Usually, the expression "robbery in broad daylight" is used in a humorous or ironic sense. But what may happen soon with VEB's buyout of Raspadskaya is a real robbery in broad daylight. And it is not funny at all:
A Third Above Market Price Vnesheconombank may help Evraz co-owner Roman Abramovich get rid of the troubled coal holding Raspadskaya: the state corporation is discussing the purchase of the asset for $5.3 billion. Vnesheconombank may buy 80% of Raspadskaya owned by Evraz Group and the holding's management, and the deal could be worth $5.3 billion, Interfax reported yesterday. That is 36% above Raspadskaya's quoted price on MICEX (the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange) on Monday. Read in full The state corporation Vnesheconombank plans to buy from Abramovich shares in OJSC Raspadskaya, which owns the Raspadskaya mine, now known to everyone after the recent tragedy. According to Interfax, the buyout is to take place at a price 30% above market. In practical terms, this means that the state—and therefore all of us—will hand Roman Abramovich a gift of $700 million.
But if we call things by their proper names, then Vladimir Putin, who heads VEB's Supervisory Board and is evidently making the key decision on this deal, will steal $700 million from the citizens of the Russian Federation. There is no other word for it but "steal." There is no rational economic explanation for this deal.
I very much hope that this will not happen after all, and that everything now taking place is just the usual scheming by crooks at VEB aimed at insider trading in the securities market. But if what Interfax predicts does happen, then we should regard all of these people as criminals against the state: