Another Big Win For Putin!!!

[88m3]

Putin’s Ukraine Woes Compounded by $103 Billion Yukos Claim
By Henry Meyer and Irina Reznik Jul 23, 2014 6:46 AM ET
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July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Willis Sparks, global macro director at Eurasia Group, discusses pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin following the downing on flight MH17. He speaks on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”
Russia will discover next week how much it may be asked to pay for the confiscation a decade ago of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Yukos Oil Co., then the country’s biggest oil producer.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague will rule on July 28 on a $103 billion damages claim the company’s former owners filed against Russia in 2007, Tim Osborne, head of GML Ltd., former holding company of Yukos, said by e-mail. Court official Willemijn van Banning said by phone she couldn’t comment on the date for the ruling.

The potential multibillion-dollar punitive award comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin risks further U.S. and European sanctions after the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet in eastern Ukraine that killed 298 passengers and crew. The Obama administration has blamed the plane’s downing on pro-Russian rebels, who deny any involvement.

Related:

• World’s Biggest Wealth Fund Reviews $8 Billion Russian Holdings
• Two Ukraine Fighter Jets Downed by Rebels Near MH17 Site

A substantial award of damages “would add to Putin’s sense of being backed into a corner and that the West is out to get Russia,” Masha Lipman, an independent political analyst based in Moscow, said by phone. “Whether a coincidence or not, it will be seen as more than a coincidence.”

Good Chance
GML has a good chance of winning partial damages, according to Gus Van Harten, a professor specializing in arbitration at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada. There’s “very limited room” for appeal and Russia will resist paying, so any amount awarded would trigger a global legal battle to seize state property, including assets of OAO Rosneft (ROSN), which acquired most of Yukos in a series of forced auctions, Van Harten said.


Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
President Vladimir Putin has said his opponents are using the crash for “selfish political gains.”

Putin has said his opponents are using the crash for “selfish political gains.” The EU warned yesterday that it may restrict the country’s access to capital markets and sensitive energy and defense technologies.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment on The Hague proceedings. Moscow-based Rosneft, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. over the Ukraine conflict, declined to comment. Another ruling by theEuropean Court of Human Rights on a $38 billion claim filed by ex-Yukos management that would benefit all former shareholders may also come this year.

Putin’s government dismantled Yukos after imposing $27 billion in tax charges. Most of its former assets now belong to state-controlled Rosneft, which is the world’s largest publicly traded oil company by output.


Photographer: Bartek Sadowski/Bloomberg
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man with a fortune of $15 billion, was... Read More

‘Politically Motivated’
“I remain confident that we will receive a substantial award of damages when the decision comes out,” Osborne said last month. “It would underline that this whole attack by the Russian government was politically motivated and confirm our view that it acted illegally in expropriating shares in Yukos Oil without compensation.”

Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man with a fortune of $15 billion, was freed in December under an amnesty after serving a decade in Russian prison camps on tax evasion, fraud and money-laundering charges he says were politically motivated.

Khodorkovsky, who’s living in Switzerland, isn’t entitled to any part of the damages because he transferred his Yukos stake to fellow shareholder Leonid Nevzlin to protect the company when he became a target of the Russian courts, Osborne said.

Nevzlin is beneficial owner of slightly more than 70 percent of GML, while four other ex-Yukos owners -- Platon Lebedev, Mikhail Brudno, Vladimir Dubov and Vasily Shakhnovsky - - each have a little less than 7.5 percent. GML, which filed the lawsuit, used to own 60 percent of Yukos.

To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net; Irina Reznik in Moscow at ireznik@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net Scott Rose, Paul Abelsky
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...compounded-by-103-billion-yukos-claim-1-.html

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

every dog has his day

 

[Futuristic Eskimo]

http://www.businessweek.com/article...ould-hit-russias-achilles-heel-capital-flight

European Sanctions Could Hit Russia's Achilles Heel: Capital Flight
By Carol Matlack July 24, 2014

Photograph by Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

After the loss of more than 200 European Union citizens in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, Europe may be ready to punish Russia in a way that will really hurt: restricting its access to financial markets and accelerating the flight of investment capital.

