Comrade Onishchenko and Belarusian Microbes
26 August reports appeared in the Belarusian, Russian and Western media about the arrest and detention of Vladislav Baumgertner, CEO of Uralkali. Concurrently, Mr. Baumgertner is also the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Belarusian Potash Company. The Investigation Committee of Belarus apparently believes that this man is almost the enemy of the whole world and the famous international potash raider: the management of Uralkali supposedly developed hostile plans against Israeli, German and Canadian potash producers, not to mention Belarus. In response to the arrest of Mr. Baumgertner, Kremlin geopolitical ideologues made two predictable moves at once. The media has already passed information about the unpleasant discoveries of the chief physician of the Russian Federation Onishchenko in Belarusian products, as well as that the brotherly oil pipeline "Druzhba" suddenly worn out and seven hundred kilometers of pipes had to be replaced on it. And it is completely incomprehensible when the repair will end.
The CEO of Uralkali was detained after a meeting with the Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich, to which he arrived at the invitation of the prime minister. That is, in fact, he was lured into the republic - and taken into custody.
As Tatyana Melnichuk writes (“Russian service“ BBC ”, Minsk), the Investigation Committee of Belarus reported on August 26 about the arrest and detention of Vladislav Baumgertner. He is accused of abuse of official authority for personal gain, causing substantial harm to the state and public interests of Belarus. Criminal cases have been initiated against a number of BPC employees because of the particularly large-scale damage caused to Belaruskali and the Belarusian Potash Company. The names of Oleg Petrov, member of the supervisory board of the BPC, first deputy general director Konstantin Solodovnikov, deputy general director for finance Igor Evstratov, and head of the freight department Dmitry Samoilov are called. These suspects are wanted by Interpol.
“Regarding involvement in illegal activities, a legal assessment is made of the actions of other persons, including one of the shareholders of Uralkali, Suleiman Kerimov,” the head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Investigative Committee said an hour after the reports of Baumgertner’s arrest. Pavel Traulko.
The IC of Belarus has data “on the hostile plans of the management of Uralkali in relation to Israeli, German and Canadian potash producers,” said Traulco. And he added: “Moreover, the preliminary assessment of these materials shows that this is not about a normal competitive struggle being conducted within the law, but about illegal plans, which are drawn by a large-scale aferism and international corporate raiding for a mile”.
“Today, even to a non-specialist, it is obvious that the actions of Uralkali were an earthquake for the global potash market. The Investigation Committee, of course, is primarily concerned with crimes against our business entities and actions that caused damage to the Belarusian people, ”said the representative of the committee.
The size of the theft and damage inflicted on Belarus by the investigators estimated at 100 millions of dollars.
Traulco also called China among those against whom the management of Uralkali was: “In the course of the investigation, many other facts came to the disposal of Belarusian law enforcement agencies about, to put it mildly, doubtful actions of the accused top managers, not only against Belarusians, but and against Russian banks, Chinese financial institutions and many other foreign partners. ”
28 August, as reported by the agency FinmarketPavel Traulko told Interfax that Vladislav Baumgertner is accused and is in custody. Baumgertner charged under h. 3 Art. 424 "Abuse of power and official authority" of the Criminal Code of Belarus.
Legal experts explained to the agency that the term of detention in accordance with Belarusian legislation may last up to 2 months, “but this does not mean that the measure of restraint cannot be changed during these two months”. The same lawyers explained that “according to the decision of the investigator who is investigating the criminal case, a decision may be taken to extend the 2-month detention period”. “Such decisions are often made, especially in complex, multi-episode cases due to new circumstances of the case,” they added.
According to the latest information, V. Baumgertner is in the SIZO of the Belarusian KGB.
Ksenia Timakova and Janis Madni in a material published RIA News", set out the essence of the conflict between the three existing legal entities: Uralkali, Belaruskali and the general trading structure - BPC.
The fact is that a month ago Uralkali announced its intention to withdraw from a joint commercial enterprise. This has put the stability of the export of the Belarusian company at risk. Belaruskali then stated that the actions of colleagues required a legal assessment.
Uralkali began to cooperate with Belaruskali in 2005, when the joint company BPC was established, which received the right to exclusively supply the products of both companies to foreign markets. By combining a significant part of the global supply (more than 30%, and later about 43%), the Russian and Belarusian manufacturers gained an advantage when negotiating with customers.
At the end of July 2013, Uralkali announced the termination of cooperation with Belaruskali. The main reason was the Belarusian trade in fertilizer producers not through BPC. According to Uralkali, the principle of trade through a single network was violated by the signing by the President of Belarus of the 22 decree of December 2012 on the abolition of the exclusive right of BPC to export Belarusian potassium. The decree was followed by the shipment of Belaruskali outside a joint trading company.
