Mechel: Putin’s Remarks Create Opportunity for an Attractive Volatility Play

Mechel tumbled 38% on Thursday after Russia “Prime Minister” (more like ex–KGB autocrat) Vladimir Putin said that the Russian Anti Monopoly Service should pay special attention to the fact that Mechel (MTL) has been selling its raw materials for twice as much domestically. This is bad news for the company’s chief executive and main shareholder, billionaire Igor Zyuzin. Last time a billionaire who ran a “strategic” company (like Mechel) crossed Putin was in 2003. The guy was Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and he is now serving an 8 year sentence in Siberia for tax evasion. Burr.

I know what you are thinking – isn’t Dmitry Medvedev the president of Russia? Yes he is – but Putin is the dictator and the dictator always trumps any democratically elected president. (Incidentally you may remember Medvedev from his brief stint as Kermit the frog on the popular TV show The Muppets. A puppet – get it?)