#8 - JRL 8416 - JRL Home
WESTERN INVESTORS ARE NOT GOING TO LEAVE RUSSIA, THOUGH POLITICAL RISKS WORRY THEM, BRITISH EXPERT SAYS

LONDON, October 19 (RIA Novosti's Alexander Smotrov) - The political risks in Russia worry western investors but do not make them leave the country, co-ordinator of the Russia & Eurasia programme of the London-based Chatham House (the former Royal Institute of International Relations) James Nixey said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

He and head of the Russia & Eurasia programme Roy Allison are participating in the conference Russia: On the Road to Genuine Partnership with the West? which opened on Monday in Wilton Park Conference Centre in British county West Sussex.

Many businessmen seriously regard the political risks existing in Russia, the expert believes. According to him, the participants in the conference in Wilton Park, as well as the delegates of the forum which is organised with Chatham House's participation in Moscow in three weeks will talk about this.

But so far all these concerns have not reached the critical line when they begin to make think of complete pullout of the businesses from the country, he noted.

If we take, for example, the TNK-BP deal, certain nervousness on the part of the BP about the company's future is observed, Nixey cited a concrete example. The TNK-BP company was established in September 2003 as a result of the merger of Russian companies TNK and SIDANCO and the oil and gas assets of the BP company in Russia and Ukraine. The company is owned by the BP and a group of Russian investors - Alfa Group, Access Industries and Renova (AAR) on a parity basis.

In Nixey's opinion, the western investors are also concerned not only about purely economic questions but also the questions relating to the situation in the country as a whole and the democratic reforms.