The conflict between Igor Sechin and Ramzan Kadyrov. The Financial Times spoke about the conflict between Sechin and Kadyrov

Speculations circulated by some media about the conflict between Igor Sechin and the leadership of Chechi have not been confirmed.

The Rosneft company and the leadership of Chechnya issued a joint statement in response to the publication in the Financial Times (FT).

“In connection with the appearance in the Financial Times of a publication containing false fabrications regarding the relationship between the Rosneft company and the leadership of the Chechen Republic, immediately disseminated by resources financed by Khodorkovsky’s structures, we are forced to clarify. Moreover, the subject of these fabrications touches on sensitive aspects of personal relationships Igor Ivanovich Sechin and Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov, insults the blessed memory of Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov, with whom Igor Sechin has been closely acquainted since 1999.

Statements about the “Chechen trace,” which someone is allegedly trying to trace during the investigation of the terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg, is, at a minimum, inciting ethnic hatred, that is, a criminal offense. What is surprising is the participation of one of the world’s leading business publications, which is the FT, in serving the provocations of criminal elements of the so-called “opposition”, who are trying to project their well-known gangster experience onto the relationship between the Republic and the largest Russian Corporation.

We declare that we are connected by long-term and multilateral respectful business and human relations. We constructively resolve all issues that arise during our joint work. The published and circulated speculations are obviously unsubstantiated and deliberate lies, and therefore, we are forced to consider the prospects of appealing to the courts of various jurisdictions.", - says Sechin and Kadyrov in their appeal.

The Rosneft company and the leadership of Chechnya will consider the possibility of appealing to the courts of various jurisdictions.

Earlier, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel that the price for selling the republic’s 51% share of Grozneftegaz and other Rosneft property in the region is too high. Mr. Kadyrov believed that the problem of valuing Rosneft’s assets arose due to the fact that “the company does not want to look at Chechnya with open eyes.”

“Sechin came to business from big politics and could look at the Chechen Republic as a post-war region that is just building its economy,” he said.

The process of transferring Chechen assets to Rosneft and the Federal Property Management Agency, which started about a year and a half ago, may again stall. After the auditing company PricewaterhouseCoopers, commissioned by Rosneft, assessed the oil company's 51% stake in Grozneftegaz and other assets at 12.5 billion rubles, the Chechen authorities considered this amount to be too high.

The management of Rosneft treats the Chechen Republic unfairly, said the head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel, published on the channel’s website.

He explained that the oil company had inflated the value of its Chechen assets, including the 51% share of Grozneftegaz, which it was offering for sale to the republic. According to the head of Chechnya, this is due to the fact that Rosneft “does not want to look at Chechnya with open eyes.”

“(Rosneft head Igor) Sechin came to business from big politics and could look at the Chechen Republic as a post-war region that is just building its economy,” he explained.

“They (Rosneft management) say (that the price is what it is) based on the fact that there were oil thefts...” Kadyrov explained. “If I voice such questions today, then tomorrow they will start saying, ‘Oh, Kadyrov is against Rosneft, let’s put pressure on him to the fullest extent,’” the head of the republic suggested, noting that he was defending the interests of the people of the republic. “Their attitude towards us is an unfair attitude,” he admitted, promising to seek justice in this matter.

Earlier, a source from the TASS agency familiar with the progress of the negotiations indicated that Rosneft and the Chechen Republic have not yet agreed on the sale to the Chechen side of a 51% stake in Grozneftegaz and other property of the oil company in the region due to the inflated price, according to local authorities. cost. A representative of the Ministry of Economic Development then told the agency that the deal was being worked out. “The issue is being worked out, it is premature to talk about the timing of the deal,” said a representative of the department.

Before this, the Kommersant newspaper wrote that Rosneft insisted on considering its option for dividing Chechnya’s oil assets. For now, the state-owned company wants to sell 51% of Grozneftegaz and the rest of its property in the region to Chechnya for 12.5 billion rubles. According to the publication, Rosneft’s proposals to sell property to Chechnya were discussed at a meeting in the Ministry of Economic Development in early February, then representatives of the region asked the participants (also the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Property Management Agency) to study the results of the assessment. After carrying out the necessary procedures and obtaining consent to the transaction from the government of Chechnya, government directives on the transaction will be presented, the publication wrote.