The EU presented a plan to its 28 member countries on Thursday calling for a ban on European purchases of bonds or shares sold by Russia’s state-owned banks, which play a dominant role in the country’s banking sector. Such a move would drive up the banks’ borrowing costs and “constrain their ability to finance the Russian economy,” according to a draft of the EU proposal. “It would also foster a climate of market uncertainty that is likely to affect the business environment in Russia and accelerate capital outflows.”

In another ominous sign for Moscow, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund—the world’s richest—warned that it may scale back the nearly $8 billion it has invested in Russia. The fund’s holdings include a 4.6 percent stake in the state-controlled VTB (VTBR:LI) investment bank and 0.5 percent of gas export monopoly Gazprom (GAZP:RM). Although Norway isn’t an EU member, the fund “will need to make the necessary adjustments” if the EU imposes sanctions that Norway supports, a spokesman for the Norwegian Finance Ministry said.

Video: How Much Do U.S. Sanctions Hurt Russia?
The U.S. has already imposed sanctions limiting some Russian banks’ and companies’ access to long-term debt markets. Moscow this week cancelled a planned government bond auction, citing market conditions. The big risk for Russia, though, isn’t to government finances. Moscow is on track to balance its budget this year, and its external debt burden is low, with only $3 billion in repayments due this year.

Companies and banks are in a much tougher spot. They have $83 billion in external debt due to be repaid by the end of this year, says economist Neil Shearing of Capital Economics in London. What’s more, he says, “the mere threat of financial sanctions by the West could lead to another jump in capital outflows,” adding to an estimated $68 billion in capital that fled the country during the first six months of this year.

Capital flight is already creating “a major problem for economic policy,” analysts at Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management write in a note to clients. “External financing need could rise to $120 billion a year.”

Story: Could Additional Russia Sanctions Hit U.S. Oil Industry Suppliers?
It’s possible, of course, that the Europeans won’t agree on tough financial sanctions. Any sanctions would have to be approved unanimously by the 28 member countries. “Agreeing to any sanctions expansion that affects real economic interests constitutes a protracted political process, with no single country willing to carry the burden alone,” analysts at Teneo Intelligence in London write in a note to clients.

And Russia might forestall additional sanctions by agreeing to EU demands to stop the flow of weapons to rebels in Ukraine and ensure access to the MH17 crash site.

But if Europe, including Norway, follows through on financial sanctions, the effects in Russia could be political as well as economic, says economist Charles Robertson of Renaissance Capital in London. Reduced access to capital markets “will reduce the scope for Russia to borrow to invest and grow,” he says. “President Putin may be blamed for the resultant stagnation.” If growth remains sluggish for the next few years, “that economic failure might outweigh the present pro-Putin fervor.”



Another win for Putin

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

The is heavy in here

 

[88m3]

Yukos Owners Start Russia Asset Hunt After $50 Billion Award
By Irina Reznik, Henry Meyer and Jessica Morris Jul 28, 2014 9:03 AM ET
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July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Tim Osborne, head of GML Ltd., former holding company of Yukos Oil Co., discusses the $50 billion award against Russia for the confiscation of what was once the nation’s largest oil company. He also speaks about the possible consequences for state-run OAO Rosneft. Osborne talks with Ryan Chilcote on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse." (Source: Bloomberg)
Related

• U.S. Releases More Evidence of Russian Aggression

Former majority owners of Yukos Oil Co. won a landmark $50 billion ruling againstRussia for the confiscation of what was once the nation’s largest oil producer and now face another lengthy legal battle to claim their award.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found that Russia is liable to pay just less than half of the $114 billion sought, GML Ltd., the holding company for Yukos’s main owners, said today. The decision showed the campaign against Yukos was “politically motivated,” GML head Tim Osborne said in London.

The ruling marks a fresh headache for President Vladimir Putin, who faces intensifying U.S. and European sanctions aimed at forcing him to help end the separatist war in neighboring Ukraine, which has claimed more than 1,000 lives.

“Russia has the money to hire the best international lawyers who won’t give up without a fight,” Dmitry Gololobov, former chief attorney for Yukos, said by e-mail. “So the Yukos affair could easily go on for another 10 years.”

Russia must pay the award by mid-January or face penalties, according to GML. The possibility for appeal is limited to “technical” issues within Dutch courts, Emmanuel Gaillard, one of GML’s lawyers, said in London.


