Cosmopolitan cooking - Russian salad, Italian Pizzas and Japanese sushi.......Matzot ?

Leonid Nevzlin

When things got hot for Yukos and some colleagues were arrested for tax, murder, and other crimes against the state CEO Leonid Nevzlin (45)(pic 2003 outside Prosecutors office) very sensibly fled to Israel. In November 2003, he was granted Israeli citizenship, which is not difficult because he arrived there and is a Jew - it also means he cannot be extradited - well not very easily - and as he has at least US$1.1 Bn stashed away he can bring modest influence to bear and he has 2 delightful children.

A computer prgrammer he teamed up with jailbird and tax avoider Mikhail Khodorkovsky and founded Menatep which led on to greater things as Russia fell apart - In 2000, he was elected president of the Russian Jewish Congress; in 2001 was elected senator in the Federation Council of Russia.Menatep became Menatep Bank, the corporate ancestor of what became Yukos and his personal piggy Bank.

On the 4th July 2004 however the Russian authorities asked for him back on charges he organized a double contract killing and a string of attempted murders. He has also been charged with "entering into a criminal plot with Yukos' internal and economic security chief Alexander Pichugin to kill certain individuals who posed a ... danger to the company, and to Nevzlin and Pichugin," the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement at the time. (Aleksey Pichugin, an employee of YUKOS's security division,has been sentenced already to 20 years in prison) He was wanted on suspicion of evading 26.7 million rubles ($930,000 according to the current exchange rate) in taxes in 1999-2000 and also allegedly appropriated shares in two Eastern Oil Company (VNK) subsidiaries, oil producer Tomskneft and the Achinsk refinery

Isolated in Israel he maintains a turgid blog in which he tries amongst deep ersatz philosophy which Pushkin wouldn't recognise - for example for today we have ;

Мы не рабы. Рабы немы.Это не только скороговорка.
We are not slaves. Slaves are silent. This is not only a tongue twister.

..... to explain how he brought civilisation to Moscow. He also expresses the views that Russia is run by KGB-FSB officers to anyone who will listen. He has also called upon high-ranking US officials to exclude Russia from the Group of Eight. In addition, Mr. Nevzlin has reportedly urged American officials not to make Russia a member of the World Trade Organization - the point of discussion in Latvia and Poland so recently. Nevzlin (who evidently has a high opinion of his powers of diplomacy) went to Washington in Mid 2005 to tell this to a group of US congressmen. (the Russian Embassy asked to have achat with him and to find a comfortable seat on a plane back to Moscow but the USA would not play ball - rendition is a one way game)

From his self imposed exile he underwrote opposition candidate Irina Khakamada, who finished with less than 4 % of the vote in the 2002 Presidential elections.For the forthcoming elections he offered to support the Russian Chess Grandmaster Gary Kasparov who told him to fuck off.

Now why did Mr Litvinenko travel to Israel immediately before his meetings in London with his ex KGB chums and the shady Scaramella to have a chinwag and a latke or three with Leonid Nezvin ?

It may be worth testing the very comfortable seating of the first class areas of Heathrow bound Boeing 777 El Al flight LY 315 from Tel Aviv on October 30th - or even the aircon filters which are so easily accessible ?

Or it may not. The El Al cleaners are VERY thorough.