Russia and economic war by the west #2

flamming_python wrote:One of the problems the rupee has is that it's not a convertible currency. There are some restrictions relating to it.

Increasing Indian exports to Russia will help decrease the rupee surplus in Russian coffers but not eliminate it. And India is resisting the idea of switching to the Yuan for trade.
The new BRICS currency or virtual exchange currency couldn't come soon enough.

from both sides - there is a will there is a way. No-one in Indian establishment has illusions that USD is the way...

https://www.rt.com/news/576351-germany-scholz-western-double-standards-on-russia/

"Some nations see ‘double standards’ on Russia – Scholz
Germany’s chancellor has acknowledged the viewpoint that Western powers don’t apply their principles equally. Some nations see ‘double standards’ on Russia – Scholz

India, Vietnam and other countries that have balked at condemning Russia over its conflict with Ukraine largely agree with the principles behind the Western-based “international order,” but they aren’t convinced that those tenets are being applied fairly to Moscow, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has admitted.

“When I talk to leaders from those countries, many assure me that they are not questioning the underlying principles of our international order. What they are struggling with is the unequal application of those principles,” Scholz said on Monday at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin.

United Nations members voted overwhelmingly last October to demand that Russian forces immediately withdraw from Ukraine, but dozens of countries either opposed the resolution or abstained. In addition to India and Vietnam, such nations as China, South Africa, Algeria and Pakistan voted to abstain. Those countries have largely resisted US pressure to join in a Western-led sanctions campaign against Russia.

“What they expect is representation on equal terms and an end to Western double standards,” Scholz conceded. He added that cooperation from those influential nations will be “limited at best” if their leaders perceive that “we only approach them because we are interested in their raw materials or because we want their support on a UN resolution.”

Scholz claimed that perceptions of Western geopolitical hypocrisy aren’t always justified. “But we must address them if we want to encourage powers in Asia, Africa and the Americas to join us in building and defending a stable global order.” He suggested that offering developing nations a bigger voice in international affairs would help earn their cooperation. For instance, he has supported giving African nations permanent representation on the UN Security Council and making the African Union a permanent G20 member.  

Russian officials have often accused the US and its Western allies of demanding that their rules be followed without doing so themselves. For instance, Washington only advocates the principles of self-determination and respect for territorial integrity when they fit its interests, Russian diplomats have argued.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out in March that Washington had ignored Moscow’s security concerns in neighboring Ukraine after justifying America’s faraway military interventions in such countries as Syria, Libya, and Serbia by claiming that its national interests were threatened. “In a word, if this is not what you call a double standard, then I am not foreign minister,” Lavrov said."

Good thing Scholz and the gang are so clueless.
They're really convinced they can regain the initiative in world affairs through a charm offensive and listening more

The measures taken by the Russian authorities helped to recover the blocked assets of Russian investors in the amount of about 3 trillion rubles. This was stated on May 16 by the head of the Central Bank (CB) of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina at the NAUFOR conference "Russian Stock Market".

The head of the regulator noted that the country's leadership has taken such steps as the forced concentration of depositary receipts, the forced transfer of accounting rights to the infrastructure of the Russian Federation, the introduction of replacement bonds.

"As a result, we have restored the rights of investors in the amount of close to 3 trillion rubles," Nabiullina said.

Earlier, on May 15, the head of the Federation Council Commission on information policy and interaction with the Media, Alexey Pushkov, said that the impulsive decision to freeze $300 billion of Russia's financial reserves was a problem for the United States, because they could not calculate the long-term prospects. He called such tactics the superiority syndrome, which leads to impulsive decisions, and they lead to strategic mistakes.

On April 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on retaliatory measures in case of seizure of Russian assets abroad. Now, in case of withdrawal or restriction of rights to property of the Russian Federation abroad, external management is introduced on the assets of unfriendly countries in Russia. By default, the Federal Property Management Agency will be considered the manager, unless another person is identified in this capacity.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in turn, called this decree a response to the aggressive actions of unfriendly countries.

