[A-List] Russia: capitalism's new frontier

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Kidnappers seize Russian oil magnate

Ian Traynor in Moscow
Friday September 13, 2002
The Guardian

The second-in-command of Russia's biggest oil company was kidnapped
yesterday while driving to work in Moscow.

On the pretext of checking documents - a common occurrence on the roads
of Moscow - gunmen driving a car with police number plates stopped the
Mercedes of Sergei Kukura, 48, first vice-president and chief financial
officer of Lukoil.

The assailants were masked and armed with kalashnikovs, according to a
statement by the company.

It said that Mr Kukura's driver and bodyguard were handcuffed and
drugged before being driven away. They regained consciousness in the
same car in the middle of a forest near Moscow.

The Lukoil executive was apparently driving into Moscow from his country
residence on the outskirts of the city. Mr Kukura is the deputy to Vagit
Alekperov, the Lukoil chief and one of the mightiest industrialists in
Russia.

The murder attempts on, and abductions of, prominent industrialists and
politicians indicate the perils of business and politics in Russia,
which has the world's second highest murder rate.

A Russian MP involved in a corruption inquiry was shot dead in Moscow
last month in what appeared to be a contract killing, and in June the
deputy mayor of Moscow, Iosif Ordzhonikidze, survived a second
assassination attempt within 18 months.

These attacks also highlight the problems for President Vladimir Putin,
who came to power almost three years ago vowing to establish a
"dictatorship of the law".

Lukoil, which produces 20% of Russia's oil exports, was the country's
first company to be listed on the London stock exchange.

Mr Kukura had access to extremely sensitive information, "state secrets"
and classified material, the company said.

The interior ministry said that the domestic security service, the FSB,
has joined the investigation into the kidnapping.

Alexander Ovchinnikov, the head of Russia's department for tackling
organised crime, told the Interfax news agency that it was too early to
offer explanations.

"No theories emerged in the first hours after the abduction," he said.
"We have to find the traces left by the criminals."