Photographer: Carsten Koall/Getty Images
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man with a fortune of $15 billion when he...Read More

“It will take a long while to collect $50 billion but we didn’t go into this to get a Pyrrhic victory,” Osborne said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We went into it to get compensation for our shareholders.”

Khodorkovsky, Yukos
The decision risks dragging Russia’s two biggest corporations, oil producer OAO Rosneft (ROSN) and natural gas exporter OAO Gazprom (OGZD), into extended legal wrangling. The state-run companies’ assets may be targeted because they were beneficiaries of expropriated Yukos assets, said another GML lawyer, Yas Banifatemi. Rosneft and Gazprom both declined about 2 percent in Moscow trading.

Putin’s government dismantled Yukos in 2004 to 2007 over $27 billion in tax charges after imprisoning Chief Executive Officer Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The former owner, who isn’t party to the award, said in a statement today that it was “fantastic that the company shareholders are being given a chance to recover their damages.”

Most of Yukos’s largest assets were acquired in a series of forced sales by Rosneft, which has since become the world’s largest publicly traded oil company by output. Gazprom acquired stakes in former Yukos natural gas assets that Eni SpA and Enel SpA won at auction in 2007.


Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Emmanuel Gaillard, one of GML’s lawyers, said, “A superpower like Russia has been... Read More

Rosneft Assets
Rosneft complied with the law in acquiring Yukos subsidiaries and doesn’t expect the decision to “negatively affect its commercial activity or assets,” the oil producer said in a website statement. Gazprom declined to comment.

The Yukos shareholders have the right to go after state assets around the world if Russia doesn’t pay, Osborne said. “I don’t think that Rosneft can be 100 percent confident that all their assets in the West will be secure,” he said.

Russia will have an opportunity to appeal, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today at a televised briefing. “Russia will use all available legal means to defend its position,” he said.

Russia has refused to pay damages in similar rulings before and seizing state assets abroad is a difficult task.

Noga Import & Export SA, a Geneva-based trading company, won a series of court rulings in Europe to enforce payment for goods including baby food and pesticides that it supplied to Russia in exchange for oil in 1991 and 1992.

Over the course of a decade, Noga won the temporary seizure of Russian assets abroad including fighter jets at the Paris Air Show and Pushkin State Museum artworks on loan in Switzerlandover what it claimed was $680 million of debt.


Photographer: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
Leonid Nevzlin is beneficial owner of slightly more than 70 percent of GML, while four...Read More

Politically Motivated
Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man with a fortune of $15 billion, was freed in December by a presidential pardon after serving a decade in prison camps. He has called the charges against him revenge for his financing of opposition parties. The Kremlin denies the claim, saying the case was purely a matter for the courts.

The ruling found that “that the primary objective of the Russian Federation was not to collect taxes but to bankrupt Yukos and appropriate its underlying assets for the benefit of the state in the guise of Rosneft,” Osborne said.

Khodorkovsky, who’s living in Switzerland, said he isn’t entitled to any part of the damages because he transferred his Yukos stake to fellow shareholder Leonid Nevzlin to protect the company when he became a target of the Russian courts.

100 Countries
Nevzlin is the beneficial owner of about 70 percent of GML, while four other partners -- Platon Lebedev, Mikhail Brudno, Vladimir Dubov and Vasily Shakhnovsky -- each have a about 7.5 percent. GML used to own 60 percent of Yukos.

Nevzlin, who now lives in Israel, along with Brudno and Dubov, said he was “very pleased” that the tribunal had recognized that Russia acted “in breach of international law and illegally expropriated Yukos Oil Co.,” according to an e-mailed statement.

GML initiated its case in 2005 under the Energy Charter Treaty, an international agreement that in part regulates investments in the energy industry. Russia signed but never ratified the treaty. The Hague tribunal ruled in 2009 that it would hear the case.

The Yukos plaintiffs will have the right to go to arbitration courts in about 100 countries that are party to the 1958 New York Convention to enforce the ruling, according to Gus Van Harten, a professor specializing in arbitration at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada.

Putin Opponents
Because it will be hard to seize Russian government assets, which are mostly protected by diplomatic immunity, state companies such as Rosneft and Gazprom would make easier targets, Van Harten said.