Western countries began confiscating Russian assets and property after the start of a special military operation to protect the Donbass on February 24, 2022.

https://translated.turbopages.org/proxy_u/ru-en.en.a1b9c7f4-6463de18-cece2fd8-74722d776562/https/iz.ru/1513516/2023-05-16/rossiiskie-investory-vosstanovili-zablokirovannye-aktivy-na-3-trln-rublei?utm_source=iz&utm_campaign=vidjet&utm_medium=3&utm_content=1513516

How the mysterious fleet defeated anti-Russian sanctions, by Vladimir Dobrynin for VZGLYAD. 05.22.2023.

El Economista: Out of nowhere, a company appeared with a large number of tankers for Russian oil.

The world press is immersed in the investigation of an almost detective story - the sudden appearance of a giant fleet of tankers, one of the largest in the world. This fleet turned out to be owned by a little-known Indian company, and as a result, it changed the entire logistics of oil flows on our planet. How is what is happening connected with Western sanctions against Russia?

Approximately 18 months ago, a newly registered company with the unremarkable name Gatik moved into one of the office premises of the slightly shabby Neptune Magnet Mall in Mumbai. The company, which no one knew about before, is now known to everyone as an international giant that buys oil by the millions of barrels. Today, analysts, analyzing step by step the movement of the enterprise "from zero to crazy success", point to a curious detail: the unstoppable growth of the enterprise began "almost simultaneously with the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine and has not stopped since then."

Climbing the Urals


It's no secret that India buys Russian Urals crude oil at a deep discount. For example, on May 9 of this year, a barrel of Brent oil was sold slightly above $76, and Urals oil - $56. This $20 discount is a gift for anyone who “dares” to buy Russian oil in the face of merciless Western pressure on the Russian economy. It must be said that in April 2022, the difference in prices for these brands was almost $40. Smart and brave people made money by taking advantage of the situation.

As of the end of 2021, Gatik Ship Management owned just two tankers. By April 2023, according to shipping experts VesselsValue, its own fleet consisted of 58 vessels with a total estimated value of $1.6 billion.

“At the same time, information about the origin of the company and information about its owner is very scarce, and corporate records of commercial activities are so minimized that they create an aura of mystery for the enterprise,” writes the British business publication Financial Times. “The group is registered as an exporter in India on March 31 this year, but does not appear on the official corporate register of India.”

“Maybe the clue to where Gatik’s “legs grow” should be found in her office neighbors? asks the Spanish El Economista. - In the same dull shopping center, another company is also registered, which also grew out of nothing by leaps and bounds, Buena Vista Shipping. Two years ago, this firm reported that its assets amounted to only $100,000, which for a sea carrier is crumbs.

How much now - the authors of the publication are silent. Not because they want to play secrecy, but because they do not have this data. Analysts at Energy Intelligence (EI) tried to contact the named Indian company to clear the fog. However, the maximum that they managed to unearth was the information that “many ships of the fleet of the named companies exporting Russian oil” (whose they really are, there is no data, but according to the laws of the genre - when you don’t know something, blame everything on Moscow ) for over 15 years.

“Tankers of this age are already being taken out of service by reputable shipowners, doubting the reliability of these transport units,” explains Francesco Tassello, Senior Analyst at EI. - Who could buy this second-hand, which is still not at a bargain price? Someone powerful and moneyy, who has everything.”

“They have Rosneft behind them. Highly likely, of course

The search for an answer to the questions of who actually owns Buena Vista Shipping and who financed the rapid expansion of the Gatik Ship Management fleet has not brought success to Western experts. But since the public demanded a result, analysts and investigators decided to get off with a phrase in the style generally accepted since the time of Theresa May, highly likely. "No one knows. The only thing known for certain is that this unprecedented expansion has stymied the oil market. But shipping brokers, analysts and traders suspect a connection to the biggest player, oil giant Rosneft.

The fleet recently acquired by Gatik was mainly used to transport oil from Russia, mainly to ports in India, according to tanker tracking data. An FT study by analyst firm Kpler shows that the Indian group has delivered at least 83 million barrels of Russian oil and oil products. Which, for example, is enough to meet the total UK demand for oil for more than two months.

More than half of that production came from Rosneft, according to the analyst team. “It is believed that the total numbers are even higher than in the Kpler dataset,” the publication notes.

