How to Break Up Gazprom

Check out this intriguing first paragraph from Roman Kupchinsky at Jamestown Foundation:

In 2003 a team of Russian foreign policy and energy experts wrote a 70 page memo about the role of Gazprom, the state-owned gas monopoly, in Russia’s domestic politics and the country’s foreign policy strategy. The document was distributed to a limited number of consumers and was never published. It is in the possession of the Jamestown Foundation.

Yes, please, I will click here and continue reading.  The memo addresses some of the most central issues of political power and its relationship to the energy sector, and interestingly, points to the appointment of Alexei Miller to run Gazprom as one of the final straws which through the group under Putin’s control.  The secret memo also makes reference to the importance of Putin’s interest in Rosneft and the appointment of Igor Sechin, as the two knowingly imprisoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky on false charges in order to steal Yukos assets for the relatively small (at the time) state oil company.

For as often as Gazprom is written about outside of Russia as a dangerous threat, it is interesting to see these perspectives from inside the Russian government as to how Gazprom hurts Russia as well.