There is another version of the conflict.
Alexey Topalov and Denis Lavnikevich (Gazeta.rucite the words of Traulco, who noted that the scenario of breaking up relations between Uralkali and BPC was developed by the defendants in the case back in 2011: they allegedly predicted that as a result of their actions, the global potash market would collapse and prepare conditions for obtaining maximum profit. Traulko said: "Regarding the involvement in illegal activities, a legal assessment is given of the actions of other persons, including one of the shareholders of Uralkali, Suleiman Kerimov."
Tatyana Melnichuk (“Russian service“ BBC ”) indicates that the tension between the parties arose after the sale of a controlling stake in Uralkali to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov and the acquisition by Uralkali of the Russian Silvinit. Alexander Lukashenko, in the summer of 2012, mentioned the possible break in relations with Uralkali, and by the end of 2012, he issued the above-mentioned decree.
Karimov came to Lukashenko, and after the meeting, two statements were made about the intentions to continue cooperation in the framework of the BPC. However, several days after the May meeting of Lukashenko and Kerimov, Belaruskali CEO Valery Kiriyenko told BelTA that Uralkali sells about 20% fertilizer through BPC, and 80% sells through its trader Uralkali Trading SA. V. Kiriyenko stated: “Although the rationale for the creation of the BPC was clearly recorded that all the flows of Uralkali and Belaruskali should be sold through our common trader’s distribution network, unfortunately, the Russian side has not fulfilled its obligations.”
To this we must add that after the breakup of relations between Uralkali and Belaruskali, the papers of Uralkali, as well as competing global manufacturers, fell by an average of one-fifth. Hence, Belarus’s vision of the Russian market “raiding”.
It is interesting that, according to the Belarusian investigation, the leaders of Uralkali sold some of their shares in advance at a high price, and now they are buying up the depreciating shares in order to establish control over the fertilizer market. Belarusian Investigative Committee claims: “A special fund, created in Switzerland and controlled by Suleiman Kerimov, has already begun buying Uralkali’s pretty cheap shares.
And something else. Vladimir Azin (Utro.ru) reminds that Alexander Lukashenko spoke publicly about the readiness to sell Belaruskali, but he asked for an exorbitant price for it - 30 billion dollars, although Uralkali itself was twice as cheap. At the same time, the head of the republic accused the shareholders of a Russian company in an attempt to bribe. Last fall, Lukashenka said: “I was offered to sell Belaruskali for 15 billions: 10 billions to the treasury, and 5 billions to me, where can I say.”
The accusations addressed to the general director of Uralkali by the chairman of the board of directors of this company, Alexander Voloshin, contradicted common sense. According to him, Baumgertner in the Belarusian Potash Company did not have any official powers that could be abused. The supervisory board of the Belarusian Potash Company, headed by Baumgertner, is a supervisory body that meets several times a year.
“The chairman of the supervisory board has absolutely no official authority that he could abuse. The real head of the company is the general director, who has always been nominated by the Belarusian side. A few weeks ago, the Director General of BPC was appointed to one of the top positions in Belarus, namely, to the position of deputy head of the presidential administration. This, I think, means that the performance of this company and the state of affairs in it are highly appreciated by the top management of Belarus. In this regard, accusations of misconduct against Baumgertner look just ridiculous, "- quotes Alexander Voloshin "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
As noted by Ilya Izotov ("Russian newspaper"), following the board of directors of Uralkali, the governor of the Perm region, Viktor Basargin, demanded the early release of Baumgertner. The head of the region asked for additional help from the government. In particular, Basargin sent a telegram to Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. According to Basargin, the arrest of the general director of Uralkali can destabilize the operation of the enterprise, the state of which largely determines the welfare of the residents of Solikamsk and Berezniki, where nearly a quarter of a million people live.
Earlier, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov said that the arrest of Baumgertner "does not fit into any framework." The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the businessman’s detention unacceptable.
Since Baumgertner is not being released, heavy artillery entered into action. Two guns thundered at once: oil and sanitary. Analysts are already developing the topic: they are talking about the freezing of the Belarusian Rosatom project and the cancellation of the next tranche of loans through the EurAsEC. The last two points are unlikely due to the fact that without Belarus, the Customs Union turns into a fiction, but the first two are today's reality.
