Archive

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...
January 29, 2008

Energy Blast, Jan. 29, 2008

The 6th Russian-Norwegian oil and gas conference on issues of the two countries’ partnership in developing the shelf will begin its work in Kaliningrad this week. The prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, has demanded that Gazprom deal dire...
January 29, 2008

Today in Russian Business

A new report by a Russian institute says that Russian industry is feeling the shortage of equipment and manpower. French carmaker Peugeot Citroen will sign an agreement to build an assembly plant at Kaluga in Russia. The size of the pension and mu...