“After the imposition of Western sanctions  on the transportation of Russian hydrocarbons, it was inevitable that Russian oil companies would want to transport their own raw materials, and I think Gatik is the best example of this,” says Victor Katona, head of crude oil analysis at Kpler.

“A company in a country considered friendly to the Russian state appears out of nowhere, buys a large number of tankers in less than a year and serves almost exclusively Russian traffic. There is food for thought here,” he adds.

Don't want to insure? You are worse off!

According to VesselsValue, which tracks tanker sales, Gatik Ship Management has purchased at least 56 tankers since March 2022, 13 of them in December last year alone, when the EU embargo on Russian oil began.

According to VesselsValue's Rebecca Galanopoulos, these purchases have made Gatik one of the largest tanker owners in the world. “In comparison, out of almost 14,000 active tankers, most of these companies (1361) own less than 10 active tankers; only 20 companies, including Gatik Ship Management, own 50 tankers or more.”

Such giants of the oil industry as Trafigura and Vitol broke off their logistics agreements with Russia, but this did nothing for them, except for a decrease in income.

Lost because of the introduction of the "ceiling" and large insurance companies, diligently fulfilling the "instruction from Brussels" not to issue policies to tankers carrying Russian oil. According to the Financial Times, as of the end of March 2023, at least 35 Gatik's vessels had Western insurance, with all the unpleasant consequences that entailed for them. As of early April, none of his ships were insured by any of the major recognized suppliers in the West.

The tankers, now owned by Gatik Shipment Management, in their "past life" carried crude oil around the world. After being acquired by an Indian group, they mainly focused on the Russia–India route. In doing so, the "dark horse from Mumbai" helped orchestrate one of the most significant oil-flow exchanges in decades. Prior to the start of the NWO in Ukraine, Russia supplied less than 1% of crude oil to India. Today, according to official trade statistics, the share of deliveries to this Asian state accounts for about 30% of the volume of black gold sold by Russia.

“Thanks to such deals, India absorbed most of the Urals that Russia previously exported to the EU market,” the Western press states sadly.

Help from the East


The FT states that Western sanctions have completely changed the world oil markets. When the EU imposed a price ceiling on Russian oil, Brussels, of course, expected the Russians to raise their hands and go to surrender. According to the idea, which came from the lair of the European Union, restrictions on the price of oil from Russia were supposed to cut off Western buyers from Moscow. However, it immediately became clear that there were at least two “buts”, which showed that, while working against Russia, you can “want the best” as much as you like. It will still turn out "as always".

Unexpectedly (for Brussels, London, Washington and others like them) it turned out that in the world, in addition to the West, there is also the East. Powerful, monetary and with its own interests, which do not coincide with Western ones. This is “but” number one. As soon as the notorious price ceiling came into force, New Delhi decided to increase the import of Russian oil, and ignore the restrictions imposed by the G7 and their vassals.

The second “but” turned out to be the West itself. It turned out that the Europeans are not opposed to buying Russian oil, bypassing their own sanctions. If only the label on the barrel was changed to some non-sanctioned one. Moreover, there have already been precedents - the whole world is aware of what the “Latvian mixture” is, how it is prepared from Russian oil and does not fall under any restrictive norms after that. In general, "with 300% profit, the capital will go to any crime, even under pain of the gallows." Capitalist vices exist to be exploited. And above all - in the interests of the Russian state.

https://vz.ru/economy/2023/5/22/1213100.html

Yes, they shot themselves in the foot, make that both feet. They know and acknowledge it but do anything to reverse it? Only when the Master says they can.

Bet you won't read this comment by Borrel in the Western MSM. Not sure how he was even allowed to say it but then this is the garden/jungle comment man

Sprinter
@Sprinter99880
4h

Europe will pay 10 times more for sanctions against Russia than for supporting Ukraine. Josep Borrell, head of the EU foreign policy service, stated this.

"The average amount of support European governments have had to pay to help their families and businesses cope with high electricity and food prices is 700 billion - more than ten times more than support for Ukraine," Borrell told a security conference. Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

The costs are only getting started. Going forward U-rope is not going to see cheap Russian energy and resources (e.g. oil, gas, timber, minerals).
Economist retards think that the low monetary footprint of such resources makes them unimportant. Functional brain humans would see that the rest
of the economy can't function without these "worthless" resources.

