MOSCOW: Russia’s richest man Alisher Usmanov has transferred his holdings in mobile operator Megafon and iron ore producer Metalloinvest to Russian entities after President Vladimir Putin urged businessmen to bring their assets home.
Putin redoubled his efforts to encourage businessmen to “de-offshore” their assets on Thursday in his annual end-of-year news conference, as the country’s economy heads for recession, dragged down by a slump in oil prices and Western sanctions.
Cyprus-based Telecominvest Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Usmanov´s USM Holdings company, had transferred Megafon shares to AF Telekom Holding LLC, which is incorporated in Russia. AF Telekom now holds 53.8 percent of Megafon shares, Megafon said.
Another Cyprus-based subsidiary of USM Holdings, USM Steel & Mining, had handed over shares in Metalloinvest to Russia-registered USM Metalloinvest LLC.
“This step is related to the announcement by President Vladimir Putin of pursuing the de-offshorisation of the Russian economy and the introduction to the tax code of clauses related to taxation of profits of … foreign companies,” USM Holdings said in a statement.
Usmanov is the biggest shareholder at USM Holdings with a 48 percent stake, while his long-time partners Vladimir Skoch and Farhad Moshiri own 30 percent and 10 percent respectively.
He also was a major early investor before Facebook went IPO.
The last article on the Serbian Saker site, http://www.thesakersrpski.rs/ , was posted on 11 December – ten days ago. Is that only a pause, or is that site perhaps closing?
It doesn’t matter all that much about the shares….where did they put the MONEY???
I think the idea was to get the money out of foreign banks and put it into Russian banks, inside Russia. They were not expected to convert it to rubles. Of course some may have bought some, when the price was nice and low, to make a little profit as it goes up again. This way the support for the ruble did not have to come entirely from the Central Bank’s reserves.
Putin said at the big press conference that he had spoken to business leaders a few days earlier. I do imagine the subject was the economy. Assurances about the ruble, or what was expected to happen with it, might have been mentioned. A wink is as good as a nod???
Great! Germain folks are speaking out. I got this video from a Comment on Russian Insider. There is another article about a large demonstration – put down by the media of course.
And more western propaganda [pay close attention to the wording, quite Machiavellian]
“Ukraine is now strong enough to seize the initiative to create a lasting cease-fire in its Donbas Rust Belt, currently occupied by Russia and its proxies. And Russia may be weak enough to be receptive. It is in Kiev’s interest to do so. A state of permanent war with Russia would damage Ukraine’s democracy, economy and security.
Almost imperceptibly, the tide seems to have turned in Ukraine’s favor. The Ukrainian army has been able to withstand daily attacks by Russian troops. Ukraine’s October parliamentary elections produced a pro-Western majority, and its technocratic government appears poised for radical reforms.” Link to LAT
Please can you put RT’s Max Keiser’s latest programme on here as it is all about the Rouble and what happened recently and it is very good and clears up a lot of what is going on and misunderstandings. I think it will reassure you too.
Game On! —- “For those still having illusions life in the world may continue only if directed by Washington and Ottawa, we would like to say once again: Crimea is a historic and integral part of Russia.
Today, people in Crimea are together with the Russian people, who have never bent and would not bend to an outer pressure.”
“Our advice to Washington and Ottawa is to think about consequences from actions of the kind,” he said. “And we shall work on retaliatory measures.”.
(Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich)
@Petar:The last article on the Serbian Saker site, http://www.thesakersrpski.rs/ , was posted on 11 December – ten days ago. Is that only a pause, or is that site perhaps closing?
Not at all. But I have had to ask their Team Leader to leave and he took away with him the rest of the team, so I am now recruiting a new Serbian Blog Team. It is going well, so I expect the blog to be reactivated by mid/late January. Are you interested in joining?
Oh, I see, so looking forward to mid/late-January. Thank you very much indeed, though I myself can’t join them; while of course could send them a translation or two once in a while, should I get time. (Re. that former team leader, a wise decision I would say, as one could observe some very unprofessional verbal exchanges betwixt him and readers, at that site and even other Serbian sites he visited identifying himself as running Saker Српски, a bad advert methinks.)
I agree with what someone else said,its the money that needs to be brought back not the company shares.Did he also repatriate the money.Since it wasn’t mentioned,it’s doubtful.Once we hear of the money coming back I’ll be impressed,but not over this.
As to Bulgaria.They need to give it up and move on.Really what they should do is talk to Russia about having a line from Turkey go through Bulgaria.If you look at a map that could easily be done.That way they gain from that instead of the now canceled South Stream.
why not hire mercenaries to kill that talbott and cheney ,bush and blairs -? afterall they hire ISIS and taliban for thier dirty work. why not russia and others do it/? Russia should prepare a foreign legion of hard core strong regiments who can go behind enemy lines and sort out murdock, abott and all war crminals like tony blair to justice. british have their own mercenaries – they are called ISIS and taliban. Why not Russia create an army of those who want to fight/kill on behalf of humanity , those war criminals who are at a large and whom Hague will not touch deliberately .
