How to Make Russia Pay its Debts: An Interview with Franz Sedelmayer
In this exclusive interview, German businessman Franz J. Sedelmayer discusses his decades-long dispute with the Russian government, challenging Russia’s sovereign immunity, and the link between state corruption and the current environment of civil unrest in Russia.
Stanovaya: Behind the Surkov-Volodin Shuffle
In this exclusive translation, Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya takes a look at the critical cabinet shuffle which saw Vladislav Surkov moved to Deputy Prime Minister and the promotion of long-time Putin loyalist Vyacheslav Volodin to essentially head up the presidential campaign.
American Lawyer Profiles Robert Amsterdam
The US magazine American Lawyer has published a new profile feature of Robert Amsterdam, with a focus on some of the bigger cases tackled by Amsterdam & Peroff LLP in recent years, including Thailand, Russia, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Nigeria.
Putin's Next Moves
Vladimir Putin's political survival will be based on his ability to re-unite his two core constituencies, but the baggage from his outsized personality is getting in the way.
Boris Akunin Interviews Alexei Navalny
Boris Akunin's interview with opposition darling Alexei Navalny enters into hostile territory, as the novelist confronts him on questions of nationalism.
Death Knell For Nashi?
Nashi, the youth wing of United Russia, has time and time again proved itself an energetic task force for the Putin regime, executing tasks ranging from simple yogic adoration of the party’s leaders at the Seliger summer camp, to actual acts of hooliganism, such as pelting the British ambassador with eggs or picketing the Estonian embassy. Recent evidence that Nashi offers cash incentives to bloggers to praise Mr Putin is a choice example of how this organism employs its considerable financial resources (not all of it, apparently, is used on canoes and effigies of Condoleezza Rice.) It seems now, however, that the group may have had its day. The Independent’s Shaun Walker reported yesterday that the band of hackers Anonymous has found emails which point to the group’s disbanding after the elections. Since Vladislav Surkov received his marching orders, it is perhaps unsurprising that the organization he created would be in jeopardy. Read More
Energy Blast – Feb 17, 2012
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has told the press that whilst Iran’s letter to the EU on possible nuclear talks is ‘ambiguous’ it also heralds ‘the start of opening up from Iran’. Meanwhile European countries have begun to make alternative arrangements for volumes of oil they would normally import from Iran ahead of sanctions. Who stands to gain the most from European tension with Iran? Russia, says Andrew E Kramer in the New York Times. Find out here why Iran’s ambassador to Moscow believes that Tehran could also benefit from plans for an embargo. With demand from Europe weakening, Gazprom is apparently hoping that 2012 will see deals concluded with China and India. The monopoly is also optimistic that it will settle its pricing disagreements with European customers. State-run power generator and exporter Inter RAO UES, which is looking to diversify into Europe, could apparently purchase several plants from German utility RWE.
Today in Russian Business – Feb 17, 2012
Skolkovo director Viktor Vekselberg is in the UK, attempting to encourage British companies to participate in what has been deemed Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley. In an interview with the BBC’s Today program, fielding questions about the rule of law, he admits that Russia is not a democracy, as of yet. In an attempt to win over voters, Vladimir Putin has ordered a clean-up of corruption-riddled state corporations, but ‘the problem is that all these state companies are very well-connected, and not well controlled‘ says Elena Panfilova of Transparency International. Nearly 400 Russian bailiffs were brought to justice in 2011 mostly for bribes and fraud, reports ITAR-TASS, and some 4% of GDP was illegally withdrawn from the Russian economy last year by money laundering in Russia and abroad. Moscow apparently hopes to use strategic investment in Afghanistan’s infrastructure to bring about political stability. According to Reuters, Iran bought almost half a million tonnes of wheat this week from Russia as it attempts to evade Western sanctions. Rostelecom, Russia’s primary fixed-line phone operator plans to increase its stake in pay television operator National Telecommunications to a conclusive 100%.
RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Feb 17, 2012
TODAY: Independent TV channel Dozhd faces probe; accusations of receiving foreign money fly; is Voronin the engine behind media censure? Prokhorov defends his independence; EU resolution urges fair elections; vote underway already for isolated citizens. Moscow authorities reject request for opposition rally permit; pro-Putin march rallies troops from afar. Expelled French journalist can return, say FMA; BerlusPutin; teen suicides continue to raise concerns. Russia opposes new UN vote on Syria
Russian prosecutors have opened an investigation into independent TV channel Dozhd after an official request from a United Russia deputy, pertaining specifically to accusations that foreign funding may be behind their Kremlin-critical broadcasts. On the topic of alleged foreign interference, Kathy Lally traces Putin’s unceasing use of anti-American rhetoric as an electoral ploy. Is the sudden crackdown on media to do with Vladimir Voronin – who is ‘more of a steamroller’ in his relations with the press than predecessor Vladislav Surkov? Brian Whitmore thinks so. Reuters offers a profile of Voronin, the mysterious political strategist who now runs Putin’s election campaign with a reign of fear. The Moscow Times has an interview with Mikhail Prokhorov which poses the eternal question – is he a credible independent candidate or just a Kremlin puppet? Read More
From Kremlin To Cage, Via Youtube
A faux news broadcast imagining Putin’s arrest and trial might have proved more than just an exercise in video wish fulfillment and sharp use of visual effects. With two million hits in two days – it seems to have captured the public imagination.
