Another Big Win For Putin!!!

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Groundhog Day in Moscow as Russia seizes another privatized oil company

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• Geoffrey Smith

• @Geoffreytsmith

OCTOBER 30, 2014, 12:30 PM EDT

Echoes of Yukos affair as a lucrative oil company is seized on a point of law that had been ignored for 10 years.

A Russian court ruled to seize the shares of Bashneft, one of the country’s largest oil companies, effectively renationalizing it and overturning an allegedly fraudulent privatization whose results had stood for over 10 years.

The case has sent shivers through Russia’s business community, a fresh reminder that the ownership of the country’s biggest industrial assets still isn’t safe, nearly two decades after they were sold in frequently flawed or corrupt privatizations.

The case has been compared to the nationalization of Yukos in 2004 over alleged tax evasion and fraud by its owner, Mkihail Khodorkovsky. The politically ambitious Khodorkovsky, who was Russia’s richest man at the time, was subsequently jailed for 10 years, before being given a conditional release at the end of last year.

His company, meanwhile, was sold off, indirectly, to the then state-owned company OAO Rosneft for a song. Rosneft is now chaired by Igor Sechin, who had directed the campaign against Khodorkovsky from his position as deputy chief of staff at the Kremlin.

Bashneft is majority-owned by the London-listed conglomerate OAO AFK Sistema, whose billionaire head Vladimir Evtushenkov is currently under house arrest on charges of money laundering. He denies the charges and has said he will contest them.

Sistema had built a controlling stake in Bashneft with two acquisitions in 2005 and 2009. For $2.5 billion, it bought Bashneft and other energy companies with lucrative local monopolies from vehicles controlled by Ural Rakhimov, the son of the then-president of Bashkortostan, the company’s home region.

Rosneft says it’s not interested in buying Bashneft, but it would be an attractive source of cash for a company in Rosneft’s position. Rosneft is heavily indebted and is shut out of western markets by western sanctions. It has to repay $14 billion by February. Last week, it asked the Finance Ministry for $50 billion from Russia’s National Welfare Fund to help it with its debt repayments, but was rebuffed.

Although perceived as one of the most corrupt regions in the country, Rakhimov senior had been tolerated by President Vladimir Putin for years, even after scrapping elections for regional leaders and making them accountable only to him. Rakhimov ultimately resigned early from his third term in 2010.

Prosecutors allege that the sale of the state’s interest in Bashneft to Rakhimov junior’s companies had been illegal, a view endorsed ahead of the trial in a recent interview by a Rosneft spokesman.

The privatization had, however, received all the necessary state approvals at the time. Sistema had in turn also received the approval of federal regulators when buying the company.

Paradoxically, Sistema’s depositary receipts rose 14% in London on the news, mainly because the court didn’t immediately confiscate some $4.5 billion in dividends that Bashneft and the Bashkir energy companies had paid Sistema since 2009. They’re still down 74% year-to-date.

However, the news agency Interfax quoted an official as saying that the return of illegally seized assets “will go progressively and in stages.”

The case has been seen in Moscow as another sign of the ascendancy of policy ‘hawks’ such as Sechin over more liberal figures such as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying that: “Entrepreneurs definitely should not live in an atmosphere of fear…Businessmen of good faith must be under the protection of the law, they have to be protected and encouraged as much as possible.”

Sistema, whose biggest other asset is a stake in NYSE-listed mobile carrier OAO Mobile TeleSystems MBT 5.95% ,said Thursday its individual units continue to operate as normal, but said the “ongoing litigation could have a significant negative impact” on its own financial condition and obligations.

It has a month to appeal the ruling.

http://fortune.com/2014/10/30/groun...russia-seizes-another-privatized-oil-company/

dawg wtf

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

 

[Leasy]

Damn Big O and the alphabet boys torn Russia a new one. That country is becoming desperate everyday and it is sad that the people of the country is suffering for Putin dumbass mistakes. They better get ready to get rid of that fukk

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Russia warns it’s coming for the Arctic’s oil, including an area Canada claims as its own

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Tom Parfitt, The Telegraph | October 31, 2014 11:39 AM ET
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NTV/AFP/Getty Images)A Russian NTV channel grab taken 03 August 2007 shows a manipulator of the Mir-1 mini-submarine as it places a Russian state flag at the seabed of Arctic ocean at a depth of 4,261 meters (13,980 feet), 02 August 2007. R

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MOSCOW — Russia has warned that it will revive its claim to a huge swathe of the Arctic in the hope that it can secure the rights to billions of tons of oil and gas.

