Posted on 01/04/2005 1:06:44 PM PST by Grzegorz 246
MOSCOW, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has stripped adviser Andrei Illarionov of a key role after the maverick economist lambasted the state's legal assault on oil giant YUKOS . Illarionov is famously outspoken, but his comments on the state-imposed sale of a key YUKOS asset -- which he called "the scam of the year" -- were strong even by his standards. Putin has said the sale of YUKOS unit Yuganskneftegaz, which was bought for $9.4 billion by state oil firm Rosneft, had been a legitimate business deal.
A Kremlin statement released late on Monday appointed Igor Shuvalov to Illarionov's post as Russian representative to the Group of Eight industrialised nations. Shuvalov will also organise Russia's year-long chairmanship of the group in 2006.
"Presidential adviser Andrei Illarionov has been relieved of these responsibilities," said the statement.
The break-up of YUKOS, which was one of Russia's most prosperous companies but has been swamped by a $27 billion tax claim, is widely seen as a Kremlin vendetta against YUKOS's politically ambitious key shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
The takeover of Yugansk, which was initially bought by a shell company registered in a provincial Russian cafe before Rosneft stepped in, has prompted fears over investor security.
Illarionov is one of the few state officials to criticise the moves on the oil company, which he said was being done by "monstrously unqualified and unprofessional people ... (with) a desire to expropriate private property".
A spokeswoman for Illarionov declined to comment, but commentators said these latest comments had gone too far.
"After Illarionov's last statement, many people expected some action or other from the president," said Alexander Shokhin, a former minister and chief debt negotiator now a leading member of the Russian industrialists' union.
"But the president will not take the initiative to remove Illarionov from his post as adviser, partly so as not to give the impression that he is against pluralism of opinions," he told Ekho Moskvy radio.
Few top officials have criticised the legal moves against YUKOS, with only Illarionov and Economy Minister German Gref prepared to break ranks with their colleagues.
The same sort of thing has happened to other staffers who got out of line.
A couple of months after 9/11, a staffer for Congressman Mike Rogers was the subject of a Vanity Fair article and she got canned for far less (Dan from Michigan is in that district). Similarly, there is the example of Washingtonienne, fired by Mike DeWine over a blog she posted stuff to. I think it was harsh to fire them, but their bosses felt it was needed.
In this case, Illarionov has lost some of his duties to another staffer. He got off mildly when compared to the congressional staffers in question.
I have to admit like Bush I was fooled by this guy a few years ago.....I really thought he was gonna at least go along with some reforms.........now that he is going backwards just confirms that the KGB can't change their stripes and are walking the fine line towards totalitarianism again.........at least it won't be a Soviet Union and just Russia.
Putin is not an angel, but he's probably willing to work with us more than the EU will. The trends in France and Germany are not good. See here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1313752/posts
I hope the UK rejects the EU. A no vote there would allow us to hem it in.
Ironically, Congressman Mike's office(at least Michigan one - not sure about DC) has extremely low turnover. That says a lot about the congressman, as well as his staff.
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