Year: 2008

January 30, 2008

RA’s Daily Russia News Blast – Jan. 30, 2008

TODAY: Medvedev calls on Russian lawyers. Communist Zyuganov accuses Medvedev of undermining the election. Nashi is targeted by Estonian immigration as it is reported that its activities could be wound up. Journalist who blackmailed Deripaska is a...
January 30, 2008

Today in Russian Business

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, “seen as a key liberal in the government,” has called for changes in Russia’s foreign policy to guarantee a stable and predictable regime for investors. Kudrin also said that Russia will move to a free floatin...
January 30, 2008

RA in the Financial Post: Gazprom as an Arm of the Kremlin

Robert Amsterdam’s speech in Calgary today was covered by the Financial Post: Gazprom just an arm of the Kremlin, Khodorkovsky’s lawyer warns Canadians People should understand that OAO Gazprom, the Russian gas giant that wants to beco...
January 29, 2008

Deripaska’s Basic Element Gets Slapped with Back Taxes

Tonight the Moscow Times is reporting that Oleg Deripaska’s company Basic Element is being slapped with a $4 million claim in back taxes for allegedly using “a complex promissory-note scheme with the aid of fly-by-night companies to un...
January 29, 2008

The End of the Nashi as We Know It

What will Moscow feel like once there are no longer occasional busloads of confused teens from the regions dumped on Red Square to march and rally in support of the government? What will it be like to no longer have a sea of red-shirt-emblazoned y...
January 29, 2008

Where Do All the Beautiful Russians Come From?

According to Anne Applebaum, they apparently come from freer markets. Undertaking an admittedly trite question of why only today we are treated to “a parade of notably stunning tennis champions” and the “feminine pulchritude̶...
January 29, 2008

Gorbachev Remains Slippery on Putin

One day he overwhelmingly supports the Russian president, the next day he hosts big press events to launch an Anna Politkovskaya book. In between he shows up in Louis Vuitton luggage ads with surreptitious and ambiguous messages about the Litvinen...
January 29, 2008

RA Interview in the Calgary Herald

Robert Amsterdam is interviewed by the Calgary Herald today: Be realistic about Russia: litigator Khodorkovsky’s lawyer warns businesses of risks Gina Teel, Calgary Herald; with files from Canwest News Service Canadian corporate leaders need...