Moscow has long seen the seabed off its northern coastline as a mine of valuable hydrocarbons and is keen to fend off rival bids for control over the region’s resources.

Sergei Donskoy, the minister for natural resources, said Russia had completed research on its submission to the United Nations, under which it hopes to gain an extra 740,000 kilometres. “That is a big increase to the country’s territory, that’s why we call this application an application for the future – an application for the future sustainable development of our country,” said Mr. Donskoy after greeting scientists returning home this week from the Arctic to St Petersburg on the Akademik Fedorov research ship.

Mr. Donskoy said Russia’s application, which could net it at least five billion tons of hitherto unexploited oil and gas reserves, would be submitted to the UN in the spring.

ALEKSEY NIKOLSKYI/AFP/Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin holds a briefing session with standing members of the Russian Security Council at the Bocharov Ruchei residence outside Sochi on Saturday.
The announcement came as the Kremlin increases its military presence in the far north. Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that it was going to build 13 new military airfields and 10 radar stations in the Arctic in case of “unwelcome guests”.

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, told his security council in April that the Arctic was “a sphere of our special interest”.

Under the UN convention on the law of the sea, the five states with territory inside the Arctic Circle – Canada, Norway, Russia, the US and Denmark, via its control of Greenland – have economic rights over a 200-mile zone around the north of their coastline.

However, the convention is open to appeal and several countries are disputing the limits of the zone.

Russia believes its shelf is directly linked to the Lomonosov ridge, an underwater mountain crest that runs 1,240 miles across the polar region. A similar claim is being made about the Mendeleyev ridge, which also strikes out from Siberia toward the North Pole.

Moscow submitted research findings to the UN in 2001 to the effect that the ridges were a “natural prolongation” of Russia, but they were rejected, and it has been gathering data for a new application since.

In 2007, Russian scientists tried to beef up their claims by diving to the seabed under the North Pole and planting a titanium Russian flag. That prompted ridicule from some quarters, with Peter MacKay, Canada’s then foreign minister, comparing it to a 15th century colonial land-grab.

Canada also calls the Lomonosov ridge its own and is expected to lay claim to the North Pole itself in a forthcoming application to the UN. Denmark thinks the ridge is part of Greenland.

 

[88m3]

31 October 2014 Last updated at 07:32 ET
Russia raises interest rates to 9.5%

The weak rouble has kept inflation in Russia high
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

• Russia in grim go-it-alone mood
• Russian rouble weakens on downgrade
• Russia's gas fight with Ukraine

Russia's central bank has raised its key interest rate to 9.5% from 8% as it seeks to tackle inflation.

The 1.5 percentage point increase was higher than expected, with analysts having forecast a rise of 0.5 percentage points.

The bank has already raised rates from 5.5% at the start of the year but the moves have failed to combat inflation.

A weak rouble and a ban on western food imports has kept inflation stubbornly high.

"If external conditions improve, and a persistent trend for lowering inflation and inflation expectations emerges, the Bank of Russia will be ready to start to ease its monetary policy," the central bank said.

The new rate will take effect on 5 November. The last rise was imposed at the end of July.

The central bank said that inflation had reached 8.4% and would remain above 8% until the end of March.

Economic growth is expected to almost grind to a halt in the final three months of this year and in the first quarter of 2015.

The rouble briefly firmed after the bank's decision was announced, but then fell back into negative territory.

The rise comes as Russia said it would will resume shipments of natural gas to Ukraine after Kiev makes its first payment for previous supplies next week.

Trade row
Meanwhile, the European Union said it had launched a trade dispute with Russia at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to challenge Russia's treatment of European agricultural and manufactured goods.

The WTO said the EU had accused Russia of levying higher-than-permitted tariffs on a range of goods including paper, palm oil and refrigerators.