The NATO west picked the worst time to start a war on Russia. They "developing" world is now sucking up more resources than ever
and they will not be able to easily bypass Russia like they could in the past.

kvs wrote:The costs are only getting started.  Going forward U-rope is not going to see cheap Russian energy and resources (e.g. oil, gas, timber, minerals).  
Economist retards think that the low monetary footprint of such resources makes them unimportant.   Functional brain humans would see that the rest
of the economy can't function without these "worthless" resources.  

The NATO west picked the worst time to start a war on Russia.   They "developing" world is now sucking up more resources than ever
and they will not be able to easily bypass Russia like they could in the past.

well resources/commodities are cheap only in one case: in colonial system. When owner or resources wants to sell for 100usd per barrel for example what can you do if there's no alternative?  Resources luckily you cannot print in the USA but you still need them...food included.

press news tonight:

OPEC Excludes Bloomberg, Reuters and WSJ Reporters From Meeting

No reason for lack of invites was given by OPEC secretariat
OPEC+ ministers meet this weekend in Vienna to set policy

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-31/opec-excludes-bloomberg-reuters-and-wsj-reporters-from-meeting

OPEC+ begins meetings which may agree further output cuts - sources

Russian media reported. Novak, who is on a U.S. sanctions list, is expected in Vienna for Sunday meetings.

https://www.reuters.com/article/oil-opec/opec-begins-meetings-which-may-agree-further-output-cuts-sources-idINL1N37V052




and now the question - isolation or peremoga?  

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Insurers-Signal-Fallout-From-Sanctions-On-Russia.html

Insurers Signal Fallout From Sanctions On Russia

A year ago, the Financial Times reported how maritime insurers were concerned that sanctions targeting Russian oil exports would disrupt global supply chains, lead to higher prices, and make life for shippers and insurers more stressful.

This week, the same publication sounded the sanction alarm again. But it is no longer a general concern about supply chains, oil prices, and the price cap compliance woes of shippers and insurers. It is now a much more direct concern about how cap-compliant companies are suffering lost business as Russia's shadow fleet rises.
If the past year has taught the sanction enforcers anything, it is that there is a way around everything. They should have actually seen it with Iran and Venezuela, but apparently they didn't, so they barraged Russia with sanctions expecting it to collapse within months.

Instead, Russian oil exports are on the rise—to the reported chagrin of its OPEC partner Saudi Arabia—despite the EU embargo and the price cap that the G7 came up with to make sure the global market remains well supplied. The group has hailed the cap as a success, ignoring evidence of Russian oil being sold over it.

"If the aim of sanctions is to make a state alter course, the test of success would be to ask whether the target country has changed its actions," the head of marine and aviation at insurance trade body Lloyd's Market Association wrote in a letter cited by the FT.

"What is unclear to industry is why policymakers believe that 20 years of Russian inculcation and perceived grievance will be materially altered through further constraints against shipping and insurance," Neil Roberts also wrote in the letter, published on LinkedIn.

He then went on to warn that any further sanctions that are currently being mulled over by Western government were unlikely to have any impact on Russia foreign policy but would definitely hurt "the world's legitimate floating supply system."

It appears that there was one thing Western governments forgot while they were devising their sanction punch against Russian oil. What they forgot was the fact that there aren't only insurers and shippers in the West.

There are Russian insurance companies willing to provide coverage for tankers. There are Indian insurers and Chinese shippers. And they are happy to do business, as evidenced by the recent news around Indian shipping company Gatik.

Gatik got punished by Lloyd's Register for carrying Russian oil, presumably above the cap, but just days later, an Indian insurer stepped up to provide the necessary coverage for the firm's vessels, as noted by Roberts in his LinkedIn post.

Then there is the shadow fleet of tankers operated by small, unknown companies that carries millions of Russian barrels of oil and fuels across oceans on a daily basis. According to Trafigura, as of February this year, the shadow fleet numbered some 600 vessels. The commodity trader referred to it as "huge".

"There's a lot of people talking about how they can be clever and get rid of Russian oil. But it is a vast volume that needs to find a new home," Trafigura's co-head of oil trading, Ben Luckock, told Bloomberg at the time. "I think in the early days maybe that's okay, but as time progresses there will be difficulties in the products markets."

