Shmatko vs Sobyanin?
This story showed up in my Google Reader a few days ago because I have all the Deputy Prime Ministers in my Reader. It struck me as a little odd, plus it needs to be added to the biographies. Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko is now the co-chairman of the Russian-Bulgarian economic and scientific-technological cooperation commission. The switch from Sobyanin makes sense on the technical side. Shmatko has more experience abroad, and he is a member of Gazprom.
I do not usually buy into decisions made on qualifications. On the other hand, I have not really been able to categorise these two. Sobyanin could go either way, while Shmatko appears to be more closely tied to Medvedev. So it could totally be another attack in the Clan War, but I am not quite ready to label it as one.
Mikhail Lesin
I have never been interested in Mikhail Lesin because I always imagined him a minor player who was initially kept on as a courtesy to Boris Yeltsin, and then somehow managed to survive in the dog eat dog world that is the Kremlin. I still believe this, actually. What I find curious is most people’s response to the sacking of Mikhail Lesin. Most people act as though this is the first personnel decision ever made by the President. But we know that is not true. Only a few weeks ago, Dzhakhan Pollyeva was transferred out of the speech writing bureau.
I have mixed feelings about all of this. I think that Lesin was irrelevant, and thus the decision was more than likely based upon a personality conflict, rather than the stated corruption. Plus, he still appears to be a member of the Supervisory Board of Sochi 2014. On the other hand, it could be the beginning of the anti-corruption drive that Medvedev has decided to use as his platform.
In light of that, Itar-Tass asks: was Lesin’s resignation a casual event, or did it herald the beginning of some far-reaching process?
I think that it is entirely possible that it is the latter, but I am hesitant to read too much into this decision.
Part Two
of the speech. Plus, a link to the English translation courtesy of the Kremlin.
Dmitry Medvedev’s Speech to United Russia
The speech is divided into two parts on YouTube. I am republishing them both.
Isa Yamadaev & the Death Penalty
There has been a lot of talk recently on the Constitutional Court’s decision to uphold the moratorium on the death penalty. While I applaud the decision, I think it discounts the fact that the death penalty already exists in Russia. It exists in the gangland style murders that take place almost every day. And it exists in the abuse that occurs in the prison system. Several stories have come out this past week that hi-light this. First, the murder of Sergei Magnitsky in what was essentially a state sanctioned murder (see Robert Amsterdam’s article in the Huffington Post). Then reports of the continued abuse that Mikhail Khodorkovsky suffers at the hands of his captors. And finally this story, which in some ways takes the prize for story of the week…
Russian Corruption
I have been wondering lately: How much of Russia’s gross domestic product is lost to bribes taken by government officials?
Consider an ordinary example — the price of housing. The standard rule is that the price per square meter for an apartment equals one or two times the amount of an average salary. With salaries averaging $500 to $1,000 per month, apartments should cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per square meter. In fact, they cost an average of $5,000 per square meter these days. That is five to 10 times higher than they should cost.
It is obvious that the price of apartments in Moscow reflects the amount that builders must pay in bribes to the officials. Contractors must fork over enormous sums simply to obtain the necessary permits, and those costs are reflected in the selling price. Also, the officials receiving the bribes do not invest their income in their businesses (their chief “business” is extorting bribes). Instead, they go out and buy more apartments, only fueling the cycle of ever-increasing prices.
KGB Inc.
Interesting article by Nina L Krushcheva on the make-up of the energy corporations. According to Krushcheva:
About 30% of the Kremlin elite used to work with the secret services or still do, and an astounding 80% are associated with either the Russian or Soviet-era military-industrial complex.
These numbers do not particularly surprise me. Although, I think that the first number seems a little low. Even so, I wholeheartedly recommend this article, along with “Russia’s Significant Seven“. The Seven that Potts refers to are from Forbes Russia’s editor Maxim Kashulinsky. According to Kashulinsky, the Seven are:
1. Vladimir Putin;
2. Igor Sechin;
3. Dmitry Medvedev;
4. Alexei Kudrin;
5. Vagit Alekperov (Lukoil President);
6. Oleg Deripaska (Basic Element);
7. Patriarch Kirill.
I get why he chose these people, I just do not know that I would choose Alexei Kudrin over Slava, and Oleg Deripaska over… choose your own oligarch. Because, let’s face it, while Vagit is at least independent (per Kashulinsky), Deripaska is almost entirely dependent on VVP. It is the nature of the system.
Medvedev’s Article
in anticipation of his trip to Singapore this weekend. Not really anything we have not heard before (though his comments at the end about the relevancy of the G8 struck me as odd). But does anyone really believe that Dmitry Anatoly’ch has any control over foreign policy?
Translation
of yesterday’s speech by Medvedev is here! 14 pages on Word at 10 point font. Now to run through and pick out my own quotes…
RT’s Take
on Medvedev’ speech earlier today:
The speech has not been published yet, but here are some more articles. AFP, BBC, and from Keith Timimi at Economy Watch.
Note
The Housing and Municipal Services Sector Reform Fund is translated “Фонд содействия реформированию ЖКХ”. Their website is all in Russian. I did find a list of names of board members, and as near as I can make out, the General Director of the Fund is a man named Konstantin Tsitsin. No biographical information is posted, however…
I looked up Konstantin’s name, and all I have got is that he was a former member of the Federation Council, and was appointed to this post upon the company’s formation in 2007.
In my research, I did find an article and a report on the state corporations. The article was written in December 2007, and is more of an op-ed piece. The report was published in April 2008, and is titled: “The struggle for bureaucratic and economic control in Russia”. The appendices are worth looking at.
Medvedev’s Anti-Corruption Campaign
This idea came to me this morning on my way to work (yes, I forgot it was a holiday). I believe that something big is about to happen within the Russian political system. And I believe that some kind of announcement will be made within a week of Medvedev’s speech to the Federal Assembly on… wait for it… we finally have a date… tomorrow, the 12th of November. The official announcement was made today.
But what will the announcement be? Let’s be honest. There are not that many people within the Government who can be replaced. And there are not that many people within the Presidential Administration who can be replaced. The idea that Sergei Naryshkin can be removed is a joke. Naryshkin was made Head of the Presidential Administration for a reason, and that reason (Medvedev) is still there.
