, Columnist
Working With Russia and Living to Regret It
A U.S. businessman wanted to help establish Western-style corporate governance. He’s paying the price.
Not smiling anymore.
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The story I’m about to tell is one of those tales that make you wonder why anybody does business in Russia. It’s a country that really doesn’t play by anybody’s rules but its own.
Sometimes, these stories involve huge companies like BP Plc, which, you may recall, once had a joint venture with a consortium of Russian oligarchs. Then the oligarchs decided that they wanted the whole venture for themselves and made life for BP so miserable that Robert Dudley, the lead BP executive,714 had to flee the country in 2008.