| The head of the IMF believes that the press is dramatizing the Yukos problem Vladimir Putin spent 20 minutes yesterday telling the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Horst Köhler, that the fact of the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky has nothing to do with the progress of economic reforms in Russia. Mr. Köhler, who is currently touring the countries of the former USSR, was in Moscow for several hours. He spent most of his time at the Novo-Ogaryovo presidential residence, where the head of the IMF was received by Vladimir Putin. The meeting, which also included presidential adviser Andrei Illarionov, first deputy chairman of the Central Bank Tatyana Paramonova, executive director for Russia at the IMF Alexey Mozhin and head of the Moscow representative office of the Fund Paul Thomsen, lasted an hour and a half. And, according to the Vremya Novostei newspaper, the interlocutors spent approximately 20 minutes discussing the topic of YUKOS. Horst Köhler left the Russian president in the full conviction that journalists were to blame for everything: the press was overdramatizing the actions of law enforcement agencies in relation to the oil company and Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Meanwhile, Mr. Koehler went from the president to journalists, who were exclusively concerned with the opinion of the head of the IMF regarding the “YUKOS case” and its impact on the investment climate. “Maybe I'm really worried when I read the articles in the newspapers. Moreover, I personally have neither experience in this area nor special knowledge. I think the press is rushing to judge. I believe the prosecutor's office should investigate if there is a law and there are serious allegations of violation of that law. The authorities and the international community should pay serious attention to such cases, but it is the right and responsibility of the prosecutor’s office to investigate,” the IMF head said. He also said that President Putin assured him: “There will be no rollback from the course of building a strong market economy, the engine of which should be the private sector, there will be no deprivatization.”
Horst Köhler was extremely diplomatic when communicating with journalists, expressing either the opinion of Vladimir Putin or simply retelling known facts. In fact, apart from his complaints about the impressionability of the press, journalists only once managed to find out Mr. Koehler’s personal opinion. Answering a question about the consequences of the events around Yukos for investment, he said: “I expressed concerns to President Putin in this regard. But if everything ends the way the president says—and his position is that the application of the law should be equal for everyone—I see no reason for the investment climate to deteriorate.” And in order to finally clarify his neutrality, he clarified: “The Russians themselves must resolve this issue. I do not believe that the Yukos case should be resolved outside of Russia.”
It would have been difficult to expect anything different from Horst Köhler, who constantly looked back at the opinions of the IMF's main shareholders. For the head of the Fund, the appearance of joint activities with Vladimir Putin is more important than reckless adherence to principles in upholding the values of a market economy. Moreover, if you close your eyes to the campaigning nature of the activities of Russian law enforcement officers (and Mr. Koehler honestly admits that he is not an expert in this matter), then the investigation of the “YUKOS case” may rather cause his approval. The IMF has always called the dependence on oil prices and oligarchic “influence groups” the “weak point” of the Russian economy. As for cooperation with Russia, yesterday mutual interest was recorded in strengthening and opening up the economies of the Central Asian countries, as well as complete agreement on the problems of restoring the economies of Afghanistan and Iraq. For the sake of decency, Horst Köhler nevertheless reminded the Russian authorities that it would be a good idea to tighten tax and monetary policies and more actively carry out structural reforms (financial sector reform, stimulating competition in the field of infrastructure monopolies, removing administrative barriers to entrepreneurship). “The President made it clear to me that he intends to carry out these reforms. Maybe not in the coming months, but in the coming years,” said the head of the IMF.
And in the evening, Vladimir Putin met with influential experts who had already given an unequivocally positive assessment of the Russian economy - President of the international rating agency Moody's John Rutherford and Senior Vice President of the agency Chester Murray. Moody's recent decision to assign an investment-grade rating to Russia has generated a variety of comments, ranging from bewilderment from other rating agencies to complete satisfaction from Russian officials. Representatives of Moody's, however, publicly confirmed that the Yukos story is insignificant against the backdrop of Russia's economic success. The details of yesterday's meeting are unknown. Andrey DENISOV |
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