Does this news of South Stream include Russia ? Or is this continuing without Russia ? weird.
And I think its good that this wonderful news source profiles so strongly this terrorist attack, even showing the bombs planted…how do they get these pictures !!
Are the Ukrainian police against Novorussia too ?? How awful…
Alexei Pushkov, who served as head of the Foreign Affairs Committee said that Poroshenko offer only the population of the Crimea war. Pushkov said on Twitter: “Poroshenko thanked the US for economic blockade of the Crimea! The economic blockade – a form of aggression. Poroshenko can offer Crimeans only war. The twelfth day of the so-called truce in Novorossiya marked violation of the ceasefire in several sectors of the front. During the night, recorded at least 7 cases of weapons of Bandera. anna-news. Belarus can not explain the arrest of 25 trucks with sophisticated appliances from Kaliningrad. On the Lithuanian-Belarusian border detained more than 25 heavy trucks from the Kaliningrad region, which carried the “big Russia” household appliances. On the eve of the Kaliningrad Governor Nikolai Tsukanov said that the Belarusian customs officers detained a Russian goods under false pretenses.
MOSCOW: Russia’s richest man Alisher Usmanov has transferred his holdings in mobile operator Megafon and iron ore producer Metalloinvest to Russian entities after President Vladimir Putin urged businessmen to bring their assets home.
Putin redoubled his efforts to encourage businessmen to “de-offshore” their assets on Thursday in his annual end-of-year news conference, as the country’s economy heads for recession, dragged down by a slump in oil prices and Western sanctions.
Cyprus-based Telecominvest Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Usmanov´s USM Holdings company, had transferred Megafon shares to AF Telekom Holding LLC, which is incorporated in Russia. AF Telekom now holds 53.8 percent of Megafon shares, Megafon said.
Another Cyprus-based subsidiary of USM Holdings, USM Steel & Mining, had handed over shares in Metalloinvest to Russia-registered USM Metalloinvest LLC.
“This step is related to the announcement by President Vladimir Putin of pursuing the de-offshorisation of the Russian economy and the introduction to the tax code of clauses related to taxation of profits of … foreign companies,” USM Holdings said in a statement.
Usmanov is the biggest shareholder at USM Holdings with a 48 percent stake, while his long-time partners Vladimir Skoch and Farhad Moshiri own 30 percent and 10 percent respectively.
He also was a major early investor before Facebook went IPO.
@VINEYARDSAKER
The last article on the Serbian Saker site, http://www.thesakersrpski.rs/ , was posted on 11 December – ten days ago. Is that only a pause, or is that site perhaps closing?
It doesn’t matter all that much about the shares….where did they put the MONEY???
I think the idea was to get the money out of foreign banks and put it into Russian banks, inside Russia. They were not expected to convert it to rubles. Of course some may have bought some, when the price was nice and low, to make a little profit as it goes up again. This way the support for the ruble did not have to come entirely from the Central Bank’s reserves.
Putin said at the big press conference that he had spoken to business leaders a few days earlier. I do imagine the subject was the economy. Assurances about the ruble, or what was expected to happen with it, might have been mentioned. A wink is as good as a nod???
the guys who di these videos have got journalism in their veins – very rare quality – excellent for a few seconds jam-packed with vital info.
Great! Germain folks are speaking out. I got this video from a Comment on Russian Insider. There is another article about a large demonstration – put down by the media of course.
Click for English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnHPmcUgfRU
And more western propaganda [pay close attention to the wording, quite Machiavellian]
“Ukraine is now strong enough to seize the initiative to create a lasting cease-fire in its Donbas Rust Belt, currently occupied by Russia and its proxies. And Russia may be weak enough to be receptive. It is in Kiev’s interest to do so. A state of permanent war with Russia would damage Ukraine’s democracy, economy and security.
Almost imperceptibly, the tide seems to have turned in Ukraine’s favor. The Ukrainian army has been able to withstand daily attacks by Russian troops. Ukraine’s October parliamentary elections produced a pro-Western majority, and its technocratic government appears poised for radical reforms.” Link to LAT
Dear The Saker,
Please can you put RT’s Max Keiser’s latest programme on here as it is all about the Rouble and what happened recently and it is very good and clears up a lot of what is going on and misunderstandings. I think it will reassure you too.
I recommend it highly.
http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/215939-episode-max-keiser/
Rgds,
Veritas
This is surreal, now EU clowns are going to issue all the necessary permissions for dead South Stream.
Sorry guys you had a chance you blew it, take a bucket and go to Turkey the faucet is there.
What a disgrace, Putin shouldn’t even talk to these clowns any more.
http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/security-service-says-russian-orchestrated-terrorist-plot-foiled-in-kyiv-375676.html
The junta is getting more despair for everyday and to keep seeding fear on their own population. According to this article from Kyivpost police arrested a woman about to perpetuate a terrorist act in Kiev. I supposed she acknowledged this with the “help” of the Ukrainian police.