These would be the same people that are currently discussing yet another package of sanctions that would also target countries doing business—including oil business-with Russia.

Per a Bloomberg report, the discussion is still ongoing, and it is unlikely that the EU would go straight to blacklisting and punishing Russia's trade partners, such as India and China. Yet the next sanction package may well include measures targeting companies from these countries.

While the EU discusses more sanctions, its sanction push against Russia got a reality check from a Finnish think tank that tracks Russia's oil exports and revenues. That think tank, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, found that Russia's oil revenues are on the rise, too, after dipping in the first two months of the year, to return to levels from last November—before the EU embargo and the price cap kicked in.

This may well be why insurers are speaking up despite the danger of being criticized for not praising sanctions uncritically. It appears that the push to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine is backfiring and hurting insurers and shippers in the West disproportionately.

It was to be expected. There really could not be any way things could have played out, not in a world that depends on crude oil. As proven time and again, oil always finds a way to reach consumers. And while the embargo and the price cap certainly deprived Russia of some oil revenues, they seem to have deprived Western shippers and insurers of more than some revenues.

That western "experts" expected to be able to remove Russian oil from the global market tells you everything you need know about how
retarded they are. There is simply no substitute for 5 million barrels per day of Russian oil. No country, including Saudi Arabia and
the USA, can dial up the difference. Global conventional oil supply is slowly shrinking. The MSM propaganda confuses the issue by
counting biodiesel and ethanol as "oil". The hype around Bakken fracking is BS as well since this is a case of exploiting the dregs in the
barrel and not finding replacements for large oil reservoirs. The MSM also loves to trumpet kerogen deposits in Green River shale formations
in the US as trillion barrel oil reservoirs. There are no commercial kerogen to oil processing operations anywhere and the experimental
projects (i.e. the one operated by Shell) have been terminated.

kvs wrote:That western "experts" expected to be able to remove Russian oil from the global market tells you everything you need know about how
retarded they are.   There is simply no substitute for 5 million barrels per day of Russian oil.   No country, including Saudi Arabia and
the USA, can dial up the difference.   Global conventional oil supply is slowly shrinking.    The MSM propaganda confuses the issue by
counting biodiesel and ethanol as "oil".   The hype around Bakken fracking is BS as well since this is a case of exploiting the dregs in the
barrel and not finding replacements for large oil reservoirs.   The MSM also loves to trumpet kerogen deposits in Green River shale formations
in the US as trillion barrel oil reservoirs.   There are no commercial kerogen to oil processing operations anywhere and the experimental
projects (i.e. the one operated by Shell) have been terminated.  

And this is just one resource (oil) now think about other resources that Russia supply the world, gas, aluminum, sunflower oil, various fertilizers coal, gold, other precious metals, copper, wheat, wood products, diamonds, fish, gas turbines, various heavy machinery, and uranium and the biggest producer of enriched uranium (nuclear plant grade uranium) last I checked around 50% of the worlds enriched uranium some sources suggest even higher figures, then you have other nuclear industries. And then theirs neon gas production issue. And we haven't even got on to mention its defence industry. It's pretty simple to any sane mind that the world can't live without the largest country on earth, with a large economy and which provides some of the largest amounts of important resources in the world. The west was completely foolish to think it could survive without the Russian industries and resources.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/russias-mcdonalds-heir-growing-quickly-long-haul-2023-06-05/

Russia's McDonald's heir growing quickly, in for the long haul

MOSCOW, June 5 (Reuters) - The successor to McDonald's restaurants in Russia is growing faster than forecast, its owner said at an event to mark the new chain's first anniversary on Monday, though customers gave mixed reviews to the new and "improved" taste.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) closed its Russian restaurants soon after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, eventually selling to a local licensee, Alexander Govor.

One year on, Vkusno & tochka, or "Tasty & that's it", is reopening restaurants slightly faster than planned, hoping to have more than 900 by the end of 2023, and is serving around two million people each day, Govor said.

The chain has sold more than 24 million of its Big Mac replacement burgers, the Big Hit, CEO Oleg Paroev said.

The company believes it has improved on the recipe, including with changes to the burger's signature sauce. Some, but not all, customers agreed.