Claudia Annacker, a partner with U.S. law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton who has been representing Russia in the Yukos lawsuit, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

Putin is confronting mounting international pressure after the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet in eastern Ukraine, which killed 298 passengers and crew. The Obama administration has accused pro-Moscow rebels of shooting the plane down with a Russian-supplied launcher. They deny involvement, and Russia is pointing the finger at Ukraine.

Putin has said his opponents are using the crash for “selfish political gains.” The EU last week warned that it may restrict the country’s access to capital markets and sensitive energy and defense technologies. The bloc is considering banning European purchases of bonds or shares sold by Russia’s state-owned banks, according to a proposal presented to the 28 member states.

The European Court of Human Rights will decide this week on a $38 billion claim for “just satisfaction” filed by former Yukos managers that would benefit all former shareholders, Claire Davidson, a spokeswoman for the former managers, said by phone today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...-billion-damage-award-vs-russia-gml-says.html

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Tough break Put' maybe this'll make the Russians twist Ukraine's arm on that overdue gas bill.

 

[Julius Skrrvin]

And this is with whom y'all place your faith :hovlol:

 

[88m3]

Putin racking up the W's lately.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

And this is with whom y'all place your faith :hovlol:

Russia about to get that Argentina work

 

[88m3]

US says Russia violated nuclear treaty

Washington urges immediate talks on what it calls a violation of its security and that of its allies.

Last updated: 29 Jul 2014 03:33

Russia and the US signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987 [File: AP]
The US government has accused Russia of conducting tests in violation of a 1987 nuclear missile treaty and urged immediate bilateral talks on the issue.

"This is a very serious matter which we have attempted to address with Russia for some time now," an administration official said in a statement on Monday.

It suggests that Russia is moving away from a long US-Russia tradition of restraining the most dangerous weapons
even as they have serious disagreements on all sorts of issues.

Daryl Kimball, Arms Control Association



"We encourage Russia to return to compliance with its obligations under the treaty and to eliminate any prohibited items in a verifiable manner," the official said.

The official did not describe how Russia violated the treaty. But the New York Times newspaper reported in January that Washington informed its NATO partners that Russia had tested a ground-launched cruise missile.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, ratified in 1988, was designed to eliminate ground-launched cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 km.

State Department officials had hinted that a formal determination that Russia had violated the treaty could be forthcoming, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based research and advocacy group.

He said the violation would not represent a new military threat to the US and its European allies, given Russia's existing missile arsenal. But in an interview, Kimball called the infraction "disturbing."

"It suggests that Russia is moving away from a long US-Russia tradition of restraining the most dangerous weapons even as they have serious disagreements on all sorts of issues," he said.

The United States notified Russia of its determination and called for senior-level talks "with the aim of assuring the United States that Russia will come back into compliance" with the treaty.

"The United States will, of course, consult with allies on this matter to take into account the impact of this Russian violation on our collective security if Russia does not return to compliance," the official said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europ...violated-nuclear-treaty-2014729213136826.html

 

[88m3]

EU, U.S. to impose new Russia sanctions


BY JULIE PACE, ASSOCIATED PRESS July 28, 2014 at 5:57 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — The United States and European Union plan to impose new sanctions against Russia this week, including penalties targeting key sectors of the Russian economy, the White House said Monday.

The show of Western solidarity followed a joint video teleconference between President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain, Germany, France and Italy. The West has been moving for several days toward tougher sanctions after the downing of a passenger jet in eastern Ukraine, an attack the U.S. says was carried out by Russian-backed separatists in the region.

The U.S. and European sanctions are likely to target Russia’s energy, arms and financial sectors. The EU is also weighing the prospect of levying penalties on individuals close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who appears to only be deepening Russia’s role in destabilizing Ukraine.

“It’s precisely because we’ve not yet seen a strategic turn from Putin that we believe it’s absolutely essential to take additional measures, and that’s what the Europeans and the United States intend to do this week,” said Tony Blinken, Obama’s deputy national security adviser.

Europe, which has a stronger trade relationship with Russia than the U.S., has lagged behind Washington with its earlier sanctions package, in part out of concern from leaders that the penalties could have a negative impact on their own economies. But a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said following Monday’s call that the West agreed that the EU should move a “strong package of sectoral sanctions as swiftly as possible.”

The U.S. penalties are expected to be imposed after Europe finalizes its next moves.

