By Russell Hotten, Industry Editor (Filed: 19/10/2006)
The offices of the Russian government agency that cracked down on Royal Dutch Shell’s Sakhalin-2 development have been raided by criminal investigators. Members of the Interior Ministry’s organised crime department went unannounced to RosPrirodNadzor (RPN), the environment watchdog, yesterday and removed documents.
Russian officials said the raid was unrelated to the agency’s investigations into foreign firms operating at Sakhalin. But the news sparked speculation that it was part of the power-politics being played by Moscow over the Sakhalin venture.
Yevgeny Artyomov, a spokesman for the organised crime department, said the investigators were seeking documents for a case involving the Yuzhno-Tambeisk gas field in Siberia. An official told the Associated Press news agency that some of the documents related to business trips made by two of the agency’s employees.
RPN, part of the Ministry of Natural Resources, wanted Shell’s environmental permits for Sakhalin revoked, seen as part of a move by Moscow to force foreign firms to cede some control of the $20bn project.
Foreign government’s have made representations to Russia over Sakhalin and yesterday’s move may have been an attempt by the authorities to show they are even-handed when dealing with energy companies.
On Tuesday, Sakhalin prosecutors summoned the local head of RPN, Dmitry Belanovich, and asked him to supply a full list of inspectors’ names and information about their actions in October.
The Ministry of Natural Resources said in a statement that it acted after complaints about the wrongful actions of RPN in Sakhalin while carrying out supervisory and control checks.
Russia has threatened Shell with sanctions if it fails to address environmental violations at Sakhalin-2, the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas project and Russia’s top foreign investment.
Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of RPN, was expected to present new complaints about Sakhalin-2 during a visit to the Far East by Yuri Trutnev, Russia’s Natural Resources Minister, next week.
But there are signs Shell and Moscow are inching towards a deal. After a meeting on Monday, Shell said that it had resolved all environmental concerns. Any resolution is likely to involve state gas group Gazprom taking a 20pc stake in Sakhalin-2 next year. Shell declined to comment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/10/19/cnshell19.xml
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
