Page 92 - bne magazine February 2022_20220208

92 Opinion
bne February 2022
RL identified at least $785mn in European and US real estate purchases made by Nazarbayev’s family members and their in-laws in six countries over a 20-year period.
Their fabulous riches provided an easy entree into international social circles, including with members of the British royal family.
Queen Elizabeth’s disgraced second son Prince Andrew is known to have friendly relations with both the former Kazakh president and his son-in-law Timur Kulibayev. Back in 2007, British media revealed that Kulibayev had purchased Prince Andrew’s former home Sunninghill for GBP15mn ($20.4mn), a steep GBP3mn higher than the asking price.
Several years later, Prince Harry and his then girlfriend Cressida Bonas were photographed at the ski resort of Shymbulak near Almaty, reportedly at the invitation of Kazakh oligarch Serzhan Zhumashov, a friend of Nazarbayev’s.
Kazakhstan erupts
The Nazarbayev family are understood to have fled Kazakhstan by private jet to an unknown destination after violent protests erupted this week, prompting a harsh crackdown by security forces. Russia and its fellow CSTO members zoomed in almost immediately to back up Tokayev’s regime. Russian media reports – the only ones coming out
of Kazakhstan aside from the Kazakh state media during the internet blackout – have played up the violence and instability in the country.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken commented on the arrival of CSTO troops on January 7, saying it was “not clear why they feel the need for any outside assistance”.
"One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,” Blinken added at a State Department press briefing.
Until then, the main western powers had issued cautiously worded statements appealing to both sides for restraint and to avoid violence. Just like in other post-Soviet countries that Russia regards as firmly in its sphere of influence, there’s very little they can do in practical terms.
As the situation deteriorated on January 5, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price commented: “We condemn the acts of violence and destruction of property and call for restraint by both the authorities and protesters. We ask for all Kazakhstanis to respect and defend constitutional institutions, human rights and media freedom, including through the restoration of internet service. We urge all parties to find a peaceful resolution of the state of emergency.”
A spokesperson for the European Union External Action Service said the EU is following developments closely. “We call on all concerned to act with responsibility and restraint and to refrain from actions that could lead to further escalation of violence. While recognising the right to peaceful demonstration, the European Union expects that they remain non-violent and avoid any incitement to violence. The European Union also calls upon authorities to respect the fundamental right to peaceful protest and proportionality
in the use of force when defending its legitimate security interests, and to uphold its international commitments,” the statement said.
“We are concerned by the violent clashes witnessed in Kazakhstan in recent days and are following developments closely. We call for calm. Protests should be peaceful and
law enforcement responses proportionate and in line with Kazakhstan’s international commitments. The UK encourages a peaceful resolution through engagement between the authorities and civil society,” a spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in
a statement emailed to bne IntelliNews.
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Contents
Top stories
Russia’s top retail and tech companies join forces to hunt for innovations in the rest of the world 2 Ukraine-born startups raised more
than half a billion dollars in 2019 4 Russian video streaming platforms
gain speed 5 Cloud services take off in Russia 6 SEMrush to SEO success 8
Leaders 9
Russia’s internet giant Yandex
announces growing and more
diversified revenues in 2019 10 Russian telecom major Rostelecom misses on earnings in 4Q19, cash
flow solid 12
Investment 13
World Bank approves $35mn project
to modernise Kyrgyz tax administration and statistical system 13 Romanian online home decoration
retailer raises €3.5mn in bonds 14 Russian billionaires Abramovich, Gutseriev, said to invest in Telegram
crypto project TON 14 Russian fund Da Vinci Capital gets
€30mn from Germany’s DEG to invest
in Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan 15
Fintech & E-commerce 16
Russian e-commerce major
Wildberries to add self-employed
vendor products to offering 16 Russian Dixy retailer to launch online sales with Ozon 17 Valuation of Sistema’s e-commerce
asset Ozon boosted to $1.8bn 17
Telecom 19
Makedonski Telekom’s net profit
up 6% y/y in 2019 19 Romanian telco Digi grows by double
digit rates in 2019 19 Russia could postpone 5G rollout
from 2022 to 2024 20
NIBs 21
March 2020
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Russia’s top retail and tech companies
join forces to hunt for innovations in
the rest of the world
BAs Russia’s retail and tech sectors consolidate, the leading companies are turned their gaze outwards to hunt for
bne:Tech
new technology and innovation.
See page 2
Ukraine-born startups raised more
than half a billion dollars in 2019
In 2019, the venture capital and private equity funding volume for Ukrainian and Ukrainian-founded tech startups reached $544mn (up from $323mn in 2018 and $265mn in 2017), says AVentures Capital’s latest industry report ”DealBook of Ukraine”,
reports Adrien Henni of Ukraine Digital News. See page 4
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