On January 16 in Wall Street Journal in the article “Investors in Russia’s Got Early” the staff reporter tells that Gazprom, Russian Gas. Company, is the largest gas producer, and it has the largest reserves in the world. Nevertheless, Gazprom is risky and illiquid investment according to the first foreign investor, Mr. Hauptmann. The ”official” version is that he received 200 million shares in summer 1995 after negotiations with intermediaries, top management, and finally with the members of Gazprom board. There are a lot of dark sides of this investment. For instance, the role of the Check company, Peter the Great, is controversial. Mr. Hauptmann says that he dealt with Gazprom directly, and Peter the Great joined him later. Employees of Peter the Great claims that Mr. Hauptmann sent millions of dollars to Peter the Great before negotiation with Gazprom.The mystery of Gazprom is that it has never put out an audited profit-and-loss statement, and the share registry is closed to public. Gazprom stock is very difficult to trade, and the foreigners have limited quotas of these stocks. The other problem is the criminal activity in Russia. Peter the Great is received threats. ”We’d never be able to know anything we needed to know,” says Ian Haugue, a manager of Firebird Partners in New York.In spite of these problems Gazprom stock is below the market price, and, therefore, it is extremely good area for profit.