With plenty of cash in its reserves and a gutted European car maker on the block, the Prime Minister is behind Russia's plan to create an auto industry It was 2006 and Russia was flush with petro-dollars, pride and industrial ambition. Vladimir Putin, then president, now Prime Minister, picked a high-profile investment to showcase his country's resurgence – Airbus owner EADS, the world's biggest aerospace company. Big mistake. When the Germans and the French learned that Russia, through state-controlled VTB Bank, had snapped up 5 per cent of EADS and wanted more, they vibrated with fear. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's then-president Jacques Chirac told Russia that EADS, a strategically sensitive company, didn't need a Russian partner. Mr. Putin seemed shocked by the Franco-German response. After meetings with... [read full story]