On the RBC 28 August reported that Transneft decided to cut oil supplies to Belarus due to repairs on the Druzhba pipeline. In September, deliveries will be reduced by 400 thousand tons. Moreover, the timing of the reduction of deliveries has not been finally determined. About this "RBC" said the vice-president of "Transneft" Mikhail Barkov.
Not the fact that the repair will end in September, said Barkov. "The pipe is very worn out, the timing of its repair will depend on the technologies used," he said.
Found and intermediate guilty: Ukrainians put pipes of poor quality.
As transmits ITAR-TASSThe correspondent of which also spoke with Barkov, the vice-president of the transport company, said: repair work is associated with a significant deterioration of the main oil pipeline due to the poor quality of the Khartsyzsk Pipe Works (Ukraine) pipes. Part of the pipeline consists of these pipes.
“We are planning a fragmentary repair in areas where the state is critical, and there are a lot of such sites due to the poor quality of the pipe,” the vice president explained.
Mikhail Barkov said that the reduction will affect two plants: the Mozyr Oil Refinery and Naftan (Novopolotsk). Supplies will be reduced by 200 thousand tons each.
The sudden wear of the pipes was accompanied by actions from the flanks - the office of Comrade Onishchenko.
Vigilant "Rospotrebnadzor" found the hordes of microbes in the Belarusian products, especially in the dairy.
Not sometime, namely August 28 on the site "Rospotrebnadzor" The document entitled “On food products of the Republic of Belarus” was published. Its text is able to frighten even the most fearless:
The actions of Rospotrebnadzor and Transneft, as noted by many analysts, signify the start of a trade war between Russia and Belarus. But, as Sergei Serebrov points out (Utro.ru), confrontation with Lukashenka Putin is now extremely unprofitable. The Russian president adheres to the idea of restoring some kind of USSR, which explains his efforts to create the Customs Union and EurAsEC. On this, it seems, and builds the calculation of Lukashenko. Putin was in a dilemma: he was not ready to “accept the loss of the image of the collector of the Soviet lands” and at the same time could not remain indifferent to the fate of the “hostage”: it would strike at his political reputation. The most likely outcome of the conflict could be another concession from Moscow to the Belarusian authorities.
The CEO of Uralkali was detained after a meeting with the Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich, to which he arrived at the invitation of the prime minister. That is, in fact, he was lured into the republic - and taken into custody.
As Tatyana Melnichuk writes (“Russian service“ BBC ”, Minsk), the Investigation Committee of Belarus reported on August 26 about the arrest and detention of Vladislav Baumgertner. He is accused of abuse of official authority for personal gain, causing substantial harm to the state and public interests of Belarus. Criminal cases have been initiated against a number of BPC employees because of the particularly large-scale damage caused to Belaruskali and the Belarusian Potash Company. The names of Oleg Petrov, member of the supervisory board of the BPC, first deputy general director Konstantin Solodovnikov, deputy general director for finance Igor Evstratov, and head of the freight department Dmitry Samoilov are called. These suspects are wanted by Interpol.
“Regarding involvement in illegal activities, a legal assessment is made of the actions of other persons, including one of the shareholders of Uralkali, Suleiman Kerimov,” the head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Investigative Committee said an hour after the reports of Baumgertner’s arrest. Pavel Traulko.
The IC of Belarus has data “on the hostile plans of the management of Uralkali in relation to Israeli, German and Canadian potash producers,” said Traulco. And he added: “Moreover, the preliminary assessment of these materials shows that this is not about a normal competitive struggle being conducted within the law, but about illegal plans, which are drawn by a large-scale aferism and international corporate raiding for a mile”.
“Today, even to a non-specialist, it is obvious that the actions of Uralkali were an earthquake for the global potash market. The Investigation Committee, of course, is primarily concerned with crimes against our business entities and actions that caused damage to the Belarusian people, ”said the representative of the committee.
The size of the theft and damage inflicted on Belarus by the investigators estimated at 100 millions of dollars.
Traulco also called China among those against whom the management of Uralkali was: “In the course of the investigation, many other facts came to the disposal of Belarusian law enforcement agencies about, to put it mildly, doubtful actions of the accused top managers, not only against Belarusians, but and against Russian banks, Chinese financial institutions and many other foreign partners. ”
28 August, as reported by the agency FinmarketPavel Traulko told Interfax that Vladislav Baumgertner is accused and is in custody. Baumgertner charged under h. 3 Art. 424 "Abuse of power and official authority" of the Criminal Code of Belarus.
