He's not running for anything in next month's parliamentary election, but Mikhail Prokhorov is still playing a role in his nation's political life, spending $300,000 to help a satirical troupe tweak Vladimir Putin.

Prokhorov jokes he, too, has felt the sting of Citizen Poet: "I have been on the receiving end of their cruel and unjust humor (twice!)." Prokhorov has yet to feel another sting: that of Putin himself, but analysts worry it's only a matter of time.