Yavlinsky, a staunch critic of President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin held a lecture about Russian politics in Norway recently. In that lecture he draw a line between communication company Telenor’s problems in Russia with StatoilHydro’s engagement in the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea. He believes that he will not let Russian Alfa Group and its leader Mikhail Fridman do anything to harm Telenor Putin if he wants StatoilHydro’s participation in the Shtokman project. Telenor and Alfa have been fighting over values worth several billion EUR since 2004.
Yavlinsky in his lecture said that it is Putin who is the real leader of Russia and that he is behind most of President Medvedev’s political decisions, newspaper Dagens Naringsliv reports. The fight between Telenor and Alfa could, according to Yavlinsky, end up as part of a tactical game over the oil and gas resources in the Barents Sea.
– Putin is a pragmatic man. If he would not like StatoilHydro to participate in the development of the Shtokman gas field, then he would find a way to push it out of the project, says Yavlinsky DN.no reports.
If the Russian court rules in favour of Alfa, and Telenor loses a lot of money on their Russian investments, it would also be a clear message to StatoilHydro to withdraw from the Shtokman project before anything similar happens to the Norwegian energy company, the economist believes.