The newspaper noted that the market price of Rosneft’s Chechen assets, including 51% of Grozneftegaz shares, is approximately 11.8 billion rubles, but Rosneft also took into account the costs of the oil refinery project in Chechnya at 725 million rubles, which was not implemented.

According to the latest information, in the territory of the Chechen Republic, Rosneft owns more than 27 licenses for subsoil areas, including 20 licenses for field development and seven for geological study and (or) exploration. There are 11 oil fields under development with an annual production of more than 400,000 tons of oil and one gas condensate field.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, reached an agreement that Rosneft will continue to operate in Chechnya and will not sell its regional assets to the republic. Their talks took place on April 19, after which each of them met separately with President Vladimir Putin. RBC reported this on April 25

Rosneft, the press service of the head of Chechnya and the Kremlin did not comment on the results of the negotiations, the publication emphasizes.

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Initially, Kadyrov insisted that Rosneft hand over its regional assets, the largest of which is Grozneftegaz. Sechin refused such a deal. As RBC clarifies, citing its own sources, Sechin and Kadyrov also agreed to remove obligations from Rosneft to build an oil refinery in Chechnya.

The publication’s source emphasized that Sechin always objected to the transfer of full control over Rosneft’s assets in the republic to the Chechen authorities.

In addition, the parties agreed that Rosneft will invest in the social infrastructure of the region, including building housing, and transfer part of it to municipal ownership. The volume of these investments is not known.

Grozneftegaz produced only 170.7 thousand tons of oil in 2016, or 0.08% of Rosneft’s production for the year (210 million tons). The regional company's revenue for 2015 amounted to 3.7 billion rubles, the loss was 171 million rubles.

On April 12, the British newspaper Financial Times reported, citing sources close to Rosneft, about a conflict over Rosneft assets in Chechnya. Kadyrov wanted the Russian Government to “transfer” this property to Chechnya, and Sechin offered to buy them back for 12.5 billion rubles.

“He [Kadyrov] is a pretty scary guy, but so is Igor Ivanovich [Sechin]. Igor Ivanovich is not the kind of person who can be intimidated by Kadyrov’s words,” an interlocutor familiar with the progress of negotiations on the sale of Chechen assets to Rosneft told FT.

According to the newspaper's source, the conflict between Kadyrov and Sechin is so deep that the Investigative Committee was brought in to “search for a Chechen trace” in the investigation of the explosion in the metro in St. Petersburg.

In response to this article, Sechin and Kadyrov jointly threatened the newspaper with a lawsuit.

In December 2015, it became known that Russian President Vladimir Putin supported Kadyrov’s proposal to transfer to Chechnya the Chechenneftekhimprom (ChNHP) enterprise owned by the Federal Property Management Agency and managed by Rosneft. In April 2016, Kadyrov complained to Putin that, contrary to the instructions of the head of state, the government had not made a decision to transfer ChNHP to the region.

In turn, Rosneft proposed another scheme for the transfer of property, under which Chechnya should receive a controlling stake in Grozneftegaz (a subsidiary of Rosneft, which operates on leased assets of ChNHP) and other property of the company in exchange for payment to Rosneft » 12.5 billion rubles.

On March 30, Ramzan Kadyrov, in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel, said that the management of Rosneft treats Chechnya unfairly. In his opinion, the price for selling to the republic a 51% share of Grozneftegaz and other Rosneft property in the region is too high.

“What they are offering us for 12.5 billion rubles is ridiculous, the price is too high. I don't know what their management thinks. I defend the interests of the region. Their treatment of us is unfair. We will seek justice,” TASS quotes Kadyrov as saying. The company, according to the head of the republic, “does not want to look at Chechnya with open eyes.”

“Sechin came to business from big politics and could look at the Chechen Republic as a post-war region that is just building its economy,” Kadyrov said.

“In fact, if I voice such questions today, tomorrow they will start: “Oh, Kadyrov is against Rosneft, let’s put pressure on him to the fullest.” But I defend the interests of the region and the people,” Kadyrov said.