The dispute is the fifth case involving Russia and the EU that has been brought to the WTO.



http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29848940

 

[Domingo Halliburton]

The Ruble collapsed another 2% today breaking above 45 for the first time ever as Bank of Russia's Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudaeva suggested their policy was "quite close" to free floating the currency and desperately tried to jawbone the currency. She suggested that further rate increases were possible, that interventions were part of the "policy package" when repo tool ramps up and, most notably,Moscow could use some of its national foreign currency or even gold bullion reserves – now the world's fifth largest hoard – to pay for buying imports if Western sanctions over Ukraine continue.



USDRUB just broke above 45 for first time ever





which makes you wonder

use gold to buy imports because your currency is about to be worthless, brehs

 

[Ghost_In_A_Shell]

.......All of this denial is comical at its least and at it's most, alarming.

@Poitier, you were right....we lost.

 

[Domingo Halliburton]

Being 2 for 2 in losses this week (The US Election and Time's "world's most powerful person), it appears President Obama has fallen back on his regulatory army to take the fight to Vladimir Putin. As WSJ reports, U.S. prosecutors have launched a money-laundering investigation of billionaire Gennady Timchenko - a member of Putin's inner circle. The allegations are that Timchenko (who was among the first Russian businessmen to be sanctioned by the U.S. following Russia’s intervention in Ukraine’s Crimea region) transferred funds linked to allegedly corrupt deals in Russia through the U.S. financial system. The probe is also examining whether any of Mr. Putin’s personal wealth is connected to allegedly illicit funds.



As WSJ reports,

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, aided by the Justice Department, is investigating whether Gennady Timchenko transferred funds linked to allegedly corrupt deals in Russia through the U.S. financial system, the people said.

The prosecutors are probing transactions in which the Geneva-based commodities firm Mr. Timchenko co-founded, Gunvor Group, purchased oil from Russia’s OAO Rosneft and later sold it to third parties, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Investigators have in recent months requested information about the prices Gunvor charged, the person said.

...
The probe is also examining whether any of Mr. Putin’s personal wealth is connected to allegedly illicit funds, one person said. U.S. officials have previously said that Mr. Putin has investments in Gunvor.

Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “We’re not aware of any investigation, and we’re not following such things.” He dismissed allegations of any financial or business ties between Messrs. Putin and Timchenko, including any investment in Gunvor, as “nonsense.”

....
Forbes puts Mr. Timchenko’s personal wealth at more than $13 billion. Through another entity, the Luxembourg-based Volga Group, he controls shipping, railway and port interests as well as two luxury hotels in France.

The investigation into Mr. Timchenko comes amid stepped-up efforts by the Justice Department to track and seize assets that are suspected to be the proceeds of corruption. The U.S. moved quickly to dispatch agents and prosecutors to Ukraine to help trace stolen assets after the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych, an ally of Mr. Putin, in February. In April, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the creation of a team of FBI agents dedicated to investigating kleptocracy.

The filing of criminal money-laundering charges would allow the U.S. to obtain an Interpol Red Notice on Mr. Timchenko, which would make him subject to arrest and potential extradition from many countries. Mr. Timchenko told Russian news agency Itar-Tass in August that he’s afraid to travel to much of Europe.

“Alas, there are reasons to be seriously afraid of provocations from the U.S. special services,” he said in the interview. “Believe me, this isn’t speculation, but concrete information, whose details I cannot share with you yet for obvious reasons. But we are working on this issue.”

 

[Poitier]

.......All of this denial is comical at its least and at it's most, alarming.

@Poitier, you were right....we lost.

What happen in Ukraine?

Meanwhile the EU and Japan are in triple dip recession

 

[Ghost_In_A_Shell]

What happen in Ukraine?

Meanwhile the EU and Japan are in triple dip recession

1.You can not become a poor nation and then become democratic.....Its unlogical.

But that was not my real reason for my change of heart ..........we can not
criticize another nation on human rights when we violate the same human rights when concerning our own citizens and other countries we have invaded.............................

 

[Poitier]

1.You can not become a poor nation and then become democratic.....Its unlogical.

But that was not my real reason for my change of heart ..........we can not
criticize another nation on human rights when we violate the same human rights when concerning our own citizens and other countries we have invaded.............................

I thought you were being sarcastic...carry on

 

[Ghost_In_A_Shell]

I thought you were being sarcastic...carry on

 

[Futuristic Eskimo]

Putin Is Losing Out to China in Central Asia's Latest 'Great Game'
By Carol Matlack November 06, 2014

Photograph by Alexei Nikolsky/AFP via Getty Images

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon meet on the sidelines of an informal summit of the regional security group in 2013

As President Vladimir Putin strains to keep Ukraine within Russia’s grasp, he may be losing his grip on another part of his would-be empire: the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, which are increasingly turning toward China for investment and trade.

