State gas business exists on two levels: the official one, that is on the surface, with its gas pipelines, huge projects and strategic tasks; and the one which is not advertised. The latter level lies deeper and has numerous and complicated branches. So to say, these roots feed the crown of the tree allowing sucking in rather large means. The process is controlled by non-public people who may be even odious and in that respect vulnerable. Semen Mogilevich is considered to be one of such persons in the Russian-Ukrainian gas relationship. Having been placed on the international wanting list, he nevertheless managed to live rather freely in Russia. If he got to Matrosskaya Tishina prison, doesn’t it mean that shadow gas schemes have exhausted their resource and will be replaced with some others?
Detention of well-known Russian-Ukrainian businessman Semen Mogilevich (aka Sergei Schneider) within the frames of the case about Arbat Prestige perfumery shop just overshadowed the perfumery story allegedly related to avoiding tax payment. All the bouquet of this perfume network wouldn’t be able to be stronger than the natural gas smell with which Semen Mogilevich has been associated with in recent years. In spite the fact that the businessman was put in the international wanting list –which was initiated by FBI – he lived in Moscow almost openly and frequently visited the café in the Center of International trade. Suddenly, he got arrested with the use of the special police unit.
The experts do not believe such a detention to be incidental and they propose different versions. Some incline to political context and say about getting rid of odious persons before the election. Others believe Mogilevich has suffered because of a business conflict.
However, the nature of activities by Semen Mogilevich puts the perfumery topic to the background. He was reckoned to be a consultant of Evergate firm. Simple study of connections by the mentioned firm (see the scheme below) leads us not to powder and lipsticks, but to old barter deals: gas in exchange for food and mediator’s schemes of gas supply between Russia, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.
Maria Kashkina is pointed as Director and founder of the consulting Evergate, in the unified state register of enterprises. Until recently, she has been an employee of Moscow representative office of Elmstad Trading Ltd (Cyprus); this company supplied goods to Turkmenistan in exchange for gas for Ukraine.
In 2002 Kashkina worked in Elmstad under supervision from Oleg Palchikov who headed the representative office. A year before that he was also an employee of the General Company Resource created by Elmstad. This firm is notable with the fact that Semen Mogilevich’s wife, Olga Schneider, was its manager for some while. Now being involved in the Arbat Prestige case, she has disappeared mysteriously.
One of the managers of General Company Resource we managed to get in touch with, told to Novaya Gazeta (we posses an audio cassette) that in 2003 the company bought and sold brands to different firms, and to a certain Arbat Prestige in particular. The manager did not explain what the sense of the scheme was about and whether that Arbat had something to do with perfumery network. Today’s Arbat Prestige did not comment the situation.
Having worked in General Company Resource and Elmstad, Oleg Palchikov headed the representative office of Eural Tran Gas. The company was registered in December 2002 in a Hungarian village. In 2003 Gazprom passed to it the right to sell the Turkmen gas to Ukraine and the turnover of the “village” company exceeded $ 2 Bn. Coincidently, one of ETG founders was Mr. Zeev (Averbuch) Gordon who was the lawyer of Semen Mogilevich.
After RosUkrEnergo replaced Eural Tans Gas, becoming the main operator of not only Turkmen but also the Russian gas supplied to Ukraine, Oleg Palchikov was appointed one of the executive directors of RosUkrEnergo. He held the position till April last year.
Dmitry Firtash, who was the founder of Eural Trans Gas, now controls 45% of RosUkrEnergo. Firtash denies flatly having any business contacts with Mogilevich. We failed to get in touch with Maria Kashkina and Oleg Palchikov to learn their opinion about Semen Mogilevich’s detention.
”This story seems to be very odd to me” said Alexander Pogonchenkov, Sergei Schneider’s (or Semen Mogilevich’s) lawyer, to a Novaya Gazeta correspondent. “Criminal case was started 23 January, detention was done on the same day and the next day it was classified as arrest. I don’t know any other economic case to develop so rapidly. ”
The lawyer believes that many of people working in the gas sphere of Ukraine just took occasion. Pogonchenkov does not think that Mogilevich has any relation to gas supplies and he believes his client to be used as an odious ‘figure of discredit’ in some games. The lawyer draws attention to the coincidence that Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko’s visit is to take place soon in Moscow.
”I’m sure the whole matter is not about gas affairs, I reckon all that to be just speculations” says Alexander Dobrovinsky, the lawyer of the owner of Arbat Prestige. “I believe Semen Mogilevich was only arrested for giving some weight to this case and to shift the accents”.
”RosUkrEnergo never had and does not have any contacts with Mogilevich” stated Andrei Knutov, representative of RosUkrEnergo. This is why the company cannot make any comment about his arrest.
However, the source close to the company’s leadership, believes that arrest of Mogilevich might be used for shifting control over gas supplies and draws attention to the fact that it’s not only Ukraine where one may observe constant fuss about the matter (Yulia Timoshenko has voiced repeatedly her wish to refuse the mediator). Among Russian gas companies also there are forces interested in changing the scheme of gas collaboration. Along with that, the source stresses that numerous inspections made at RosUkrEnergo and its shareholders in Europe and Russia have not revealed any relations to Mogilevich.
A former adviser to the Russian government shared an anonymous opinion that arrest of Mogilevich can be considered as cleansing odious figures off the space on the eve of the presidential election. The political decision was taken on the top level: there mustn’t have been left anything compromising by the moment of handing the power, as the West shouldn’t have any occasions to get interested in nuances, let alone initiating any investigations affecting strategically important sphere of the Russian gas supplies.
”I don’t think it is related to cleansing and political decision” doubts former Prosecutor General Yuri Skuratov. “I reckon the matter is about a business conflict. Such conflicts are often tried to get settled through criminal cases”.
It’s difficult to imagine where exactly the confrontation developed. According to Mr. Skuratov, there is a version of some raider’s cases in St Petersburg that turned out badly to Mogilevich now. The problems in gas business also could have been the reason for the arrest made, as now many contenders can claim the position of mediators, being advantageously seen on the Mogilevich’s background.
Members of enforcement agencies say that Semen Mogilevich is the unique source of information. He knows much about schemes of gas supplies and about how decisions were made. If the chair of board of Gazprom, deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, can really become the successor to the Russian president, it is probable that intelligence received from Mogilevich will be one of the resources allowing controlling the new head of state.
