As pointed out to us by some friendly sources — there’s been some interesting moves in the USD/RUB crossrate on Thursday:
And the rumour doing the rounds is that might in someway be tied to this story via Bloomberg:
Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) — Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, whose wife is Russia’s only woman billionaire, is locked in a battle with President Dmitry Medvedev for control of the capital after two weeks of critical media reports.
A weekend of attacks on Luzhkov, 73, began on Sept. 10, when NTV, owned by state-controlled OAO Gazprom, aired a documentary that blamed him for issues ranging from corruption to traffic jams.
State TV followed with accusations of inaction as wildfire smoke choked Moscow this summer and favoritism toward his wife, Yelena Baturina, president of construction and real estate company ZAO Inteko.
“The situation is more volatile than it has been since he became mayor,” said Mikhail Vinogradov, head of the Petersburg Politics Foundation, a research group based in Russia’s second- biggest city.
“The presidential administration has never sent signals like these.”
At stake is control of the capital ahead of a 2012 presidential election in which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin may seek to regain the office he turned over two years ago to Medvedev, 45.
Luzhkov, who has been mayor of Moscow since 1992, has aligned himself with Putin. While Putin, 57, and Medvedev have ruled out competing against one another, neither has said who will run in 2012. The ability to deliver a large majority in the capital may ultimately help determine the candidate, said Dmitry Oreshkin, an independent political analyst in Moscow. ‘Bargaining Chip’
“The Moscow battle is important because whoever controls Moscow will have an important bargaining chip when they decide who runs for president,” Oreshkin said. Putin hasn’t commented on the dispute.
But we couldn’t possibly comment as to why.
Related links:
Inteko Sues Forbes Over Cover Story – St Petersburg Times
Russia’s richest woman sues former deputy PM for defamation – RiaNovosti