Translated material
Filling vacancies
The Minister of Economic Development has two new deputies
New appointments were made at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade yesterday. The two empty chairs of deputy ministers were filled by Stanislav Voskresensky and Andrei Klepach. The corresponding orders were signed by Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. “This is a normal update of the leadership of the ministry,” Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina told reporters. According to her, Andrei Klepach, as Deputy Minister, will oversee issues of macroeconomic forecasting and planning, as well as results-based budgeting. In addition, he will lead the finalization of Russia’s long-term development strategy until 2020. Stanislav Voskresensky will deal with investment and tax policy, including issues of its impact on various sectors of the economy. And most importantly, he will oversee the implementation of the economic program, the general provisions of which were announced first by Vladimir Putin at an extended meeting of the State Council , and then by Dmitry Medvedev at the economic forum in Krasnoyarsk . Mr. Voskresensky participated in the preparation of these speeches, so he will not need to get up to speed.However, analysts primarily remember that Mr. Voskresensky is an active supporter of replacing the value added tax with a sales tax, and have no doubt that in his new capacity he will promote this idea. Despite the fact that the Ministry of Finance, which oversees tax policy, and Minister Alexei Kudrin personally are categorically opposed to such a replacement.
Thus, Andrei Klepach, who until recently held the position of director of the consolidated department of macroeconomic forecasting of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, not only became equal in position to his former boss, Deputy Minister Andrei Belousov, but also received his powers. Mr. Belousov himself will now be responsible for the foreign economic bloc of the ministry. Previously, this area was supervised by Deputy Ministers Stanislav Kuznetsov and Vitaly Savelyev, who left the ministry.
It should be recalled that before working at the ministry, Mr. Klepach was engaged in scientific activities and worked at the Development Center. Stanislav Voskresensky's last place of work was the presidential administration, where he served as deputy head of the expert department. By the way, this department is headed by Arkady Dvorkovich, who, like Ms. Nabiullina, before the administrative reform of 2004, served as Deputy Minister of Economic Development.
Mr. Voskresensky became an official from business. Previously, he worked as the financial director of a commercial structure and actively participated in the work of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. He even served as deputy head of the RSPP Committee on Budget and Tax Policy.
Stanislav Voskresensky, according to Ms. Nabiullina, is “a very dynamic person.” And this is not just her opinion. Last year he was included in the list of “33 most successful young men under the age of 33” (Mr. Voskresensky was born in 1976).
Thus, Minister Elvira Nabiullina, as required by the staffing table, now has six deputies. In addition to two newcomers, these are Kirill Androsov, Andrey Belousov, Anna Popova and Alexandra Levitskaya. However, a new vacancy may appear in the leadership of the ministry. Rumors continue to persist that Deputy Minister Kirill Androsov is moving to work at Sberbank with his former boss German Gref as First Deputy Chairman of the Board. However, Ms. Nabiullina refused to confirm this information. “Everything is in place for now,” she told reporters.
The new appointments look somewhat unexpected amid growing rumors that the government's resignation could happen even before the presidential elections. But even if they are not confirmed, after the elections - no later than May - changes in the cabinet of ministers, including in the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, if it maintains its current status, are still inevitable.