At a G8 summit press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed back against US President George W. Bush's suggestion that Russia follow America's democratic example in Iraq, saying Russia preferred its own path to national strength. The exchange captured a broader reality: Putin had chosen state control of natural resources over Western-prescribed reforms, and the results were reshaping global energy politics.
One day before the summit opened, Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft completed an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, selling roughly 15 percent of the company and raising approximately $10 billion, ranking it among the five largest IPOs in history. At the offering price, Rosneft's total valuation reached $79.8 billion, placing it among Europe's most valuable corporations.
Rosneft had absorbed the assets of Yukos, the oil firm whose founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is imprisoned in Siberia. Yukos sought to block the IPO, arguing the assets were seized illegally. Former US diplomat Stuart Eizenstat noted that Khodorkovsky had been in contact with American financial and oil interests regarding Yukos's future, suggesting that Western ownership of a major Russian oil producer could have altered the global energy balance significantly.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in July 2006, in its own words.