As the West presses ahead with new sanctions, U.S. officials say Russia is getting more directly involved in the clash between separatists and the Ukrainian government. Blinken said Russia appeared to be using the international attention focused on the downed Malaysia Airlines plane as “cover and distraction” while it moves more heavy weaponry over its border and into Ukraine.

“We’ve seen a significant re-buildup of Russian forces along the border, potentially positioning Russia for a so-called humanitarian or peace-keeping intervention in Ukraine,” Blinken said. “So there’s urgency to arresting this.”

Nearly 300 people were killed when the Malaysian plane was shot down by a missile on July 17. The West blames the separatists for the missile attack and Russia for supplying the rebels with equipment that can take down a plane.

Other leaders participating in Monday’s call were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The White House said the leaders also discussed the stalled efforts to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the need for Iraq to form a more inclusive government and the uptick in security threats in Libya.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/eu-u-s-impose-new-russia-sanctions/

 

[Domingo Halliburton]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-ordered-pay-50b-over-yukos-083217886--finance.html

LONDON (AP) — An international court on Monday ordered Russia to pay over $50 billion in compensation to the former majority shareholder of now-defunct oil producer Yukos over the expropriation of the company more than 10 years ago.


In one of the largest arbitration cases ever, a subsidiary for GML Ltd., once the biggest shareholder in Yukos Oil Co., had sought $103.5 billion from Russia.

The Russian government under President Vladimir Putin in 2003 leveled massive tax claims against Yukos, then Russia's largest oil company owned by the country's richest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Russia imprisoned Khodorkovsky and seized the company's assets when they couldn't pay.

The move was widely seen as retaliation for Khodorkovsky's support for opposition political parties. Russia says it was merely seeking payment for back taxes and penalties that Yukos evaded in the period 2000-2003. Yukos shareholders received no compensation for that.

 

[Type Username Here]

 

[88m3]

Europe Finally Ready to Sanction Russia More Broadly

• BY JAMILA TRINDLE
• JULY 28, 2014 - 08:39 PM
• ENERGY
• RUSSIA
• BUSINESS
• FINANCE
• UKRAINE

Western leaders say they've cobbled together a united front against Russia, a week and a half after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 killed nearly 300 people.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday afternoon spoke to the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, and Italy in a joint call, during which they agreed on tougher sanctions against Moscow. The United States says Russia provided the training and weaponry to the militants in eastern Ukraine who shot down the passenger plane on July 17.

"They agreed on the importance of coordinated sanctions measures on Russia for its continued transfer of arms, equipment, and fighters into eastern Ukraine, including since the crash," a statement from the White House stated after the call.

Although the United States has long pushed for broader sanctions against whole sectors of the Russian economy, European leaders were reluctant until now.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement that the leaders agreed that "ambassadors from across the EU should agree [to] a strong package of sectoral sanctions as swiftly as possible."

EU leaders could announce new sanctions as early as Tuesday, July 29, when they meet. The United States often follows EU moves with measures of its own.

Although the European Union agreed last week to consider sanctions against Russia's energy, defense, and financial industries, it was unclear how far they would go. It's still uncertain how broad the sanctions will be, but the call on Monday indicated a change of tone from last week, when EU politicians were trading barbs over whether Britain or France was more reliant on Moscow's money.

The EU will likely restrict each industry slightly, rather than imposing a full ban -- such as an arms embargo. That approach would help address the fundamental problem of different EU countries relying more on Russian business in different industries. London's financial district, for instance, has many ties to wealthy Russian businessmen, whereas in France it's the defense industry that could suffer if it can't fulfill a $1.6 billion deal to sell warships to Moscow. The new measures could also target technology provided by Western companies that Russia relies on in its energy sector, which the United States has also considered.

Analysts have predicted further sanctions against Russian industry, after Moscow's continued intransigence since the crash in the face of Western threats. Eurasia Group's head of European risk analysis, Mujtaba Rahman, said in an analyst's note Monday that he expects more sanctions this week and that Moscow would respond, though likely in kind with economic measures, not with tanks.

"Russia will apply at least informal retaliation against U.S. companies, impairing their operations through health and safety inspections and customs delays," Rahman said.

Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/ AFP/ GETTY
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/p...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

The EU is handing out spankings