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Russian diplomats to meet detained Uralkali director on Friday morning

Uralkali CEO suspected of abuse of office

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MINSK, August 29 (Itar-Tass) - Russian consulate personnel in Belarus will meet on Friday with Director General of Uralkali company Vladislav Baumgertner, detained in the Belarusian capital Minsk on August 26, a consulate official told Itar-Tass.

"The meeting is scheduled for 10:00, on Friday," he said.

On Thursday morning, the consulate service reported that the meeting would take place later in the day.

Uralkali Director General Vladislav Baumgеrtner was detained in Minsk on Monday. The Belarusian authorities accuse him of misuse of $100 million and said they would check the activity of the key company owner, Suleiman Kerimov, whose fund has a 21.75% stake in Uralkali.

The Belarusian Investigative Committee said Baumgеrtner had been arrested on the strength of evidence about company top managers' abuse of office powers. It caused damage to the state and public interests of Belarus, as well as to Belaruskali and the Belarusian Potassium Company.

Belarusian investigators said Interpol had issued wanted notices for four top managers of the Belarusian Potash Company: board member Oleg Petrov, First Deputy Director General Konstantin Solodovnikov, Deputy Director General for finance Igor Yevstratov and head of the freight department, Dmitry Samoilov.

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