Saturday, February 23, 2008

The Russian boom in Montenegro

" ... Ivan Golovkin is not mega-rich yet, but he is working on it. He has taken a year off from studying economics in St Petersburg to sell top of the range flats in Montenegro.

Complete with Italian bathroom fittings, swimming pool and underground parking, the average cost is well over $0.5m.
Ivan's clients are Russian businessmen.

"Several times people have tried to pay cash," he says, "but we don't work this way. We are very careful to check. It's all clean money."

Yet there is concern that in some cases the property boom may be a cover for turning dirty money into respectable profit, especially since Montenegro unilaterally adopted the euro in 2002.

[ ... ]

The report also calls on Montenegro to do more to protect the environment.

Once again, there is a Russian connection.
Not far from Podgorica there is a huge pond, its waters an ominous shade of red.
It collects the toxic waste from Montenegro's biggest company, the Kap aluminium complex that accounts for 40% of the country's exports. ... "

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