The billionaire, whose fortune is estimated at $ 2.4 billion, began a raid on the bins of his own companies and parted ways with “expensive” employees. What could be the reason for the behavior of Mikhail Gutseriev …
Mikhail Gutseriev’s “RussNeft” refutes Lord Robert Skidelsky’s departure from the company in connection with European sanctions, since no restrictions have been imposed on the company itself by the European Union. According to RussNeft, Skidelsky left the company due to the inability to attend face-to-face meetings of the board of directors due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, Mr. Gutseriev’s subordinates may be lying.
According to The Moscow Post correspondent, British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss, whose words are quoted by the Daily Mail, said that “Lord (Robert) Skidelsky, who has been on the board of directors of the Russian oil company RussNeft since 2016, while maintaining his post in our (British – ed.) legislature, stepped down from the board of directors of an oil giant last month. A former Conservative and now cross-bench colleague tells me: “On reflection, I thought it was inappropriate to sit on the board of directors of an organization under sanctions “.
From Mikhail Gutseriev to Lukashenka – within easy reach
At the same time, since the summer of 2021, the founder of Russneft, Mikhail Gutseriev, has just been included in the sanctions list of EU countries in connection with his support for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Forbes wrote about this.
Gutseriev has been closely cooperating with Belarus since the beginning of the 2000s. One of the key assets of his Slavneft company, the Mozyr oil refinery, is located on the territory of this country. And in 2007, when a case was brought against Gutseriev in connection with non-payment of debts by RussNeft in Russia, he hid from persecution in Belarus for three years. The entrepreneur then sold RussNeft to the notorious billionaire Oleg Deripaska, and when everything improved, he returned to the country and bought it back. It says a lot about how people with money do things in Russia. By the way, Gutseriev’s fortune is estimated at $2.4 billion.
Alexander Lukashenko and Mikhail Gutseriev
In 2017, the website of the Belsat TV channel wrote that Gutseriev built a residence for Lukashenka near the village of Shershuny. The owner of “RussNeft” personally refuted the reports that appeared on the Internet, and said that all this property belongs only to him. Be that as it may, in fact, it is obvious that the businessman’s ties with the Belarusian president are more than tight. And this means that the company, most of whose shares are “in the pocket” of an entrepreneur who has fallen under the “sight” of the European Union, is also a priori under sanctions.
The businessman, among other things, owned a stake in Samar Pension Fund, which he transferred to his son Said in 2019 – very prudently, because the sanctions imposed on him two years later would have affected the company’s work, as is now happening with Russneft. He also handed over to his brother one of the largest assets, the Neftis company, just six months ago.
Elusive
By the way, this is not the first time the oligarch has been closely cooperating with foreign countries – in 2019, searches were carried out in his firms, according to sources related to the businessman’s smuggling activities for the supply of oil and oil products bypassing customs to Ukraine. This was written by the BBC. And again, the entrepreneur, as in the case with the debts of RussNeft, escaped punishment. He did not become a defendant in a criminal case even when a worker died at the site of an oil field development in the Nizhnevartovsk region. All the blame was placed on the well workover master. Nobody was embarrassed by the state of Gutseriev’s production and equipment, which, on the whole, required a major overhaul, the money for which, apparently, was spent on other purposes of the entrepreneur.
And in September 2019, Forbes reported that companies associated with Gutseriev and his nephew Mikhail Shishkhanov were again mired in debt – amounts reaching a trillion rubles. Life does not teach a businessman anything. Although, how can she teach, if last time Gutseriev got away with everything. It seems that he impudently decided to pull off the same scheme as in 2007.
Whether you are at least three times a lord
Now RussNeft and other companies affiliated with Gutseriev are in a rather unpleasant financial situation. This can be seen not only by the way the entrepreneur is actively parting with assets, but also by looking at the financial performance of firms – perhaps the businessman plans to move to Belarus and spend the rest of his days in that very “not belonging to any Lukashenka, but personally to Gutseriev” residence.
Since things are not so hot with Gutseriev now, what is the point of keeping the lord in your care? According to our source close to the Gutseriev family, it is possible that it has become unprofitable for the oligarch to maintain an “extra” person on the board of directors. As they say – be you at least three times a lord,
But if you “fly a pretty penny” you have to leave. It is clear that although you are a wealthy lord, the news of deprivation of income will not please anyone.
In this logic of things, it becomes clear why Skidelsky wrote an annoying letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he said that Gutseriev was actually under sanctions, and there would be no cooperation with him. And RussNeft, in order to avoid the hype, provided its own version – supposedly, excuse me, gentlemen, I’m very afraid of infection, I don’t know where to buy a mask, I can’t come to meetings, therefore I’ll go to live at home, I’ve worked out.
If the situation with Lord Robert Skidelsky is clear, then what will happen to Gutseriev in the near future is a big question.