Another Victim

摘要

The slowing of Moscow's drive to claim greater control over Russia's natural resources in the face of drooping energy prices may have been greatly overestimated. Oil producer Russneft, whose future has hung in the air for years since former owner Mikhail Gutseriev fell out of favor with the Kremlin, has landed in the hands of state bank Sberbank and could be passed into the control of a state energy company, such as Rosneft. How the state proceeds with Russneft, once Russia's fastest-growing oil company thanks to heavy financial support from international trading giant Glencore, may well set the tenor for the industry under President Dmitry Medvedev, who projects a far friendlier image to business than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (EC Jan.23,p3).