Oil bribery trial divides Russia

A trial involving Russia’s former economy minister and the head of state-owned oil company Rosneft has split the country’s ruling elite and prompted difficult questions for the Kremlin.

The story has it all, says The Independent: “Exotic locations, alleged bungs, secret recordings and a basket of sausages.”

The case centres on a meeting held in Goa, India, in October 2016. Alexey Ulyukayev, then economy minister, allegedly pressured Igor Sechin, CEO of Russia’s state-run oil company and close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, into agreeing to pay a $2m bung so that Ulyukayev would drop his opposition to Rosneft’s majority purchase of rival oil company Bashneft.

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Ulyukayev became the first serving minister since soviet secret police chief Lavrenty Beria in 1953 to be arrested when he was caught in an elaborate bribery sting, allegedly orchestrated by Sechin.

The Bashneft deal “had been presented as a watermark test for Russian privatisation but resulted in a tug-of-war within the government”, says The Independent.

In a country where senior politicians are rarely brought to trial, the case has split the ruling elite and reignited questions as to the relationship between the Kremlin, business and state-owned industries.

While he has said he was aware of the operation, President Putin has sought to maintain his distance and arbitrate between the liberal free market and protectionist factions within his government.