A cooling down has been observed in the heated situation regarding Russia's largest coking coal producer Mechel, which was caused by last week's criticism of the company by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The said criticism had provoked a massive fall of the company's shares on both domestic and foreign stock exchanges.
Following the speculation in the market according to which Mechel could repeat the fate of Russian oil company YUKOS and go bankrupt, the Russian government has issued a firm statement saying that the Mechel case has no political undertones and that the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Committee (FAS) will do all in its power to complete its investigation - currently opened against several Mechel subsidiaries - within the shortest possible time. The FAS officials stated that since Mechel is in full cooperation with it, providing all necessary documentation and information, the case will be completed by the end of the next month. The official hearing on the case is scheduled for August 26.
Meanwhile, speaking about the consequences of Mechel's misdeeds, FAS has said that this time the situation could be resolved without applying any harsh sanctions against Mechel and that the company could get off with paying a fine to the federal budget. The amount of the fine could vary from one to 15 percent of Mechel's coking coal business' yearly turnover or not more than two percent of Mechel's yearly earnings.