Posted on 01/23/2006 4:48:48 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
MOSCOW - Russia's newest, most powerful corporate enterprise doesn't have a logo or a balance sheet. It doesn't hold shareholder meetings and isn't bound by any charter. Observers say it doesn't need one because it makes its own rules, and changes them as it sees fit. It doesn't even have a name, though the brand several critics have suggested - Kremlin Inc. - is as good as any. In 2005 its CEO, Vladimir Putin, put into full swing Kremlin Inc.'s corporate strategy: reassert state influence over Russia's economy and use energy to muscle its way back onto the world's top shelf of economic powerhouses.
Under Putin's stewardship, Russia is gradually putting the Kremlin in control of everything that matters: energy, the economy, politics and the media. Last year, Russian authorities engineered takeovers and deals that gave the state partial or complete control in some of the country's most lucrative enterprises. The most significant of those deals involved the acquisition of Russian oil major Sibneft by state-owned Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer.
The state also wrested control of Russia's leading carmaker and took over the company that makes nuclear turbines for Russian submarines. And it tightened its grip on the media; in June, Gazprom bought Izvestia, one of Russia's largest newspapers. The state already has control over Russia's television networks.
In 2005, the Russian government was the most active player in Russia's mergers and acquisitions market, engineering nearly a third of all deals.
The Kremlin's push for legislation imposing severe restrictions on non-governmental organizations was widely seen as its stratagem for snuffing out the one element of Russian civil society that authorities had yet to control.
On the surface, this centralization of power and influence has all the markings of a reversion to Soviet-style governance, but there's a difference: To a certain extent, Putin embraces Western-style market reforms as vital to Russia's economic rebirth. Foreign investment should be nurtured, he believes. So should growth in small- and medium-size business.
The problem is that Putin cherry-picks where market reforms should be applied. He clearly wants Russia's natural resources sector, the engine behind its economy, placed squarely in the hands of the state. He bemoans the size and influence of Russia's bloated bureaucracy, even as he puts Kremlin apparatchiks at the helm of some of the country's most powerful enterprises.
Economists say the Kremlin's strategy risks stifling competition and ultimately imperiling economic growth. One of those economists, Andrei Illarionov, a top Putin adviser, quit in December in protest of Kremlin policies.
"The state can be inept, irrational and pursue strange interests, but those interests were always seen as in the national interest," Illarionov told the Russian newspaper Kommersant. "What I could not foresee was that state interests could evolve into corporate and private interests to such an extent."
Russia began 2006 with another highly criticized policy move that could haunt it in coming months. When Ukraine's pro-West government balked at agreeing to a fourfold price increase for natural gas it buys from Russia, Gazprom shut off gas supplies to its western neighbor Jan. 1. The move caused sharp reductions in gas Russia sends to European customers via Ukrainian pipelines, and it triggered strong concerns from the West about Russia's reliability as an energy partner. Those concerns couldn't have come at a worse time - on Jan. 1, Russia assumed this year's chairmanship of the Group of Eight club of leading industrialized nations and will push an agenda of energy security.
Europe already depends on Russia for a quarter of its natural gas, and Gazprom is building a pipeline between Russia and Germany that eventually will supply Europe with 20 billion cubic meters of gas annually. But in the wake of Russia's decision to cut off gas to Ukraine in the middle of winter, European leaders are murmuring about the need to look elsewhere for energy sources. As G-8 chairman, Putin faces criticism on other fronts. As much of the rest of the world condemned Uzbekistan's authoritarian government for shooting to death hundreds of demonstrators in Andijan last spring, Russia joined China in sidling up to Uzbek President Islam Karimov, firmly backing his handling of the crisis. Human-rights groups are urging G-8 leaders to raise concerns about the pending non-governmental organizations bill, which would significantly hinder the work of foreign and domestic NGOs in Russia. Putin has yet to sign the bill into law.
The rollback of democracy in Russia has become a familiar theme at summits between Putin and Western leaders. The criticisms never seem to faze him, in part because Russians themselves have never made democracy a burning issue with their president.
For Russians, the priorities have remained the same throughout the Putin presidency: better health care, better schools, higher wages. And after six years in office, Putin still struggles to deliver the basics that Russians need most. It's why he gave his chief of staff, Dmitry Medvedev, a new job - improving health care, housing and schools.
