Free Republic

AN EX-KGB spymaster who subjected the British secret service to its worst embarrassment since the Cold War is the right-hand man of Lord Mandelson's controversial Russian friend Oleg Deripaska, the Evening Standard discloses today. Valery Pechenkin was a high-ranking officer in the KGB and a Colonel-General in its successor, the FSB. He is employed as head of security at Deripaska's company Basic Element, but the part he plays in Deripaska's affairs goes far beyond the role suggested by his job title. According to well-placed sources in Moscow, Pechenkin is one of Deripaska's strongest links to the Kremlin. The veteran spy...

MOSCOW - The Basic Element company has acquired a 37.5 percent stake in RusPromAvto from the company Millhouse Capital, owned by Roman Abramovich, Russia’s second richest man, a source in RusPromAvto told RBC. The value of the deal has not been revealed. Basic Element’s press service refused to comment. RusPromAvto is one of Russia’s largest automobile groups. It comprises about 20 companies producing cars, trucks, buses and road construction equipment. When the holding company was set up, Basic Element and Millhouse each received 37.5 percent in it, and 25 percent was given to the management of RusPromAvto. Thus, Basic Element,...