In the latest sign of its growing economic ties with the region, China is planning a $16.3 billion fund to finance railways, roads, and pipelines across Central Asia, reviving the centuries-old Silk Road trade route between China and Europe. President Xi Jinping first proposed the idea last year during a visit to Kazakhstan, the region’s wealthiest country.

Beijing has plenty of reasons to spend big in Central Asia. Improved infrastructure would help link China to European markets and give China increased access to the region’s rich natural resources. Kazakhstan is a major oil producer, while neighboring Kyrgyzstan has large mineral deposits and Turkmenistan produces natural gas.

Story: Jagdish Bhagwati on Global Trade, Russia, and India
At the same time, the planned construction would give an economic boost to adjoining areas of western China where Beijing is trying to quell a separatist insurgency, says Sarah Lain, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London. As it has in Africa, China is likely to bring Chinese workers into Central Asia to do much of the construction.

During much of the 19th century, the Russian and British empires vied for control of Central Asia, a rivalry dubbed the “Great Game.” But the predominantly Muslim region, which also includes the countries of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, was annexed by the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik revolution and has remained close to Moscow in the post-Soviet era.

Putin has sought to maintain those ties—for example, by inviting Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to join a customs union with Moscow. But with the Russian economy in a deep slump, he can’t match the big money that China is offering. Indeed, Russia’s economic malaise is clobbering some Central Asian economies, spurring them to seek help from China.

Story: Putin's Latest Target: More Than 200 Russian McDonald's
Take Tajikistan, one of the region’s poorest nations, where an estimated 52 percent of the economy comes from money sent home by migrant Tajik workers, most of them in Russia. Those remittances are now declining sharply, dragging down economic growth and increasing Tajikistan’s “vulnerability to shocks,” the World Bank said in a report last month.

Jamoliddin Nuraliev, the country’s deputy finance minister, told the Financial Times recently that China was prepared to invest $6 billion in Tajikistan. The figure hasn’t been confirmed by Beijing; if accurate, it would represent two-thirds of Tajikistan’s gross domestic product. Russia also is offering help to Tajikistan, but the sums are much smaller. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported this week that Moscow would give $6.7 million to aid rural areas of Tajikistan.

China has already built substantial economic ties with some Central Asian nations, including major investments in Kazakhstan’s oil industry and large purchases of gas from Turkmenistan.

Story: China Embraces a Russia Cut off From Western Capital
Russia’s incursion into Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine has spooked some Central Asian countries, especially Kazakhstan, which has a large Russian-speaking minority. “There’s a degree of mistrust now with Russia,” Lain says. Although the region won’t turn its back on Russia, she says, “Right now China seems to be a more reliable partner.”

 

[Ghost_In_A_Shell]

Putin Is Losing Out to China in Central Asia's Latest 'Great Game'
By Carol Matlack November 06, 2014

Photograph by Alexei Nikolsky/AFP via Getty Images

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon meet on the sidelines of an informal summit of the regional security group in 2013

As President Vladimir Putin strains to keep Ukraine within Russia’s grasp, he may be losing his grip on another part of his would-be empire: the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, which are increasingly turning toward China for investment and trade.

In the latest sign of its growing economic ties with the region, China is planning a $16.3 billion fund to finance railways, roads, and pipelines across Central Asia, reviving the centuries-old Silk Road trade route between China and Europe. President Xi Jinping first proposed the idea last year during a visit to Kazakhstan, the region’s wealthiest country.

Beijing has plenty of reasons to spend big in Central Asia. Improved infrastructure would help link China to European markets and give China increased access to the region’s rich natural resources. Kazakhstan is a major oil producer, while neighboring Kyrgyzstan has large mineral deposits and Turkmenistan produces natural gas.

Story: Jagdish Bhagwati on Global Trade, Russia, and India
At the same time, the planned construction would give an economic boost to adjoining areas of western China where Beijing is trying to quell a separatist insurgency, says Sarah Lain, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London. As it has in Africa, China is likely to bring Chinese workers into Central Asia to do much of the construction.