Legal experts explained to the agency that the term of detention in accordance with Belarusian legislation may last up to 2 months, “but this does not mean that the measure of restraint cannot be changed during these two months”. The same lawyers explained that “according to the decision of the investigator who is investigating the criminal case, a decision may be taken to extend the 2-month detention period”. “Such decisions are often made, especially in complex, multi-episode cases due to new circumstances of the case,” they added.
According to the latest information, V. Baumgertner is in the SIZO of the Belarusian KGB.
Ksenia Timakova and Janis Madni in a material published RIA News", set out the essence of the conflict between the three existing legal entities: Uralkali, Belaruskali and the general trading structure - BPC.
The fact is that a month ago Uralkali announced its intention to withdraw from a joint commercial enterprise. This has put the stability of the export of the Belarusian company at risk. Belaruskali then stated that the actions of colleagues required a legal assessment.
Uralkali began to cooperate with Belaruskali in 2005, when the joint company BPC was established, which received the right to exclusively supply the products of both companies to foreign markets. By combining a significant part of the global supply (more than 30%, and later about 43%), the Russian and Belarusian manufacturers gained an advantage when negotiating with customers.
At the end of July 2013, Uralkali announced the termination of cooperation with Belaruskali. The main reason was the Belarusian trade in fertilizer producers not through BPC. According to Uralkali, the principle of trade through a single network was violated by the signing by the President of Belarus of the 22 decree of December 2012 on the abolition of the exclusive right of BPC to export Belarusian potassium. The decree was followed by the shipment of Belaruskali outside a joint trading company.
There is another version of the conflict.
Alexey Topalov and Denis Lavnikevich (Gazeta.rucite the words of Traulco, who noted that the scenario of breaking up relations between Uralkali and BPC was developed by the defendants in the case back in 2011: they allegedly predicted that as a result of their actions, the global potash market would collapse and prepare conditions for obtaining maximum profit. Traulko said: "Regarding the involvement in illegal activities, a legal assessment is given of the actions of other persons, including one of the shareholders of Uralkali, Suleiman Kerimov."
Tatyana Melnichuk (“Russian service“ BBC ”) indicates that the tension between the parties arose after the sale of a controlling stake in Uralkali to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov and the acquisition by Uralkali of the Russian Silvinit. Alexander Lukashenko, in the summer of 2012, mentioned the possible break in relations with Uralkali, and by the end of 2012, he issued the above-mentioned decree.
Karimov came to Lukashenko, and after the meeting, two statements were made about the intentions to continue cooperation in the framework of the BPC. However, several days after the May meeting of Lukashenko and Kerimov, Belaruskali CEO Valery Kiriyenko told BelTA that Uralkali sells about 20% fertilizer through BPC, and 80% sells through its trader Uralkali Trading SA. V. Kiriyenko stated: “Although the rationale for the creation of the BPC was clearly recorded that all the flows of Uralkali and Belaruskali should be sold through our common trader’s distribution network, unfortunately, the Russian side has not fulfilled its obligations.”
To this we must add that after the breakup of relations between Uralkali and Belaruskali, the papers of Uralkali, as well as competing global manufacturers, fell by an average of one-fifth. Hence, Belarus’s vision of the Russian market “raiding”.
It is interesting that, according to the Belarusian investigation, the leaders of Uralkali sold some of their shares in advance at a high price, and now they are buying up the depreciating shares in order to establish control over the fertilizer market. Belarusian Investigative Committee claims: “A special fund, created in Switzerland and controlled by Suleiman Kerimov, has already begun buying Uralkali’s pretty cheap shares.
And something else. Vladimir Azin (Utro.ru) reminds that Alexander Lukashenko spoke publicly about the readiness to sell Belaruskali, but he asked for an exorbitant price for it - 30 billion dollars, although Uralkali itself was twice as cheap. At the same time, the head of the republic accused the shareholders of a Russian company in an attempt to bribe. Last fall, Lukashenka said: “I was offered to sell Belaruskali for 15 billions: 10 billions to the treasury, and 5 billions to me, where can I say.”
The accusations addressed to the general director of Uralkali by the chairman of the board of directors of this company, Alexander Voloshin, contradicted common sense. According to him, Baumgertner in the Belarusian Potash Company did not have any official powers that could be abused. The supervisory board of the Belarusian Potash Company, headed by Baumgertner, is a supervisory body that meets several times a year.
“The chairman of the supervisory board has absolutely no official authority that he could abuse. The real head of the company is the general director, who has always been nominated by the Belarusian side. A few weeks ago, the Director General of BPC was appointed to one of the top positions in Belarus, namely, to the position of deputy head of the presidential administration. This, I think, means that the performance of this company and the state of affairs in it are highly appreciated by the top management of Belarus. In this regard, accusations of misconduct against Baumgertner look just ridiculous, "- quotes Alexander Voloshin "Vesti" with reference to ITAR-TASS.
