"I will not reveal the names of my clients," Knyazev says.
His potential roster brims with possibility. Russia's richest person, Oleg Deripaska, a 39-year-old aluminum tycoon, is worth $21.2 billion, according to Finans magazine. Seven of the country's top 10 billionaires were born in the 1960s, mostly young men who found fortune a decade or so ago in a mesmerizing privatization boom that mixed rough glamour, hidden bank accounts and brazen entrepreneurs, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who ran afoul of the Kremlin and today sits in a Siberian jail convicted of tax evasion and fraud.
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THESE days, new money seeks old-fashioned respect. Bankers still get gunned down and businessmen tend to disappear, but the tenor is decidedly softer as at least a facade of legitimacy has been constructed around oil and gas companies, mining firms and other industries. Still, conspicuous consumption rules; the country's average monthly income is about $330, but that doesn't hinder the rich from their bejeweled eccentricities.
Like Knyazev and his entourage across town, Irina Volskaya is accustomed to extravagant requests. She heads the Russian office of Quintessentially, a worldwide concierge, make-it-happen service whose founders include the nephew of Camilla Parker Bowles. With bronze-colored boots and cameo jewelry, Volskaya is a study in calm and confidence, a woman used to dealing with big wallets and short tempers.
"Once a Russian guy called on Dec. 26," she says. "He was having a party and wanted 150 silver-plated pigs delivered to celebrate the new year. This was a problem because everything was sold out. But this was not the only problem. He also wanted 150 live pigs to give to each of his guests. Finding 150 little pink pigs on Dec. 26 is a struggle.... We have no limits, though. One of our rules is never say no."
Then there was the millionaire in the plane. "The client calls: 'You know I'm in my private jet just over a European country and the airport is closed. Please help me.' But really, what do you say? The airport is closed for everybody. But we did help him. One person in one country called another person in another country. It's all about connections."
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KNYAZEV doesn't like to be outdone. He has another story. Cue violins.
"One client had a little daughter," he says. "Her birthday was in seven days and he wanted it to be special. So we made a magic tree that would grow two meters a day until her birthday.
