eastern bloc business is hard work

Another example of "how things are" in some places.

Raid on Energy Company in Ukraine

DAVID L. STERN
Published: March 4, 2009

KIEV, Ukraine — Security agents raided the offices of Ukraine’s state energy company Wednesday in what appeared to be an escalation of a longstanding power struggle at the highest levels of the government.

At the heart of the dispute are two energy companies: the Ukrainian state-run gas concern, Naftogaz, and RosUkrEnergo, a private firm in Switzerland.

Naftogaz answers primarily to the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. An owner of RosUkrEnergo is said by political experts to have ties to President Viktor A. Yushchenko.

The dispute between the companies, according to Marina Ostapenko, a spokeswoman for the security service, centers on 222 billion cubic feet of gas, worth about $880 million. The gas, she said, was illegally claimed by the Ukrainian government and should be delivered to its rightful owner, RosUkrEnergo.

Officers of the Ukrainian Security Service, or SBU, did not remove any documents, they said.