The leader of Chechnya met in Moscow with the president of the country, as well as with the head of an oil producing company. In a conversation with Putin, Kadyrov, in particular, spoke about the situation with the persecution of gay people in the republic

Ramzan Kadyrov at a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Photo: Alexey Druzhinin/press service of the President of the Russian Federation/TASS

Updated 11:24

Ramzan Kadyrov met in Moscow with Vladimir Putin and Igor Sechin. The head of Chechnya reported to the president about the situation with the persecution of gays in the republic, who are kept in some secret prisons. According to him, materials about the detentions and killings of civilians are a provocation, and such “unconfirmed facts” appear in the media “two or three times a year,” Kadyrov said, noting that in terms of security in Chechnya, everything is fine. There were such manifestations, the president replied:

Kadyrov: Gentlemen, “good people” write what in our republic, well, it’s inconvenient to even talk about it, people are detained, killed, they even named one. They said they killed him, but he is at home. They directly accused him. First they insulted him, then they accused him of being killed by the authorities. Such unconfirmed facts around the republic happen two or three times a year. In terms of security, our republic is in good standing, we have no street crime and we do not have any other serious threats of a terrorist nature.

Putin: But still there were manifestations. The attack was on parts of the National Guard, so the issues have apparently not all been resolved yet. But all of them, of course, are being resolved, I see that they are being resolved well. How did you agree with Rosneft on further work?

Kadyrov: There were certain misunderstandings, as I understand it, Rosneft did not get what we wanted and what they wanted. Today we have found a common language and will continue to move forward and develop relations.

Before the meeting with the president, Kadyrov talked with the head of Rosneft. Rosneft's main asset in Chechnya is 51% of Grozneftegaz. The owner of the remaining stake - the government of the republic - is dissatisfied with the price for which Rosneft could sell control in the Grozny company.

Rosneft noted that “the asset valuation was carried out by a reputable international appraiser from the Big Four, in accordance with the market value of the assets.” In addition to this issue, the transfer to Chechnya of the state assets of Chechenkhimprom, which owns the processing infrastructure, which is now also under the control of Rosneft, is also being discussed.

Kadyrov also wrote about the results of his meeting with Sechin in Instagram. According to the head of Chechnya, they agreed to create a working group to improve the efficiency of implementing joint projects and solving existing problems, and also that they “resolved all issues regarding Chechenneftekhimprom OJSC.”

The President still supports Kadyrov, says Maxim Shevchenko, head of the Center for Strategic Studies of Religion and Politics of the Modern World, member of the Human Rights Council:

Head of the Center for Strategic Studies of Religion and Politics of the Modern World“This shows a stable attitude, it shows that attempts to quarrel between Ramzan Kadyrov and the Russian President failed, that the Russian President actually expressed public support for the policies pursued by Ramzan Kadyrov. The President of Russia actually showed, based on Kadyrov’s report, that he is monitoring the situation of the public conflict with Rosneft, and that thanks to his intervention, the conflict with Rosneft has been resolved. “He showed that the Chechen Republic was, is and remains one of the pillars of the Russian Federation in the Caucasus.”

This time, a compromise was found, says Konstantin Simonov, Director General of the National Energy Security Fund.

Director General of the National Energy Security Fund“Kadyrov considered this a very interesting asset that his team would not mind managing. At the same time, Sechin did not want to give it away just like that and therefore proposed a scheme to Kadyrov, which was quite expensive and costly. I think, in the hope that Kadyrov will be able to extract money from the federal budget; and everyone will be happy, except, of course, the federal budget. But there, a rather serious amount was announced, Kadyrov did not like it. The conflict was real and it ended, I think, in the most traditional way for this kind of story - Putin, I think, gave the command to come to an agreement - first of all, to Sechin. I think that the terms and conditions of the deal will change, that is, Rosneft’s requirements will be reduced. Another thing is that how these assets will be managed in the future is generally not clear.”

Kadyrov also gave an interview to Russia Today TV channel. In it, he said that he was against the official registration of marriages and considered applying to the registry office as mistrust and destruction of the family.

