In about an hour, we are expecting a foregone conclusion during an award ceremony to crown deputy prime minister Igor Sechin as Russia’s best CEO – an event not lacking in irony.

What must be one of the most unusual awards around is given out by a Russian organization known as the Investor Protection Association [“Association for the Protection of the Rights of Investors” in Russian]. This organization of domestic and foreign asset management companies working in Russia has been around since 2000, and includes such major players as Deutsche Bank and Troika Dialog among its 26 members. It has been holding an annual awards ceremony every December since 2002, in categories such as “Best Investor Relations” and “Best Dividend Policy”, and, confusingly, “Poorest Corporate Governance”.