As noted by Ilya Izotov ("Russian newspaper"), following the board of directors of Uralkali, the governor of the Perm region, Viktor Basargin, demanded the early release of Baumgertner. The head of the region asked for additional help from the government. In particular, Basargin sent a telegram to Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. According to Basargin, the arrest of the general director of Uralkali can destabilize the operation of the enterprise, the state of which largely determines the welfare of the residents of Solikamsk and Berezniki, where nearly a quarter of a million people live.
Earlier, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov said that the arrest of Baumgertner "does not fit into any framework." The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the businessman’s detention unacceptable.
Since Baumgertner is not being released, heavy artillery entered into action. Two guns thundered at once: oil and sanitary. Analysts are already developing the topic: they are talking about the freezing of the Belarusian Rosatom project and the cancellation of the next tranche of loans through the EurAsEC. The last two points are unlikely due to the fact that without Belarus, the Customs Union turns into a fiction, but the first two are today's reality.
On the RBC 28 August reported that Transneft decided to cut oil supplies to Belarus due to repairs on the Druzhba pipeline. In September, deliveries will be reduced by 400 thousand tons. Moreover, the timing of the reduction of deliveries has not been finally determined. About this "RBC" said the vice-president of "Transneft" Mikhail Barkov.
Not the fact that the repair will end in September, said Barkov. "The pipe is very worn out, the timing of its repair will depend on the technologies used," he said.
Found and intermediate guilty: Ukrainians put pipes of poor quality.
As transmits ITAR-TASSThe correspondent of which also spoke with Barkov, the vice-president of the transport company, said: repair work is associated with a significant deterioration of the main oil pipeline due to the poor quality of the Khartsyzsk Pipe Works (Ukraine) pipes. Part of the pipeline consists of these pipes.
“We are planning a fragmentary repair in areas where the state is critical, and there are a lot of such sites due to the poor quality of the pipe,” the vice president explained.
Mikhail Barkov said that the reduction will affect two plants: the Mozyr Oil Refinery and Naftan (Novopolotsk). Supplies will be reduced by 200 thousand tons each.
The sudden wear of the pipes was accompanied by actions from the flanks - the office of Comrade Onishchenko.
Vigilant "Rospotrebnadzor" found the hordes of microbes in the Belarusian products, especially in the dairy.
Not sometime, namely August 28 on the site "Rospotrebnadzor" The document entitled “On food products of the Republic of Belarus” was published. Its text is able to frighten even the most fearless:
"... Only in the Moscow region for the last time from 240 samples of food products of the Republic of Belarus, studied in the laboratories of Rospotrebnadzor, 72 sample (30%) did not meet the requirements for quality and safety indicators.
Dairy products made in the Republic of Belarus are especially worrisome. So, from 83 samples of the studied sweet cream unsalted classic oil and low fat 39 samples did not meet the requirements for fat composition, 9 samples of drinking milk 2 did not meet the requirements for microbiological indicators, 15 samples of dry milk 9 did not meet the requirements for microbiological and sanitary -chemical indicators, including the content of antibiotics.
These facts indicate a weakening of control in the Republic of Belarus over the quality and safety of food products ... ”
Dairy products made in the Republic of Belarus are especially worrisome. So, from 83 samples of the studied sweet cream unsalted classic oil and low fat 39 samples did not meet the requirements for fat composition, 9 samples of drinking milk 2 did not meet the requirements for microbiological indicators, 15 samples of dry milk 9 did not meet the requirements for microbiological and sanitary -chemical indicators, including the content of antibiotics.
These facts indicate a weakening of control in the Republic of Belarus over the quality and safety of food products ... ”
The actions of Rospotrebnadzor and Transneft, as noted by many analysts, signify the start of a trade war between Russia and Belarus. But, as Sergei Serebrov points out (Utro.ru), confrontation with Lukashenka Putin is now extremely unprofitable. The Russian president adheres to the idea of restoring some kind of USSR, which explains his efforts to create the Customs Union and EurAsEC. On this, it seems, and builds the calculation of Lukashenko. Putin was in a dilemma: he was not ready to “accept the loss of the image of the collector of the Soviet lands” and at the same time could not remain indifferent to the fate of the “hostage”: it would strike at his political reputation. The most likely outcome of the conflict could be another concession from Moscow to the Belarusian authorities.
Observed and commented on Oleg Chuvakin
- especially for topwar.ru
- especially for topwar.ru
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