Kremlin Extends Grip on Oil- CSM

[druidity33]

From the Christian Science Monitor, by Fred Weir:

MOSCOW - Mikhail Gutseriyev, a Russian oil billionaire who offended the Kremlin, is on the run, claiming he is the victim of political persecution. His private company Russneft, once the country's seventh-largest petroleum firm, has been hobbled by back tax charges and seized by a court.

The tribulations of Mr. Gutseriyev, who has reportedly fled to London ahead of an international arrest warrant, bear more than a passing resemblance to the fate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose arrest three years ago led to the effective renationalization of his Yukos oil empire.

Since then, the state has moved from a tiny minority stake to direct control of 44 percent of Russia's oil production, according to a recent survey by Russia's Alpha Bank. Another wave of state takeovers is in the wind, experts say, and Russneft has been targeted for incorporation into a new mega-oil firm to be run by the Kremlin.

.snip.

Experts say Gutseriyev, an ethnic Ingush, may have also displeased authorities by supporting politicians opposed to ex-KGB general Murat Zyazikov, the Kremlin appointee who leads the troubled Caucasus republic of Ingushetia. In late August, Gutseriyev's 21-year-old son, Chinghiz, was killed in a mysterious car crash and the tycoon was last seen at the boy's funeral in Baku, Azerbaijan. Last week, a Moscow court issued an international arrest warrant, saying Gutseriyev had violated a pledge not to leave Russia.

Seems pertinent considering Putin's latest pronouncement that he's dissolving the Russian Government. The full article is definitely worth a read.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070910/ts_csm/oputinoil_1

[groovedaddy]

1. They're probably taking lessons from the g.o.p.

and the other monopolists - kill off the competition.

[druidity33]

2. no doubt...

they feel they have to maintain status as a world power (which means "grab the oil"). They've got deals with Iran and China too, no? I wonder how their relations are with Venezuela and Cuba? All the Nations the US refuses to deal with. Do we know anything about his "potential successors"?

We need a Department of Peace to negotiate/sit down with these Nations...

The article suggests that this is a power grab by Putin supporters within the gov't, so that they can maintain control of some of the State run Oil Revenues...



edited for clarity.