Energy Blast – Feb 16, 2012
‘The era of bullying nations has passed. The arrogant powers cannot monopolize nuclear technology’: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to defy international censure over the Gulf state’s nuclear regime. Tehran has however, apparently sent a letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressing a willingness to hold new talks. A US State Department spokeswoman has dismissed Iran’s claims of advances in its atomic know how as ‘not terribly impressive’. The EU’s trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, has pledged that Europe will adapt to the impact of any Iranian action. Russia has cautioned international powers to attempt to negotiate further with the rogue regime. Russia’s Armed forces chief has told the media that the Kremlin would be within ‘their full rights’ to use nuclear weapons should any threats to the integrity of the country surface. Apparently Transneft has not entirely rejected the possibility of building a pipeline to Greece via Turkey, bypassing Bulgaria, which recently withdrew from the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project.
Today in Russian Business – Feb 16, 2012
International ratings agency Standard & Poor has reportedly forecast that Russia’s gross domestic product growth is to slow to 3.5% in 2012, from 4.2% in 2011. Despite upheavals in exports to long-standing Arab clients and rivalry with China, Russia managed to set an arms export record in 2011 at $13.2 billion. According to Ria-Novosti, 2012 will herald the start of a Russia-Vietnam joint venture to produce modified anti-ship missiles. US retail giant Wal-Mart is apparently still eying investment opportunities in Russia, whose top retailer by sales, X5, has denied a report that it is in talks to sell its Karusel hypermarket chain to the US giant for $2 billion. Top shopping website Ozon.ru has extended its accessories range with the purchase of fashion retailer Sapato.ru. Sberbank has concluded a $660.5 million deal to buy the international arm of Austria’s Volksbank, at a discount. Apparently Russia’s largest lender is in no hurry to acquire assets in Turkey or Poland, the two states it has identified for possible takeovers. Norway’s Telenor has managed to regain part control of telecom firm Vimpelcom from Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman’s Alfa Group, in a long-running corporate dispute. The Moscow Times examines disability and the job market.
RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Feb 16, 2012
TODAY: Video of Putin ‘arrest’ takes cyberspace by storm; rumors fly of charity head coerced into filming advert backing Prime Minister’s presidential campaign; Nashi’s time up? Navalny bank under investigation. Election monitor evicted; toy protests disallowed. Gorbachev expresses concerns over Ekho Moskvy shakeup; censorship fears grow; culture and the election race; blow for HIV funding. Russia in talks with France on Syria; dismisses criticism of weapon supply.
An innovatively edited video clip, ‘The Arrest of Vladimir Putin: A Report From The Courtroom’, which shows the Prime Minister caged and questioned Mikhail Khodorkovsky-style, has proved a viral sensation. Actress and charity head Chulpan Khamatova may have only filmed an advert in support of Putin because of threats that a refusal would result in a loss of funding, says the Moscow Times. Could Nashi be axed after the elections? The Independent reports that a group of hackers have apparently uncovered official emails suggesting that its demise is imminent. A probe into Vyatka bank, which holds accounts pertaining to Kremlin adversary Alexei Navalny, has been launched by Russian authorities, says this report. Election monitor Golos has reportedly been evicted from its offices despite having a valid lease until August. Barnaul opposition group The Decembrists has been denied a permit for a toy protest rally on the grounds that the figurines are not Russian citizens. Drafting a resolution on the functioning of democracy in Russia during the election period is apparently a top issue for the European Parliament. 
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BBC Interviews Alexei Navalny
The BBC has posted a brief interview with Alexei Navalny, in which the activist and increasingly popular opposition figure says he was surprised by how much the opposition movement has grown in the past two months, underscored the importance of securing free and fair elections, and said that he planned to run for election once such a system was in place. He also had a particularly neat response to the interviewer asking him whether he thought that revolution was on the cards in Russia today.
‘The truth is that the criminal revolution was carried out by Vladimir Putin. He really usurped power in an illegal way. Vladimir Putin staged a revolution, and what we need to do now is to return the power to the people.’
Astrakhan Travelblog 2 – Broken Gazpromises
Last weekend’s rally in the city of Astrakhan offered a sign of the opposition movement’s inner steel but was, it must be said, lackluster in comparison to parallel rallies in other regional centers. If it did unite the diaspora of the opposition in Astrakhan, this amounted predominantly to the ‘controlled’ opposition. By far the largest brigade out in force was A Just Russia, whose 25 members present constituted roughly a third of the crowd. Some of the youngest faces in attendance sported Communist Party banners. It seems that rather than promoting the fledgling brands of opposition – Strategy 31, or the Other Russia – the town’s restless youngsters prefer to invest their vigor in Russia’s preexisting political structures. Whilst reaching out to the fringes of society, these channels are, many argue, constituent parts of Putin’s system of managed democracy, and communicate backing to its beating heart, United Russia. Read More
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