The trial of Russia’s former economic development minister, Alexei Ulyukayev, on charges of demanding a bribe for approving Rosneft’s takeover of Bashneft is turning rather more public than his accusers would have wished. The Zamoskvoretsky court handling the case asked journalists this week to be more “accurate” in covering the hearings, citing “numerous publications about sausage” - a reference to the contents of a gift basket containing food handed over by Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin to Ulyukayev with the alleged $2mn payment in a 14 November sting operation. Details of this emerged at a hearing last week, when a prosecutor read out a transcript of Sechin’s conversation with Ulyukayev just before the latter’s arrest.
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