The conflict between the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and the director of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, has escalated, resulting in the emergence of a version about a “Chechen trace” in the St. Petersburg terrorist attack, the Financial Times reported. Kadyrov and Sechin in a joint statement denied this information, threatening the publication with court.

As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, on March 30, Kadyrov criticized Rosneft, saying that it had set an inflated price for its Chechen assets. The head of the republic also said that Sechin should make allowances for the fact that Chechnya - This is a post-war region that is just building its economy. “But if I voice such questions today, tomorrow they will start saying that Kadyrov is against Rosneft, and say, ‘let’s put pressure on him to the fullest extent possible,’” Kadyrov added.

Rosneft controls the Chechenneftekhimprom and Grozneftegaz enterprises in Chechnya. In December 2015, after Ramzan Kadyrov addressed Vladimir Putin, the government began to consider the issue of transferring the asset to the republic. Rosneft offered an amount of 12.5 billion rubles for 51% in Grozneftegaz and the rest of its property in the region.

FT: the ambitions of Kadyrov and Sechin are more dangerous for the regime than the opposition

The Financial Times published information about the growing conflict between Kadyrov and Sechin in connection with the situation around Chechen enterprises today, citing sources close to Rosneft and familiar with the progress of negotiations on the sale of the corporation's Chechen assets.

“The newspaper cited the friction between Sechin and Kadyrov as one example of the confrontation between serious players inside the Kremlin and throughout Russia, the struggle between whom and whose ambitions, according to sources, threaten the power of Vladimir Putin more than Alexei Navalny,” the Financial Times quoted the content of the material. "Vedomosti".

The Financial Times article also states that due to the intensified confrontation between Sechin and Kadyrov, it became necessary to check the alleged perpetrator of the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg on April 3 for “connections with Chechnya,” writes Open Russia.

As a result of the terrorist attack in the St. Petersburg metro, 15 people were killed, including a native of Kyrgyzstan, Akbarzhon Jalilov, whom investigators called a suicide bomber. To date, 47 people remain hospitalized after the terrorist attack, and another 33 victims are being treated on an outpatient basis. After the terrorist attack, experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" expressed the version that the explosion could have been prepared one of the militant leaders of the North Caucasus, Zalim Shebzukhov, killed in 2016, or his supporters.

Kadyrov and Sechin are unhappy with the touching on “sensitive aspects” of their relationship

Shortly after publication, a joint statement by Kadyrov and Sechin appeared on the Rosneft website. According to the statement, they want to “clarify the matter” due to the fact that the publication’s material contained “false fabrications” regarding their relationship.

“The subject of these fabrications touches on sensitive aspects of the personal relationship between Igor Ivanovich Sechin and Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov, insults the blessed memory of Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov, with whom Igor Sechin has been closely acquainted since 1999. Statements about the “Chechen trace” that someone is allegedly trying to trace in during the investigation of the terrorist attacks in St. Petersburg, are, at a minimum, incitement of ethnic hatred, that is, a criminal offense,” the statement said.

In addition, the authors of the statement reproach the Financial Times for “serving the provocations of criminal elements of the so-called “opposition”, who are trying to project their well-known gangster experience onto the relationship between the republic and the largest Russian corporation.”

The statement ends with the following words: “We declare that we are connected by long-term and multilateral respectful business and human relations. We constructively resolve all issues that arise in the process of joint work. Published and circulated speculations are obviously unsubstantiated and deliberate lies, and therefore we are forced to consider the prospects appeals to the courts of various jurisdictions."

Let us note that earlier, commenting on Kadyrov’s claims against Rosneft, a representative of the state corporation called the assessment of its Chechen assets justified.

“We have the deepest understanding of the problems of the Chechen Republic, but the company has no right to discount the value of assets to the detriment of the interests of shareholders. We are in a constructive dialogue with the leadership of the republic, including regarding the implementation of this transaction, and are ready to look for compromise solutions, but in within the framework of our legal capabilities related to the protection of shareholders’ rights,” Interfax quotes him.

According to Forbes, in 2016, Rosneft, with a turnover of $80.8 billion (5.5 trillion rubles), had a profit of $5.8 billion (377 billion rubles), and the value of its assets was estimated at $140 billion (9 ,1 trillion rubles).