Last week’s arrest in Moscow of Semyon Mogilevich was a surprise not because he was so elusive, but because he had apparently been living unmolested in the Russian capital for some time (even, reportedly, maintaining an office in the Ukraina Hotel). The Ukrainian-born reputed organized crime boss is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for alleged fraud and racketeering and has been probed by Ukraine’s security service for alleged involvement with RosUkrEnergo, the shadowy Swiss-registered gas trading company that is half-owned by Gazprom and acts as a middleman in Russian gas exports to Ukraine. The question, then, is why Mogilevich was arrested now. According to some leading analysts, the answer may be found in the power struggle between influential Kremlin clans that has been sparked by the impending end of Vladimir Putin’s presidency and his decision to back First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as his successor.
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