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Finance minister criticises Medvedev's economic policy and rejects to work in his cabinet

The reason for this is the latter’s disagreement with the economic policy of the incumbent president targeted at higher spending on defence and social purposes

Dmitry Medvedev faced sharp criticism from Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. The reason for this is the latter’s disagreement with the economic policy of the incumbent president targeted at higher spending on defence and social purposes. The more so, Kudrin highlighted that “he does not see himself in a new Cabinet” if it is chaired by Dmitry Medvedev.

The financial minister’s emotional breakdown can be easily explained, Nezavisimaya Gazeta wrote. Just recently there was a widely used opinion in the expert community that Kudrin would head the government in a new political team. But for some reason the tandem did not see him on this position. It’s fair to mention that recently Alexei Kudrin had already criticized the authorities’ economic policy unofficially. When United Russia and the Kremlin have been eagerly promoting their new state arms program until 2020, Kudrin told in an interview to a western media a week ago that in the upcoming ten years the Kremlin-approved spending on defence “will eat away 20 trillion roubles, while there is no guaranteed source for covering these expenditures.”

The fact that Kudrin and Medvedev would be unable to get along in one cabinet is not of principle, Moskovsky Komsomolets wrote. Putin will place them in different corners. Thus, Kudrin might get the Central Bank to rule, where his money saving skills will prove invaluable.