Ilya Karpyuk: Yakunin will wait

Ilya Karpyuk

Russian President Vladimir Putin is in no hurry to coordinate the government of the government on extending the contract of the head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin for another three years. Thus, the chief railwayman is still shitty in a limited state - the old contract has already ended, and the new one has not yet been signed. According to the Charter of the company, Yakunin continues to execute the powers of the president indefinitely, but in some Russian Railways counterparties, such a status can raise questions.

According to the procedure, the Prime Minister must sign a directive for the conclusion with the President of the Russian Railways for the new three-year contract, but before the paper is sent for approval to the Kremlin.

The fact that the signing of the relevant document is delayed became clear at the beginning of summer. The last three -year contract was concluded on June 10, 2011 and expired, respectively, on June 10, 2014. Media, citing sources in interested departments, including the Federal Property Management Agency and the Ministry of Economic Development, said then that all documents were drawn up on time and sent to the government, so the reason for the delay was not technical.

In connection with the suspended state of Yakunin, even a curious incident occurred-on June 19, a press release was sent to Russian information agencies on behalf of the federal government, which reported the appointment of the former governor of the Sverdlovsk region Alexander Misharin. He even managed to say that he was ready to accept congratulations.

After some time, however, it turned out that the press release was fake, and Yakunin himself boasted to reporters that during the appearance of the information he was at a meeting of Vladimir Putin with business representatives who were treated to a very tasty deaf. “This appetite did not spoil me, I ate the capercaillie to the end,” said the President of Russian Railways.

A little later, the authors of the Shaltai Boltai blog, who in July, turned out to be blocked for the publication of the business correspondence of Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvororkovich, took the responsibility for the distribution of a fake press release.

Photo: rzd.ru

In early July, the government appointed a new Board of Directors of Russian Railways, which also included Vladimir Yakunin. Some were embarrassed by the fact that in the document the position of Yakunin was designated as “President of the Russian Railways”, however, the government assured that this did not mean extension of the contract, the posted post on the day of signing the document was simply indicated.

Interestingly, Vladimir Yakunin, according to observers, was able to achieve the appointment of his ally to the board of directors of Russian Railways, the former head of the Accounts Chamber Sergei Stepashin. Despite the fact that Yakunin and Russian Railways are so much connected in the mass consciousness that the will of the president of the company is equated with the will of Russian Railways, the board of directors stands over the president and must approve some of his decisions.

In early July, for example, the board of directors refused to create a container operator of the Customs Union, the united transport and logistics company (OTKK) despite the fact that Vladimir Yakunin achieved this. The decision, according to RBC sources, was blocked by the chairman of the council, Kirill Androsov.

“I generally consider the current situation completely unacceptable from the point of view of the corporate governance system,” Yakunin was indignant that day. For a positive decision, unanimous voting was required, but two members of the Council spoke out against the fact that the company did not receive the necessary government directive-the only shareholder of Russian Railways.

When Sergey Stepashin was included in the Board of Directors, many spoke that Yakunin was seeking his appointment as chairman of the council, which would allow the president of the company to better control what is happening in the leading Russian Railways. Then it seemed that since Yakunin was able to lobby for the appointment of his ally to the board of directors, then before the extension of his own powers, it was not for long to wait and the delay, perhaps, was really technical in nature.

However, firstly, the decision on the new head of the Board of Directors has not yet been made, so Stepashin could be just another member of this body. Secondly, the information that the lack of a directive on the extension of the powers of Yakunin is semantic in nature was confirmed from new sources.

This time, Vedomosti, citing two high -ranking officials and a familiar president of Russian Railways, wrote that Vladimir Putin was in no hurry to coordinate the government’s directive to extend the contract with Vladimir Yakunin. At the same time, Putin at the same time did not give instructions to look for a new head of the railway monopoly. In other words, in the Kremlin they took a pause. According to the publication, the president advised Vladimir Yakunin to calmly go on vacation and wait for an important decision for him.

Photo: rzd.ru

Probably, Vladimir Yakunin would have already been resigned, at least many both in the Kremlin and in the White House have a clear understanding that Russian Railways needs a new leader, Vedomosti reports. However, now to change the President of Russian Railways is not the best time-including due to sanctions. If the contract with Yakunin is not extended, then it will look like a concession to the Western countries that included it in the sanctions lists.

The President of Russian Railways told reporters many times that the state will extend the contract with him if it is satisfied with his work. Vladimir Yakunin has been holding the president of Russian Railways for nine years. For the first time he was appointed head of the monopoly in 2005, since then the government has extended his powers twice - in 2008 and 2011.

During the appointment of Yakunin, it was assumed that under him the industry would be radically reformed - following the example of electric power industry. According to the reform program, by 2011, the main park of cargo cars was supposed to be in private ownership. So far, however, only the first cargo company was sold to the structures of Vladimir Lisin. The privatization of the “transcontainer” was delayed, and judging by the fact that half of the share of the Russian Railways company intended to transfer the OTK, there is no question of the sale of this asset at all.

In the first quarter of 2014, the monopoly recorded a loss of 10.2 billion rubles against a profit of 10.9 billion for the same period in 2013. Yakunin was justified by the fact that such a loss was recorded “for the first time in the history of Russian Railways” and explained it by the government’s decision to freeze tariffs for the current year.

Vladimir Yakunin is also an object of constant criticism from the Corruption Fund Alexei Navalny - there Yakunin himself and his family are suspected of illegal enrichment due to Russian Railways resources. However, it is unlikely that the decision on the chapter of the huge and largely key industry of the Russian economy will be taken with an eye on corruption fighters.

See also: Yakunin explained his refusal to publish income data Yakunin wrote to Putin about Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin will lead the Russian Railways for another three years