Michael Cherney

Ukraine has put Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, whose company Rusal owns a large alumina plant in the country, and other prominent Russians on an expanded sanctions list, a document on the president's website showed on May 24.

American consultant Paul Manafort has said that he was hired by the Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, former owner of Montenegro's KAP aluminum plant and one of the largest investors in the country,  to support Montenegro's independence referendum in 2006 - but Deripaska declined to respond to BIRN's inquiry about the claim.

Although Bulgaria's internet service providers are generally not infiltrated by "organized crime or corrupt politicians", fears are growing that a Russian businessman might get a hold of the biggest Bulgarian telecom, a recent analysis argues.