Unleashed: Oleg Mitvol, head of Russia’s environment
watchdog, on an aerial inspection of Russia’s Sakhalin Island
By Upstream staff
Russia’s state ecology watchdog Rosprirodnadzor said it was launching a probe of the biggest oilfield controlled by BP’s Russian joint venture TNK-BP, days after security services launched a crackdown on the company.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) last week raided TNK-BP’s Moscow offices said it had arrested an employee for espionage. Analysts said the FSB’s actions could be the start of a Kremlin-driven attack on the joint venture.
The environmental inspection will be led by Rosprirodnadzor head Oleg Mitvol, who two years ago led a campaign against Shell on the Pacific island of Sakhalin, effectively forcing the company to sell out to state gas export monopoly Gazprom.
The natural resource ministry said in a statement the inspection was due to take place in March or April and was a routine check alongside inspections of other companies. But its timing is likely to attract attention.
The Kremlin has been consolidating its presence in the oil sector. There has been market speculation that state corporations were eyeing TNK-BP, one of the biggest foreign investments in Russia which in 2006 saw profits of $6.6 billion.
The FSB said it had arrested TNK-BP employee Ilya Zaslavsky and his brother Alexander on suspicion of industrial espionage. Both men are members of the alumni club of the British Council, the British government’s cultural arm.
The Russian foreign ministry said last week the arrests had nothing to do with Moscow’s strained relations with Britain.
The resources ministry said last week that Mitvol will check TNK-BP’s SamotlorNeftegaz production unit, which is developing the company’s Samotlor oilfield.
In 2006, Mitvol threatened to slap Shell with billions of dollars in ecological fines over its projects on Sakhalin. The dispute was resolved when Shell sold control in the $22 billion project to Gazprom.
——————————————————————————–
24 March 2008 04:00 GMT | last updated: 24 March 2008 04:01 GMT
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article151064.ece
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
