who thinks this is a good idea?!
Gazprom given right to bear arms
CHRISTIAN LOWE
Reuters News Agency
July 5, 2007
MOSCOW -- Russia's parliament handed gas giant OAO Gazprom the right to form its own armed units yesterday with a law one legislator said opened a "Pandora's box" that could lead to the creation of a private army.
A law backed by 341 lawmakers in the 450-seat State Duma gave Gazprom and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft exemption from strict limits on private businesses wielding arms.
The two state-controlled companies will be allowed to employ their own armed operatives instead of contracting an outside security firm. Their units will also have access to more weapons and more freedom to use them than private security companies.
Gazprom is already described by some observers as a state within a state: it has 430,000 employees, controls some of Russia's biggest media outlets, has a firm grip on gas exports and owns the country's third largest bank.
"This law is like a Pandora's Box," said Gennady Gudkov, a lawmaker with the left-wing Fair Russia party who opposed the law. "Gazprom and Transneft are proposing the creation of their own corporate armies," he said.
Supporters of the law said it was needed to improve protection of oil and gas pipelines from attacks by militants.
Russia supplies almost a quarter of Europe's natural gas and is the world's No. 2 exporter of crude oil, after Saudi Arabia.
The weapons that Gazprom and Transneft armed units will be allowed to carry under the new law are restricted to hand-guns and pump action shotguns. The law includes no restriction on the number of armed employees.
They can be deployed only to protect infrastructure. But given both firms' have pipelines throughout the vast country, that would mean they could operate almost anywhere.
CHRISTIAN LOWE
Reuters News Agency
July 5, 2007
MOSCOW -- Russia's parliament handed gas giant OAO Gazprom the right to form its own armed units yesterday with a law one legislator said opened a "Pandora's box" that could lead to the creation of a private army.
A law backed by 341 lawmakers in the 450-seat State Duma gave Gazprom and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft exemption from strict limits on private businesses wielding arms.
The two state-controlled companies will be allowed to employ their own armed operatives instead of contracting an outside security firm. Their units will also have access to more weapons and more freedom to use them than private security companies.
Gazprom is already described by some observers as a state within a state: it has 430,000 employees, controls some of Russia's biggest media outlets, has a firm grip on gas exports and owns the country's third largest bank.
"This law is like a Pandora's Box," said Gennady Gudkov, a lawmaker with the left-wing Fair Russia party who opposed the law. "Gazprom and Transneft are proposing the creation of their own corporate armies," he said.
Supporters of the law said it was needed to improve protection of oil and gas pipelines from attacks by militants.
Russia supplies almost a quarter of Europe's natural gas and is the world's No. 2 exporter of crude oil, after Saudi Arabia.
The weapons that Gazprom and Transneft armed units will be allowed to carry under the new law are restricted to hand-guns and pump action shotguns. The law includes no restriction on the number of armed employees.
They can be deployed only to protect infrastructure. But given both firms' have pipelines throughout the vast country, that would mean they could operate almost anywhere.