NEWSWATCH: “Corruption Case Puts Sechin in the Spotlight” – Carnegie Moscow Center/ Konstantin Gaaze

August 24, 2017 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, JRL NewsBlog, Oil, Gas, Energy, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

“The high-profile trial of former Russian economy minister Alexei Ulyukayev is not playing out according to the script that most analysts had expected. The prosecution’s case increasingly relies on the testimony of one man, state oil chief Igor Sechin, making this master of Kremlin intrigue potentially politically vulnerable.

The powerful reputation of the official said to be Russia’s second most influential man is being challenged. … Sechin was personally named and blamed by …. Ulyukayev at the beginning of his trial on bribery charges. * * * Sechin is too powerful and too near the throne to be a mere hired hand. But he doesn’t make a convincing Kremlin courtier either, being too much in the public eye, too aggressive, and too willing to play for high stakes which no other member of the court would risk to place a bet on. …”