Russian media: Kerimov may not sell his Uralkali shares

Uralkali CEO remains under house arrest in Minsk. Russia seek his extradiction, but Belarus president Alyaksandr Lukashenka insists that Russia continue criminal prosecurio of Mr Baumgartner.

But the sources close the Russian government and Uralkali told Gazeta.ru online newspaper they had doubts that Mr Baumgertner would face criminal charges if he returned to Moscow, reports Belapan quoting Gazeta.ru. This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that on October 31 Mr Baumgertner was included into the list of candidates for a seat on Uralkali's board of directors.

The newspaper reports that the probability of Kerimov selling his 21.75 % of shares in Uralkali has decreased significantly. "The problem is that it is difficult to find a buyer. The Chinese really wanted to but but they were not allowed to," the anonymous sours told Gazet.ru.

"When the former owner of the company Dmitry Rybalovlev was selling his share [to Kerimov], the Russian government basically appointed Suleiman Kerimov as the head of this project. So, if it was only about changing the owner, Kerimov would have sold his Uralkali shares long time ago," Gazeta.ru quotes the head of National Energy Security Fund Konstantin Simonov.

On November 5, Uralkali declined a comment to the media on whether the talks about the sale of Kerimov's shares were in progress and how was the potential buyer.

Photo: belexport.biz.