Bhadrakumar on a third Chechen War.
http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/author/bhadrakumaranrediffmailcom/
Game On!
—-
“For those still having illusions life in the world may continue only if directed by Washington and Ottawa, we would like to say once again: Crimea is a historic and integral part of Russia.
Today, people in Crimea are together with the Russian people, who have never bent and would not bend to an outer pressure.”
“Our advice to Washington and Ottawa is to think about consequences from actions of the kind,” he said. “And we shall work on retaliatory measures.”.
(Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich)
http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/768276
Espina
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40512.htm
@Petar:The last article on the Serbian Saker site, http://www.thesakersrpski.rs/ , was posted on 11 December – ten days ago. Is that only a pause, or is that site perhaps closing?
Not at all. But I have had to ask their Team Leader to leave and he took away with him the rest of the team, so I am now recruiting a new Serbian Blog Team. It is going well, so I expect the blog to be reactivated by mid/late January. Are you interested in joining?
Cheers,
The Saker
@VINEYARDASAKER
Oh, I see, so looking forward to mid/late-January. Thank you very much indeed, though I myself can’t join them; while of course could send them a translation or two once in a while, should I get time. (Re. that former team leader, a wise decision I would say, as one could observe some very unprofessional verbal exchanges betwixt him and readers, at that site and even other Serbian sites he visited identifying himself as running Saker Српски, a bad advert methinks.)
Larchmonter445
I wish he had control of Arsenal Football Club…..but that’s another story.
I agree with what someone else said,its the money that needs to be brought back not the company shares.Did he also repatriate the money.Since it wasn’t mentioned,it’s doubtful.Once we hear of the money coming back I’ll be impressed,but not over this.
As to Bulgaria.They need to give it up and move on.Really what they should do is talk to Russia about having a line from Turkey go through Bulgaria.If you look at a map that could easily be done.That way they gain from that instead of the now canceled South Stream.
Uncle Bob
Espina’s link above turns out to be a fascinating article by Pepe Escobar.
A heartbreaking but realistic commentary on the origins of Ukraine conflict and the uncertain state of affairs today can be found at
http://quemadoinstitute.wordpress.com/
why not hire mercenaries to kill that talbott and cheney ,bush and blairs -?
afterall they hire ISIS and taliban for thier dirty work.
why not russia and others do it/?
Russia should prepare a foreign legion of hard core strong regiments who can go behind enemy lines and sort out murdock, abott and all war crminals like tony blair to justice. british have their own mercenaries – they are called ISIS and taliban. Why not Russia create an army of those who want to fight/kill on behalf of humanity , those war criminals who are at a large and whom Hague will not touch deliberately .
Does this news of South Stream include Russia ? Or is this continuing without Russia ? weird.
And I think its good that this wonderful news source profiles so strongly this terrorist attack, even showing the bombs planted…how do they get these pictures !!
Are the Ukrainian police against Novorussia too ?? How awful…
Petar, the Serbian site is looking for volunteers….you interested ?
If you are or know someone, contact Saker by email.
Anon who suggests doing what others are doing…not such good suggestions sir…those who live by the sword, die by the sword….
Ho Petar, sorry, didn’t see that Saker had already answered you.
© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
Ukraine, Kazakhstan resume military-technical cooperation — Ukrainian president
KIEV, December 22. /TASS/. Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Monday he is ready to help restore economic cooperation with Ukraine and speed up the peace process in eastern regions of the country.
“The current situation cannot bring any benefit to anyone. Due to the fact that we maintain friendly relations with all countries, we can work on this issue together,” Nazarbayev said.
“I hope that we succeed in making certain decisions and coordinating our actions in order to take measures, which will stop killings of people,” he said.
Nazarbayev stressed the importance of observing the Minsk format.“We firmly agreed to stick to the policy and practice of the Minsk agreements as the foundation for settling the crisis in eastern Ukraine. We are following them,” the two presidents said.
“The position of sovereignty and territorial integrity is inviolable. The whole world is going to mobilize efforts to ensure the peace process on the basis of the Minsk agreements,” Poroshenko said.
Alexei Pushkov, who served as head of the Foreign Affairs Committee said that Poroshenko offer only the population of the Crimea war. Pushkov said on Twitter: “Poroshenko thanked the US for economic blockade of the Crimea! The economic blockade – a form of aggression. Poroshenko can offer Crimeans only war.
The twelfth day of the so-called truce in Novorossiya marked violation of the ceasefire in several sectors of the front. During the night, recorded at least 7 cases of weapons of Bandera. anna-news. Belarus can not explain the arrest of 25 trucks with sophisticated appliances from Kaliningrad.
On the Lithuanian-Belarusian border detained more than 25 heavy trucks from the Kaliningrad region, which carried the “big Russia” household appliances. On the eve of the Kaliningrad Governor Nikolai Tsukanov said that the Belarusian customs officers detained a Russian goods under false pretenses.