> I basically agree with Chris. However, Gazprom's purchase of Sibneft remains >opaque. My sense is that after Abramovich paid himself a dividend of $2.3 billion >he transferred ownership of Sibneft (how much? I don't know) to Putin's inner >circle. Thus, the $13 billion paid for Sibneft came from a state-owned company to >Kremlin insiders (basically, the state paid itself with huge western loans).>>
What's the Russian government doing to reduce Russia's dependence on oil revenues? When Putin succeeded Yeltsin, he had said that Russia would have to use the technological strength of its military-industrial complex. Is there any progress in that direction?
Ulhas