Russia and the Ukraine have been involved in a confusing (to me anyway) dispute over natural gas. Seems Russia has it, the Ukraine needs it and a company called Gazprom supplies it.
Somewhere I missed the story of Russia pricing the gas so high that the Ukraine was forced into an energy crisis and its citizens were left in the cold.
The dispute is working itself out, in part due to international pressure.
That should be the end of it…but it’s not.
The whole incident got people looking into the mess and what the hell is actually going on.
Gazprom, the gas supplier, is partly controlled by the Russian government, and Gazprom is connected to RosUkrEnergo (RUE), whose owners are being kept a mystery. Persistant rumors link RUE with Russian organized crime and the shadowy figure, Semyon Mogilyevich
Mogilyevich has been connected with the Russian Mafia and as reported by Walter Mayr in Der Spiegel…” faces a 390-year prison sentence in the United States for fraud and money-laundering. Mogilyevich allegedly holds Israeli, Russian and Hungarian citizenship, and he has been widely viewed as a Mafia boss for more than 10 years. He is also on the FBI's global most-wanted list. Through his attorney, Zeev Gordon, the fugitive has denied any connection with RUE. The attorney is the same Zeev Gordon who co-founded Eural Trans Gas, RUE's predecessor, to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan to Ukraine. In 2003, the company's profits were estimated at three-quarters of a billion dollars.”
It certainly doesn’t look too good, and Mogilyevich (spelled Mogilevich on the FBI’s site) is in fact wanted by US authorities.
While all is not known and conjecture is running rampant, the mess is being investigated. While I am still a bit confused by the whole thing I am left with a distinctly uneasy feeling that a super villain is relaxing somewhere in a leather and chrome swivel chair, stroking a white, pug faced, long haired cat in his lap gloating over his plans for world domination.
Guess I’ll have to wait for the movie.
Where are you when we need you Mr.Bond?
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