During much of the 19th century, the Russian and British empires vied for control of Central Asia, a rivalry dubbed the “Great Game.” But the predominantly Muslim region, which also includes the countries of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, was annexed by the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik revolution and has remained close to Moscow in the post-Soviet era.

Putin has sought to maintain those ties—for example, by inviting Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to join a customs union with Moscow. But with the Russian economy in a deep slump, he can’t match the big money that China is offering. Indeed, Russia’s economic malaise is clobbering some Central Asian economies, spurring them to seek help from China.

Story: Putin's Latest Target: More Than 200 Russian McDonald's
Take Tajikistan, one of the region’s poorest nations, where an estimated 52 percent of the economy comes from money sent home by migrant Tajik workers, most of them in Russia. Those remittances are now declining sharply, dragging down economic growth and increasing Tajikistan’s “vulnerability to shocks,” the World Bank said in a report last month.

Jamoliddin Nuraliev, the country’s deputy finance minister, told the Financial Times recently that China was prepared to invest $6 billion in Tajikistan. The figure hasn’t been confirmed by Beijing; if accurate, it would represent two-thirds of Tajikistan’s gross domestic product. Russia also is offering help to Tajikistan, but the sums are much smaller. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported this week that Moscow would give $6.7 million to aid rural areas of Tajikistan.

China has already built substantial economic ties with some Central Asian nations, including major investments in Kazakhstan’s oil industry and large purchases of gas from Turkmenistan.

Story: China Embraces a Russia Cut off From Western Capital
Russia’s incursion into Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine has spooked some Central Asian countries, especially Kazakhstan, which has a large Russian-speaking minority. “There’s a degree of mistrust now with Russia,” Lain says. Although the region won’t turn its back on Russia, she says, “Right now China seems to be a more reliable partner.”

I think it is time to learn some Mandarin......................

 

[88m3]

6 November 2014 Last updated at 13:44 ET
Gennady Timchenko: Kremlin dismisses US allegations

A US report said Gunvor co-founder Gennady Timchenko was being investigated
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

• Russia and sanctions
• How far do EU-US sanctions on Russia go?
• Is the noose around Putin tightening?

US allegations of money laundering against a close associate of Vladimir Putin amount to another attack on the Russian president, the Kremlin's spokesman has said.

"The West does it continuously and we cannot express anything but bewilderment," Dmitry Peskov said.

It follows a US report that Gennady Timchenko, co-founder of trading house Gunvor, was being investigated.

A spokesman for Mr Timchenko denied any wrongdoing by the businessman.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal said: "The prosecutors are probing transactions in which the Geneva-based commodities firm Mr Timchenko founded, Gunvor Group, purchased oil from Russia's OAO Rosneft and later sold it to third parties."

The newspaper said prosecutors in New York were investigating whether funds related to allegedly corrupt deals in Russia were transferred through the US financial system.

When contacted by the BBC, the prosecutor's office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment.

A statement issued by Mr Timchenko's holding company Volga Group said: "Mr Timchenko has not received any notification from the US law enforcement bodies (including the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York or the US Department of Justice) on any investigation into his activities.

"Mr Timchenko has always conducted his business activities in strict compliance with the law and the highest standards of business ethics."

'Political crossfire'
Gunvor said it had not been notified of any probe into the company and did not act as an intermediary between buyers and sellers.

A spokesman said there was no evidence to support allegations against the company, which he said had been "caught in the political crossfire".

One source quoted by the Wall Street Journal said investigators were also seeking to establish whether the alleged transactions had any connection with Mr Putin's personal wealth.

Gunvor said: "When it comes to President Putin, he does not and never has had any ownership, beneficial or otherwise in Gunvor. He is not a beneficiary of Gunvor or its activities, directly or indirectly."

Mr Peskov was quoted by the Moscow Echo website as saying it was "absurd to speculate" about financial ties between Mr Putin and Mr Timchenko.

Mr Timchenko, who is estimated by Forbes to be worth about $13bn (£8bn), is a long-standing friend of Mr Putin.

He is one of the main targets of US sanctions imposed on Russian individuals and businesses in response to the annexation of Crimea and the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

Several companies linked to Mr Timchenko have faced US sanctions, including gas producer Novatek, investment strategy firm Volga Group and the construction holding company Stroytransgaz Group.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29939371