By empty (12/23/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
President Vladimir Putin said on 23 December that while no wholesale revision of privatization is planned, this \"doesn\'t concern people who didn\'t observe the law.\" \"We often hear that the laws were complicated and it was impossible to observe them,\" Putin said in a speech to the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. \"So speak those who didn\'t observe them.
President Vladimir Putin said on 23 December that while no wholesale revision of privatization is planned, this \"doesn\'t concern people who didn\'t observe the law.\" \"We often hear that the laws were complicated and it was impossible to observe them,\" Putin said in a speech to the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. \"So speak those who didn\'t observe them. This is nonsense. Those who wanted to did observe the law.\" Putin said that those who \"consciously stole\" should not get \"preferential treatment.\" \"If five or seven people did not observe the law, it does not mean that everybody did the same,\" Putin said. This sentence sparked speculation in various media that five to seven leading tycoons might soon meet the fate of jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovskii. Putin also called for redistributing the \"super-profits\" of oil and gas companies, using such means as export tariffs and a tax on the extraction of natural resources. He added, however, that the government will work closely with business to decide how to proceed. (RBK