mfbeal,that third point you made was very interesting:-
" 3. Wasn't the consensus of opinion or Russian law that the assets could not be totally sold out of the state itself ie the majority of the shares had to stay in the ownership of the country? "
Would like to have other knowledgable posters address this question. Obviously BGO with the Kupol mine has to solve this problem,so that would be a good point to start some DD.