Venezuela: President of Russia’s Lukoil Stood Up by Chávez
By Nelson Bocaranda | El Universal
Caracas, 26 May 2005 | The President of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, came all the way from Moscow for a business appointment agreed upon several weeks ago and scheduled for last Monday, 23 May, with President Hugo Chávez. Only Rafael Ramírez would receive him, giving the excuses “el comandante will see you in a few minutes at Miraflores...let us wait for his call...he had to be away from Caracas…” One of the topics to be discussed was the agreement signed with PDVSA in Moscow in 2004 and the Russian desire to participate in the Rafael Urdaneta Project. The case is very disturbing. The oilman waited with his entourage of fourteen persons and the ambassador for a period of four hours at the Maute Grille in Las Mercedes and at 5:00 pm decided to take his flight back to Russia. Yesterday he informed President Vladimir Putin about Chávez’s rudeness “which gives one an idea of the governmental disorderliness that country has…”
Translation by W.K.
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