- are the proud owner >> the best team in the world. how big can your best writer become? >> i think he is able to win all of the grand tours next year. >> that's like 6000 miles on the bicycle, racing?

and you are convinced he will do it cleanly, just like everybody else on the team? there are a lot of rumors about doping, but i have owned the team for years. for two years here. i was a sponsor for one year, now i own the team. i never had any doping cases. none, zero. we were talking previously about the sanctions. if the sanctions will betray the russian economy and share prices will decline more because there is no room to decline, but let's assume it did. the bank started to suffer, then will my sponsorship. as owner, i will not be able to find substitutions sponsoring europe. i will not and have to shut down the team. there is a direct impact.

i have 80 employees getting high salaries from denmark to spain. 80 people that are getting high salaries because of me and because of the team in russia. >> interconnected. us, but eventually 80 people in europe, they will lose their job because of the sanctions. i do not know what they are doing. we are all connected. >> they do not seem to care, do that? they are convinced this is an important point to make even if it is economically painful. they say that they understand this is not good for germans economy, but they will do it anyway, because they do not like russia's policy in ukraine. >> forgets about -- forget about germans. it is all americans. they follow america.

russia and the u.s.. who cares about germany. ? >> most people would put china in the mix. >> china is there. wouldn't americans, i be more concerned about china than russia. -- i would be more concerned about china than russia. i tell you more. i am obsessed -- in love with obama and his administration and doing for internal policies. gdp is growing. recovering from the credit cycle , brilliant. what they do externally is a disaster. the russian administration, we are so good for external policy. it is great what putin is doing, but he is disastrous for the internal policies.

changes would be perfect situation. ♪

>> tonight on "titans at the table," we talk football and the big apple. >> there will be a coin toss right here. >> with the man who is bringing it all together. jonathan tisch, co-chairman of the loews corporation and co-owner of the new york giants. ♪ he was born and raised in a new york family of hotel years. in 1959, his family branched out and bought loews theaters. today the loews corporation has $80 billion in assets that generate $15 billion in annual revenue with interest from everything in hotels, insurance, oil and gas. jonathan tisch runs the company h