OMNIUM GATHERUM:

Companies owned by Kremlin insiders Boris Berezovsky and Roman Abramovich moved into the aluminum industry in a big way. Berezovsky’s LogoVAZ auto retailer and Abramovich’s Sibneft oil company have acquired what Berezovsky called “large stakes” in aluminum plants in Krasnoyarsk, Bratsk, and Novokuznetsk, and in an alumina facility in Achinsk. Berezovsky and Abramovich acquired their holdings from Lev Chernoy, the financier allied with London-based Trans-World Group. Chernoy, who had been the most powerful individual in Russia’s aluminum industry, says he is now completely out of the business…. Berezovsky is also said to be close to regaining control over Aeroflot, the airline he ran until about a year ago, when allegations of embezzlement forced a change in management. Suspected of diverting Aeroflot’s hard currency revenues into companies he created in Switzerland, Berezovsky briefly left Russia when a warrant, later quashed, was issued for his arrest. A Swiss investigation into the affair continues.