"For me the quality hasn't dropped, I really like it," customer Natalya Fadeeva told Reuters. "The taste, the quality, I like it all."

Zhalol, 23, said: "I've been abroad and ate at McDonald's there. I think they have not succeeded (in replacing McDonald's). The taste has changed, the fries definitely have at least."

Hamstrung by agreements with McDonald's, Vkusno & tochka, can not open restaurants in countries where McDonald's already has a presence.

Govor said partners in Belarus and Kazakhstan were so far refusing to cooperate, something he put down to problems with the local authorities.

"But if they allow them, we are ready to sign an agreement with them at any moment," Govor said.

Russian authorities and Govor have said McDonald's has an option to buy back its Russia restaurants within 15 years.

McDonald's has not commented on whether it has an option to return to Russia. It would find a market where Vkusno & tochka is the master franchisee should it do so.

"We did not come through six months, a year, to make money," Govor said. "We're here for the long haul."

U never know an expansion into BRICS countries could be on the future horizon.

d_taddei2 wrote:U never know an expansion into BRICS countries could be on the future horizon.

Article states countries refusing cause McDonald's threatens.

They would have to change things up a bit, menu including, to try and make it different enough where McDonalds doesn't have a leg to stand on in these other countries.

Talking about taste and quality when they refer to McDonald is for me absurd. I do not know if the russian replacement is the same, but the original one is just poor quality meat, a lot of sugar and a shit ton of synthetic food additives.

I do not understand why people even go to such places.

I like sporadically to eat a proper hamburger, but definitely not that shit.

It would have been nicer if they exported the relatively small low cost russian food chain Mu-Mu, which has several restaurants in Moscow.

Anyway, in this case at least it allowed to keep money at home while continuing employing people and do not get protests because of the lack of shitty American style fast food.

Apparently they cannot use the same brand in Kazakhstan or Bielorussia because they have a sort of agreement with McDonald's (which has also a buyback option for 15 years).

sepheronx wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:U never know an expansion into BRICS countries could be on the future horizon.

Article states countries refusing cause McDonald's threatens.

They would have to change things up a bit, menu including, to try and make it different enough where McDonalds doesn't have a leg to stand on in these other countries.

And I bet Belarus etc etc and the BRICS are shit scared of what Ronald McDonald could do to them

sepheronx wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:U never know an expansion into BRICS countries could be on the future horizon.

Article states countries refusing cause McDonald's threatens.

They would have to change things up a bit, menu including, to try and make it different enough where McDonalds doesn't have a leg to stand on in these other countries.

Sounds like the new company is encumbered by agreements. I do not think that McD's has a patent on burgers and fries. The new Russian chain is like Burger King
and Wendy's.

Rodion_Romanovic wrote:Talking about taste and quality when they refer to McDonald is for me absurd.  I do not know if the russian replacement is the same, but the original one is just poor quality meat, a lot of sugar and a shit ton of synthetic food additives.

I do not understand why people even go to such places.

I like sporadically to eat a proper hamburger, but definitely not that shit.

It would have been nicer if they exported the relatively small low cost russian food chain Mu-Mu, which has several restaurants in Moscow.

Anyway, in this case at least it allowed to keep money at home while continuing employing people and do not get protests because of the lack of shitty American style fast food.

Apparently they cannot use the same brand in Kazakhstan or Bielorussia because they have a sort of agreement with McDonald's (which has also a buyback option for 15 years).

Why do they go?

They're ignorant about nutrition. And McDonalds adds some tasty additives to its burgers

kvs wrote:

sepheronx wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:U never know an expansion into BRICS countries could be on the future horizon.

Article states countries refusing cause McDonald's threatens.

They would have to change things up a bit, menu including, to try and make it different enough where McDonalds doesn't have a leg to stand on in these other countries.

Sounds like the new company is encumbered by agreements.   I do not think that McD's has a patent on burgers and fries.   The new Russian chain is like Burger King
and Wendy's.  

Yeah, it is because of previous agreements. Mond you, McDonalds bailed out so **** em anyway. But I think it's Russia trying to still be the honest businessman.

In this regard, I really do not see why the parent company couldn't just spin off a different chain and move on in the other regions.