Russia 100304 Basic Political Developments

RIA: Russian emigrant arrested for illegally transmitting $172 million in U.S.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100304/158087887.html
06:2104/03/2010

Police in the U.S. state of Oregon have arrested a Russian emigrant on charges of moving more than $172 million into the United States and out to more than 50 countries via shell companies, the CIA said on its website.

Victor Kaganov, a resident of the city of Tigard, is accused of carrying out more than 4,200 illegal money transmitting operations on behalf of Russian clients.

The suspect faces a five-year prison term or a fine of $250,000 and a three-year probation if found guilty.

MOSCOW, March 4 (RIA Novosti)

Itar-Tass: One militant killed, 2 policemen wounded in Dagestan

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14884600

04.03.2010, 09.55

MAKHACHKALA, March 4 (Itar-Tass) -- One militant was killed in a special operation in Dagestan’s Derbent region, two policemen were injured.

As ITAR-TASS learnt at the law enforcement bodies of the republic, on Wednesday night, law enforcers tried to stop a suspicious car in the area of the settlement of Mamedkala to check documents. “The driver ignored the demand and car passengers opened fire at law enforcers,” a law enforcer said. “As a result, two policemen got injuries. The criminals managed to escape.”

Later on, the deserted car was found in a forest near-by. A body was found inside the car. The body is supposed to belong to a man who was mortally wounded by law enforcers in return fire. His identity is being established.

Criminal proceedings were instituted.

Bloomberg: Yukos Seeks $98 Billion From Russia in Europe Human Rights Case

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aNMZZm2j3u.0

By Heather Smith

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Former management of Yukos Oil Co., once Russia’s largest oil producer, will ask a European court to order Russia to pay them $98 billion over what they claim were illegal tax probes that led to the company’s liquidation.

Yukos lawyers will tell the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, that the company’s rights to fair hearings and property protection were violated by the audits and tax assessments for 2000 and 2001, according to court documents.

Yukos’s main assets, now owned by state-run OAO Rosneft, were seized and auctioned off by the government to settle more than $30 billion of tax claims. Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky, serving eight years in prison for tax evasion and fraud, maintains the charges were fabricated because he opposed then-President Vladimir Putin.

Yukos “is a Russian political hot potato,” said Lilia Shevtsova, a senior political analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Moscow Center. Should the government lose, it would be “painful,” Shevtsova said, in terms of “international investors coming into Russia and the political standing of Russia.”

Yukos, which originally applied to the court in 2004, asked for the reparations under the human rights convention’s “just satisfaction” article for taxes and penalties, as well as losses following the 2007 bankruptcy auctions. The court, which agreed to hear the case in January 2009, postponed hearings twice due to the “unavailability” of Russian officials.

115,000 Jobs

“The only way there can be just satisfaction is to come to an independent court,” said Claire Davidson, an outside spokeswoman for Yukos at Gardant Communications in London. “The former management of Yukos is acting on behalf of all shareholders, damaged parties like employees and creditors.” About 115,000 people lost their jobs due to the affair, she said.

Aelita Baichurina, a spokeswoman for the Russian Federal Tax Service, declined to comment on the hearing.

Putin, now prime minister, called Khodorkovsky, formerly Russia’s richest man, a “notorious personage” in an annual call-in show in December published on the government Web site. Putin said 240 billion rubles ($8 billion) of the proceeds from Yukos assets, “money that was once stolen from the people,” was used to form a fund for renovating homes and moving people to better housing.

GML Arbitration

Former Yukos controlling shareholder GML Ltd. is separately pursuing an arbitration claim for as much as $100 billion from Russia. GML claims the Energy Charter Treaty, an international agreement regulating energy industry investment and transportation relations Russia signed but never ratified, obliged the government to protect Yukos investments.

Khodorkovsky, 46, and his former partner, Platon Lebedev, were convicted in 2005 of tax evasion and fraud. They are on trial again in Moscow on charges they embezzled oil worth more than 892.4 billion rubles from Yukos. Khodorkovsky could face an additional 22 ½ years in prison if convicted.

Lebedev’s arrest order was annulled by Russia’s Supreme Court in December after the Court of Human Rights ruled in 2007 that his rights had been violated during the arrest and his pre- trial detention. The ruling didn’t affect the sentence or conviction. Both men have appeals pending before the Strasbourg court.

The case is OAO Neftyanaya kompaniya YUKOS v. Russia, 14902/04, European Court of Human Rights.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Smith in Paris at [e-mail]

Last Updated: March 3, 2010 19:01 EST
The Other Russia: Ekho Moskvy Bans Song Critical of Lukoil VP

http://www.theotherrussia.org/2010/03/03/ekho-moskvy-bans-song-critical-of-lukoil-vp/
March 3rd, 2010 • Related • Filed Under
One of Russia’s last remaining sources of uncensored media has apparently clamped down on one of its hosts for attempting to play a song critical of a high-level oil executive, Kasparov.ru reports.

Well-known culture critic Artemy Troitsky said on late Tuesday that Ekho Moskvy radio, widely considered to be one of the only sources of unfettered journalism left in Russia, prohibited him from playing a song by the popular rap group Noize MC on the program Osoboye Mneniye (”Special Opinion”). The song blames Lukoil Vice President Anatoly Barkov as at fault for a fatal car crash in Moscow last month that left two women dead.

Upon speaking with Ekho Moskvy Deputy Director Sergei Buntman, Troitsky was told that he couldn’t play the song because it didn’t fit the station’s format and “we have never had this before.” He also expressed concern that playing the song could result in accusations of copyright violation, since Osoboye Mneniye is broadcast in America and Israel on RTVi television.

When Troitsky told Buntman that the rapper had actually given him a recording of the song complete with all broadcasting rights, Buntman was silent. When Troitsky added that Osoboye Mneniye was a “rotten program,” Buntman responded in outrage and told Troitsky that he would no longer be allowed to host the show. Having other broadcasting duties at the station, Troitsky says that he doesn’t plan to file any complaints but is concerned at the incident.

The car accident in question occurred on February 25 on Moscow’s Gagarin Square, and left 36-year-old driver Olga Aleksandrina and 72-year-old Vera Sidelnikova dead. Barkov and his driver sustained only minor injuries. Police were quick to lay blame for the accident on Aleksandrina, but witnesses have since come forward claiming that Barkov’s armored Mercedes had been driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid a traffic jam. The resulting scandal has brought attention to Moscow residents’ long-held concerns that elite members of Russian society are given free reign by the police to commit gross traffic violations.

As of the time of publication, a YouTube video Noize MC’s song, “Mercedes S 666″ has received more than 224 thousand views.