One surprising feature of the long-running scrap between the oligarchs Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska for control of Russia’s Norilsk Nickelis that the Kremlin let it fester for so long. Finally, it seems to have stepped in to sort it out.

Last Friday, Mr Potanin was shown on television meeting President Vladimir Putin. Within days, reports emerged in Russian media – broadly confirmed by people in the know – that after talks initiated?some?weeks?ago by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a peace deal was in the offing at the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium by volume.

One scenario would include Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, as a “friendly” third party, taking a stake that would reduce the ownership influence of Mr Potanin’s group, though the latter would become Norilsk chief executive. Norilsk would also pay out higher dividends, which Mr Deripaska has long demanded.