Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin is considered in the Russian presidential administration as a probable official in charge of the economic bloc of the Kremlin, Izvestia sources acquainted with the current situation confirmed. Kudrin may be appointed as the deputy head of the Russian presidential administration and in this case he will actually become the head of the economic bloc of the shadow government and a potential candidate for premiership.
The Izvestia daily reported that getting ready for a probable appointment Kudrin has already held several meetings with his former colleagues, discussing with them a possible joint work.
In particular, on April 20, the former finance minister held an informal meeting with former head of the Federal Service for Financial and Budget Supervision Sergei Pavlenko, who worked as the head of Kudrin’s secretariat in 2000-2004, when Kudrin worked as the finance minister. An Izvestia source from Kudrin’s surroundings told the newspaper that a possible appointment of the former minister was discussed at the meeting.
The Izvestia daily reported that Alexei Kudrin has recently met with several other high-ranking officials. In particular, the outcome of the meetings may be the transfer of former deputy finance minister Alexei Savatyugin and former deputy of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring Dmitry Skobelkin for the work in the Kremlin.
Savatyugin told the Izvestia daily that no one talking to him so far, making a remark that any appointments in the Kremlin cannot be predicted. “Appointments in the presidential administration are unpredictable. But a decision regarding Kudrin would be one of the best variants for the country. A better candidate for the post of the deputy head of the presidential administration that will be in charge of economy and investments, cannot be found,” Alexei Savatyugin noted. “But only if he has real powers, but not representative functions at international conferences,” he said.
The high-ranking official of the presidential administration told the Izvestia daily that the appointment of Kudrin would be desirable, particularly taking into account the fact that “after the transfer of presidential aide Elvira Nabiullina to the Central Bank only Presidential Aide Tatiana Golikova is in charge of the economic policy in the Kremlin.”
“There are no real rivals to Alexei Kudrin in the government among the economists. Vladimir Putin always heeded to his opinion. It is not ruled out that the appointment will become for Kudrin a springboard for premiership,” another high-ranking official of the presidential administration said.
While the question over the appointment is not settled finally, Kudrin is invited as an independent expert for a meeting with the participation of the president and officials from the financial and economic bloc of the Kremlin and the government. The meeting will be held in Sochi on April 22.
Alexei Kudrin may be appointed as first deputy head of the presidential administration in charge of the investment climate and the work with foreign investors, the electronic edition Gazeta.ru reported with the reference to reliable sources. The sources affirmed that the decision for the appointment of Kudrin may be taken in Sochi on Monday.