Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, February 17, 2011

Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, February 17, 2011

A brief look at what is in the Russian papers today

President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would seek to strengthen its partnership with Italy in the energy sector

(The Moscow Times, Vedomosti, Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

Egypt-inspired protests spread to Libya, where protesters are demanding the release of a jailed lawyer. At least 14 people were injured in clashes in the country's second largest city, Benghazi

(Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)

The European Parliament may adopt a resolution on laws and human rights in Russia on Thursday

(Kommersant)

METALS & MINING

The world's biggest aluminum producer, UC RusAl, is returning to the ruble debt market for the first time since 2005 as yields drop to record lows.

(The Moscow Times)

OIL & GAS

Russia's state environmental watchdog confirmed that concerns voiced by the World Wildlife Fund about a Rosneft-BP joint project in the Russian Arctic are well-founded. The fund says that oil and gas deposits partially lie on environmentally protected areas

(Kommersant)

Belarus is seeking to review its price for Russian gas for 2012, with graduate growth on the current level only after three years. Minsk says an agreement has already been reached, while Moscow is cautious on the issue

(Vedomosti)

TELECOMS & IT

Russia's largest cell phone operator, MTS, will begin selling Glonass-compatible smartphones in April, a month later than initially announced. Though the device is less technically advanced than the iPhone, experts say the new handset could easily outsell it in Russia

(The Moscow Times)

The U.S. authorities consider freedom of the Internet one of its top foreign policy priorities and are ready to allocate $25 million to support "bloggers and internet activists" in countries with authoritarian regimes

(Kommersant, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

BANKING & FINANCE

More than 10 investors spent over $100 million each on VTB shares during the bank's recent float, deputy president Herbert Moos said. The top spenders include Italy's Generali, China Investment Corporation and U.S.-based TPG Capital

(The Moscow Times)

SOCIETY

The State Duma will debate a draft law which would impose fines on bribe takers calculated according to the sum of their bribe

(Izvestia, Vedomosti, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

Russia may adopt a law to guarantee gender equality, Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova said. She said that the Russian legislation has "no single mechanism for prevention of gender discrimination"

(Izvestia)

The government said on Wednesday that 14,000 people died because of a record heat wave last summer, prompting "the country's leading scientists" to look for ways to mitigate the effect of extreme climatic conditions on the mortality rate

(The Moscow Times)

Police at Moscow's Kievsky Station detained four alleged terrorists on Wednesday, though the suspects apparently only planned to take a train to Chisinau, Moldova, not stage an attack

(The Moscow Times, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

Newly unearthed paperwork confirms that an illegal gambling group sponsored overseas vacations of Moscow region's top prosecutors and their families, the Russian Investigative Committee said

(The Moscow Times, Vedomosti, Kommersant, Rossiiskaya Gazeta)

RELIGION

Talks between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Pope Benedict XVI may bring the heads of the Russian Orthodox and Catholic churches closer to holding their first meeting

(The Moscow Times, Kommersant)

SPORT

Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin may hold a bout with David Haye for the WBA title this May

(Kommersant)

Jailed Oil Tycoon Khodorkovsky Is ‘Perfect Martyr’: Interview

Interview by Catherine Hickley

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- “Khodorkovsky,” a documentary about the former billionaire chief of Yukos Oil Co., grabbed headlines even before its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival when thieves stole it from the director’s Berlin apartment.

It was the second attempt to steal the movie, according to Cyril Tuschi, who has been working on it for five years. Funded by German television, the film portrays Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 47, as a man who has evolved, as the press release puts it, “from a perfect socialist to a perfect capitalist and finally, in a Siberian prison, becoming a perfect martyr.”

Tuschi scored interviews with Khodorkovsky’s first wife, his mother, his son, accomplices and the man himself, who has been in jail since 2003 and has been sentenced to stay there until 2017. They paint a picture of a charismatic, authoritative Russian who ran afoul of another charismatic, authoritative Russian. Tuschi, 42, says it was the man and the dynamics of his relationship with Vladimir Putin that drew him.

“Maybe it’s a romantic projection, but I saw through Khodorkovsky that people can change,” Tuschi said in an interview in Berlin. He said he still hasn’t heard anything from police investigating the break-in.

His film skates over the murky 1990s, an era when Khodorkovsky was becoming Russia’s richest man, founding a bank called Menatep, grabbing stakes in companies, and, along with other oligarchs, pushing the government to create a regulatory and tax framework that benefited them.

Yukos Transformation

At the beginning of the last decade, he changed tack, transforming Yukos, then Russia’s second-largest oil producer, into a global operation. He attracted foreign investors, adopted U.S. accounting standards and Yukos shares soared.

Yet he also began supporting parties that opposed Putin and sought to break the state’s monopoly on oil pipelines. In short, he challenged Putin’s authority.

Tuschi’s film shows footage from a meeting between Putin and business leaders in 2003. Khodorkovsky asked a question about corruption at the Kremlin. Putin snarled back that Yukos’s taxes needed examining.

Interviewees say that may have been the moment Putin snapped. Yukos was hit with a $3.4 billion tax bill that year. Khodorkovsky landed in jail, where he’s serving time for fraud and tax evasion. In December last year, he got a second conviction, this time on charges of oil embezzlement. Tuschi interviewed him after that verdict from a cage in the court.

Impossible Theft

Laughing at the “absurdity” of the ruling, Khodorkovsky says it would be impossible to steal the quantity of oil he was accused of taking.

Asked why he didn’t flee Russia before his arrest in 2003, he shrugs. “Naive ideas about justice?” he says.

Interviewees speculate on why Khodorkovsky didn’t flee, as some of his business partners did. The most interesting theory comes from Christian Michel, a former Khodorkovsky adviser. He says the one-time billionaire may want to “redeem himself” through jail time to be in a position to forge a political career when he finally emerges.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after Khodorkovsky’s second verdict that it “raises serious questions about selective prosecution -- and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations.”

Different Perceptions

Yet in contrast to the outrage of Western observers and Russian expatriates, Tuschi’s film shows ordinary Russians accusing Khodorkovsky of robbing their country and welcoming his imprisonment. Why are perceptions of the former oligarch so different at home and abroad?

“Russian people were brought up with the sense that all rich people are bad, being rich is a sin,” Tuschi says.

That seems too simple. One shadow hanging over the film and never really explored is Putin’s insinuation that Khodorkovsky was implicated in the 1998 murder of Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov. Why wasn’t Khodorkovsky charged with murder if Putin is so convinced he was involved?

“Maybe because they don’t have enough evidence,” said Tuschi. “Or maybe they fear that if they bring up stuff from this time then they will all drown in it, all Russia’s elite.”

Or maybe Putin is holding something in reserve. Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Yury Schmidt said on Jan. 13 that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if prosecutors file murder charges against his client, even if it’s “irrational.”

For more information on the Berlin Film Festival, go to http://www.berlinale.de/en.

(Catherine Hickley is a writer for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Catherine Hickley in Berlin at chickley@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Beech at mbeech@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 16, 2011 19:00 EST