The board coup

31 Mar 2011 By Jason Bush

The Russian president has ordered government ministers off the boards of stateowned companies in an overt attempt to curb the influence of Vladimir Putin’s associates. Medvedev’s confidence that he can assert his authority is obviously growing. But he risks a backlash.

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on March 30 ordered the removal of ministers from boards of state firms by midyear, a move that may force Igor Sechin from his post as Rosneft chairman. "The government must initiate decisions to be taken at the shareholder meetings to change ministers and vice prime ministers for independent directors in the main companies by the middle of this year," Medvedev said.

Asked which companies Medvedev had in mind, Kremlin chief economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich named Rosneft, where Sechin has been board chairman since 2006, and VTB, where Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin is chairman of the supervisory board. Government ministers also sit on the boards of several other state companies including gas concern Gazprom, Russian Railways, telco Svyazinvest and airline Aeroflot.

Reuters story: Medvedev takes aim at Russia's state board members

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