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Anti-crisis plan on agenda of first meeting of Russian government’s special commission

The meeting will be chaired by Deputy PM Igor Shuvalov

Igor Shuvalov Anna Isakova/Russian State Duma press service/TASS

Igor Shuvalov

© Anna Isakova/Russian State Duma press service/TASS

MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov will chair the first meeting of the country’s crisis management commission on Tuesday.

He announced the upcoming meeting on Monday at a meeting of Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with the deputies.

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According to Shuvalov, the commission will consider issues related to the implementation of the previously adopted government’s anti-crisis plan.

A spokesman for the first deputy prime minister told TASS that "the government’s commission on economic development and integration will consider priorities for the first quarter of 2015."

Russian economic development minister’s aide Ylena Lashkina told TASS on February 2 that the Economic Development Ministry submitted to the government a draft of an updated list of strategic enterprises.

Deputy Economic Development Minister Yevgeny Yelin said previously that the updated federal list of strategic enterprises will include no more than 300 companies. Thus, this list will not change much quantitatively, compared with the list, which had been compiled during the 2008 crisis.

According to Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the new list, in particular, will include financially challenged Mechel company that has a major debt to a number of major banks.

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Russia’s anti-crisis program offers partial ‘pain relief’ — ex-finance minister Kudrin

Previous reports suggested that head of Sberbank German Gref would be included in the government's anti-crisis commission. In addition, as Shuvalov said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in January, he intended to consult Russia’s former Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin on the anti-crisis economic policy. "We're just old pals with Aleksei, and in any case we discuss any aspects of our economic policy," said the first deputy prime minister.

However, Kudrin is not member of the anti-crisis commission and was not invited to attend its first meeting on February 3, the former finance minister’s aide Pavel Kuznetsov told TASS. According to him, Kudrin has also not received proposals to prepare any materials or expert estimates for the anti-crisis commission.

The formation of anti-crisis commissions in the Russian government and in all regions was announced by Shuvalov on February 21 at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Novo-Ogaryovo. According to him, Russian Federation constituent entities should form crisis management commissions until February 16, and membership of the commission on economic development and integration, which will interact with all authorities on anti-crisis measures will be renewed at the federal level.

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The commission currently comprises Shuvalov, presidential aide Andrei Belousov, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, head of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Economic Development Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev, Labour Minister Maksim Topilin.

Now representatives of the State Duma and the Federation Council lower and upper houses of parliament are to be included in the commission, said Shuvalov. The commission will meet at least once in 10 days.

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