The Baltic port business, according to some sources, is handled by Russian entrepreneurs, Andrei Katkov and Evgenii Malov. In the 1990s they were releated to Kirishineftorgsintez chemical company and to its subsidiaries which exported petroleum products to the Baltic States through St. Petersburg. A reminder: President Putin was in charge of supervising foreign commerce in St. Petersburg city hall at the time. As Russian Focus magazine wrote in 2004, Messrs Malov and Katkov were well acquainted with Putin.

President Discovers Truth About Ports and Russian Business in Estonia

by Stanislav Pylev, translated by Roobit

Vladimir Iakunin (Yakunin) , the head of the Russian Railroads, accused President Putin’s immediate milieu in creating a situation when preference treatment for the Russian Baltic ports as promised by the state remains a myth.

Before meeting of the Council of State, which took place on May 3 in Murmansk, the head of state was placed in an awkward position by his own subordinates. Vladmir Iakunin (Yakunin), the presidentof the Russian Railroads testified that it is impossible to increase amount of freight moved without constructing an additional stretch of railroad.

As Kommersant (Commerçant) newspaper reports at that very moment Igor Levitin, the Minister of Transport, suddenly remembered about all the commodities that are being shipped through foreign ports.

- Yes, don’t forget about them — President of Russia said approvingly

- So, that’s exactly what I am talking about! — Vladmir Iakunin raised his voice — would you please excuse me for saying this but one year and four month after your visit to Ust Luga, where you urged to work on development of a free economic zone, absolutely nothing was done. And then he moved on to talk how under these conditions Russian shipowners are investing money into developing foreign ports, Estonian Sillamäe being one of them.

Mr. Putin became stared at the head of the Russian Railroads with curiosity.

- You see, they are being told that they’d be freed from all property taxes for ten years, then nothing would assessed on their profits, and the leases run for 40 years. And you know individuals who are under criminal investigation and have applied for political asylum in England support them!

President Putin sat motionless in the chair and the expression on his face was that of the Bronze Soldier who was just moved from Tallinn town center down to the war cemetery —

- And here’s what we getting: at our expense the freight turnover in foreign ports has increased by 21% in the last quarter, — Mr. Iakunin spoke — but freight turnover of Russian ports rose only by 5%. We must create conditions when freight would go through Russian ports!

The transparency of the hint on support by Boris Berezovsky of Russian businessmen who invest huge amounts of money into development of Estonian Sillamäe was obvious.

The Baltic port business, according to some sources, is handled by Russianentrepreneurs, Andrei Katkov and Evgenii Malov. In the 1990s they were releated to Kirishineftorgsintez chemical company and to its subsidiaries which exported petroleum products to the Baltic States through St. Petersburg. A reminder: President Putin was in charge of supervising foreign commerce in St. Petersburg city hall at the time. As Russian Focus magazine wrote in 2004, Messrs Malov and Katkov were well acquainted with Putin. Under his watch they created such outfits as Kinef and Kinex oil exporting company. The periodical also mentions Gennady (Gennadii) Timchenko who belongs to the clan closest to the current President. Like Putin and Sechin, Gennady Timchenko, an oil trader, has his roots in the KGB. «He is extremely close to Vladimir Putin, their personal relationship is very good» — a source in the Kremlin security service told the British Daily Telegraph. Also according to Russian newsru.com, Tarcona, an Estonian corporate vehicle controlled by Gennady Timchenko, is earning petrodollars for the first people in the Kremlin and their favorite courtiers. Recently Mr. Timchenko was given control over export output of Rosneft in addition to that of  Surgutneftegaz.

On this background, appeals for boycotting Estonian goods with their miniscule sale volumes look outright ridiculous. On one hand, Moscow is desperately appealing to the compatriots to show solidarity in political, economic and travel boycott of Estonia. On the other — Russian oligarchs, those who were recently closely connected with President Putin, are stimulating development of Estonian ports, direct competitors of Ust Luga and Murmansk, and causing outflow of countless billions of dollars from Russia.

Stanislav Pylev

Fontanka.ru

Russian original: http://www.fontanka.ru/2007/05/04/096/