Gazprom - KGB Connection

Gazprom, a state controlled Company which claims to control 90% of the gas in Russia and 20% in the rest of the world, bought an enormous oil company a few years ago. They have been carrying out a several year strategy to expand around the world, and also to acquire a strong presence in Africa. They have signed a deal with Algeria to develop their fields in the last year, and They signed a large oil development deal with "the Leader" in Libya... This year..

Putin continues to staff the Company with government bureaucrats and former KGB officers. As you can see, his control is getting less subtle...

The full article for what follows comes from a November 16, 2006 Post in the English version of A Romanian Business Newsletter, HOTNEWS.ro

-Shimron

Gazprom vice president replaced with KGB officer

Aleksandr Riazanov, vice president of the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom was fired because of his independence and reticence in fulfilling orders.

Riazanov was replaced with Valeri Golubev, former KGB officer and a close acquaintance of president Putin.The new vice president will handle issues in the Community of Independent States (CSI) area, the organization representing all former USSR states, except for the three Baltic states.

Golubev, a career man in Sankt-Petersburg, just like president Putin, was named in the position without any further comments or explanations.

Gazprom intends to force higher prices for the natural gas delivered to Russian neighboring countries, and for this reason is accused of serving as a weapon

The full article

and from -La Russophobe

"Gazprom Deputy Chairman Sergei Ushakov is one former KGB man. Like his predecessor Sergei Lukash, who came to Gazprom from the Federal Guards Service, Ushakov is responsible for security matters at the corporation.

Gazprom's chief accountant, Elena Vasilyeva, worked in the Central Accounting Office of the Port of St. Petersburg Open Joint Stock Company during the 1990s -- where Miller was director for development and investment at the same time.

Many St. Petersburg professionals who have entered the oil business and made a career there have grown breath-takingly rich during the last few years, insiders say. "A lot of them have dollar bills in their eyes," jokes a former KGB leader. Gary Kasparov, a chess world champion active in Russia's political opposition, remarks cynically that Russia has "the richest bureaucracy in the world."

-La Russophobe

We simply need to understand that Gazprom is a classic example of a State Capitalism. It has been, and will be, an arm of Russian policy in the world. It may even be an employing agency for a cash starved Russian Security apparatus, what ever name it goes by today.

-Shimron