Time will tell whether Medvedev can fix what other ministers couldn't. If he fails, Putin could face a wave of criticism at home - criticism he would have no choice but to heed.
"Under Putin's stewardship, Russia is gradually putting the Kremlin in control of everything that matters: energy, the economy, politics and the media.... The most significant of those deals involved the acquisition of Russian oil major Sibneft by state-owned Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer. "
Wait till Oil goes back to the $20's
BWAHAHAAHAHA - Russia will go bankrupt again like in '91.
ping
You seriously see oil going to 20$ a barrel?
You either have information regarding a planned nuclear bomb on China, or you've lost your mind.
And that won't affect Ukraine? You really shouldn't be cheerleading for the demise of Russia - as it goes so does the region. That's bad for all concerned. But, your blind hatred of Russia doesn't allow you to see these potential consequences. You, like your Russian nationalist counterparts, get gleeful over bad news - they get joyous over bad news from Ukraine and you from bad news about Russia. The shame is you don't even see where it's heading and who will actually get hurt from it.
"You seriously see oil going to 20$ a barrel?
You either have information regarding a planned nuclear bomb on China, or you've lost your mind."
1) natural gas was down 7% today as China announced an increase in production by 10%.
2) we don't need $20 oil to bankrupt Putie - $40 will bankrupt Kremlin Inc.
"And that won't affect Ukraine? You really shouldn't be cheerleading for the demise of Russia"
Thats like saying Jews should not applaud the death of Hitler.
Unless China and India get turned into a parking lot demand for oil isn't going away.
The US could stop buying any oil from Russia and cease all Getty stations and Russia would still have two high paying customers keeping oil prices high.
"Thats like saying Jews should not applaud the death of Hitler."
Amazing the gall of you. I'm sure Jews don't see the so-called plight of modern Ukraine v. Russia as the same horrible experience that they went through. Especially since the Holocaust wasn't carried out with the cooperation of their fellow Jews (as were the atrocities in Ukraine : See Khrushchev and the Ukrainian Troikas in Kiev during the Famine).
Some Jews helped carry out the holocaust. They called them "Kapos."
"Also the article is inaccurate"
Hah - why do you write about $240 "market prices" when Russia buys it for $50 from Turkmanistan where Ukraine had a legal contract to do the same before Putie turned it off.
The difference between Kapos and what I am talking about is Ukrainians actually had a hand in the policy of enforced famine on Ukraine AND Southern Russia (that region gets forgotten about on here). There were Ukrainian "Kapos", if you will - the ones who executed people on the orders of the Ukrainian Communist party leaders (such as Khrushchev). BIG Difference. Last time I checked there weren't any Jews involved in the "Final Solution" policy making.
"the so-called plight of modern Ukraine v. Russia "
Is this what you call the deaths of 15 million Ukrainians in 1921, 1932, and 1947. You are beneath contempt and what are you doing on this site besides being an apologist for Putin.
"Ukrainians actually had a hand in the policy of enforced famine on Ukraine "
Are you so deluded that you really believe Ukrainians committed mass suicide? And Yushchenko poisoned himself, right?
Yawn - see the previous posts on this and other threads. The famine and genocide of Ukrainians was carried out by SOVIETS, i.e., Ukranians, Russians, etc. Do you deny the Ukrainian Communist Party leader's (Khrushchev) role in the purges and famine in Ukraine?
Krushchev was not Ukrainian.
You seem to have a problem with reality.
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:IUge20glEYQJ:www.britannica.com/eb/article-42065+%22Khrushchev+was+russian%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
So when will you share your insights on the 12000 Russian Viet Nam vets you interviewed over the course of 6 years.
"Born a Ukrainian peasant, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev joined the Communist party in 1918 and rose through the ranks to become a member of its central committee by 1934. He had a close connection to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and after Stalin's death Khrushchev emerged as the new leader. In 1956 he began to denounce the policies of Stalin and attempted to ease relations with the United States (in 1959 he toured the U.S. and met with President Eisenhower). When a U.S. spy plane was shot down over Russia the next year, Khrushchev became more belligerent. He also grabbed the attention of the world by pounding his shoe on the conference table at the United Nations. In 1962 he was forced to back down to President John F. Kennedy over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Further domestic and foreign relations disasters led to his replacement in 1964 by Leonid Brezhnev."
My Britannica trumps your answers.com
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