Russia to allow private armies for energy giants

Russia's parliament voted yesterday [4 Jul 2007] to allow the country's two biggest energy monopolies, Gazprom and the state oil pipeline company Transneft, to employ and arm private security units. Under the deal, Russia's interior ministry will supply Gazprom with guns from its own armoury. The weapons that the armed units will be allowed to carry are restricted to hand-guns and pump-action shotguns. The law includes no restriction on the number of armed employees.

Supporters of the plan say that Russia's oil and gas installations - which are key to the country's boom and burgeoning economic revival - have to be protected from terrorist attack at all cost. However, Gennady Gudkov of the Fair Russia party, said the law paved the way for the creation of corporate armies and described it as "a Pandora's box". "Gazprom and Transneft are proposing the creation of their own corporate armies," he told the chamber.

Gazprom is Russia's biggest company. It controls a fifth of the world's gas reserves, runs entire towns with martial efficiency, and owns a newspaper and the country's third-largest bank. Many observers regard the state-owned energy giant as a state within a state and also the Kremlin's most brutally effective geopolitical weapon, as well as a tool for bludgeoning the neighbours.

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