Kudrin is negotiating to return to power, say Bloomberg sources

Former Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, the favorite of investors Alexei Kudrin, now heads of the Civil Initiatives Committee, is negotiating with Vladimir Putin and other senior officials to return to power to straighten the worsening economic situation in Russia.

Sources of Bloomberg argue that he has already met in private with the President of the Russian Federation and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to discuss plans, but the official proposal has not yet been voiced. Judging by the reports, negotiations are quite successful, the decision can be made at the beginning of next year.

“I met with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last week. We discussed economic issues. The proposal to return to the public service was not discussed,” the ex-minister reported to reporters through his representative Pavel Kuznetsov.

The press secretary of Prime Minister Medvedev Natalya Timakova confirmed to RBC the fact of the meeting, but she did not comment on the contents of the conversation.

Most likely, Bloomberg writes, Kudrin’s return to the government will be welcomed by business and investors, as he has already shown his approach to budget discipline, allowing Russia to withstand the economic crisis.

“He was not appointed anywhere,” the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov briefly commented on the assumption, abandoning further comments.

The market will like Kudrin’s return to the government, as this will mean serious fiscal consolidation and important and such necessary structural reforms - if Putin entrusts him this, Tim Esh from Nomura Holdings believes.

Investors will perceive this personnel decision as a sign of imminent economic and political reforms, although "there is serious doubts that Kudrin will have a real opportunity to change politics," says Vladimir Tikhomirov, chief specialist of the BCS Financial Group.

As for the posts that the ex-Minister could claim, then, according to Bloomberg, we are talking about the position of the first deputy head of the presidential administration with authority in determining economic policy or the post of the first deputy prime minister. The final decision, as noted, has not yet been made, since a number of influential Kremlin figures are opposed to the return of Kudrin.

Alexey Kudrin served as the head of the Ministry of Finance from 2000 to 2011. In September 2011, the politician publicly criticized Dmitry Medvedev, who at that time held the post of president of Russia, for unjustified, from his point of view, a waste of national defense. Medvedev called criticism from the minister “indecent” and violating official subordination between the head of state and members of the Cabinet and sent Kudrin to resign.

After leaving the post of Minister of Finance, Kudrin at some point admitted that his views are opposition both in the field of politics and in the economy. Once he even spoke at the rally "For Honest Elections" on Sakharov Avenue.

Since the resignation of the financier, rumors have repeatedly arose about his return to the civil service. The last time the topic was executed in early December. Then sources surrounded by Kudrin stated that he could go to work in the presidential administration. In the Kremlin, this information was called "personnel gossip."

Kudrin himself in an interview in June of this year did not rule out that he would return to the state structures, provided that the country is reform, including political ones. “I never excluded return to power. I do not want to talk about any positions, but this option is possible under favorable conditions: if the power is configured for reforms, as it was at the beginning of the zero,” the former Minister of Finance explained.

The ex-Minister said that his return to power may take place as soon as the "need arises": "Three or ten years later." According to him, he is ready to work again in the team of Russian President Vladimir Putin, provided "reforms, including political."

In the interview published on the eve of Interfax, Kudrin confirmed that he was still dating Putin Tete-a-Tete. “I met with the president in August and October. We talked about the economy,” he answered briefly to the question of journalists, adding that “such meetings are not customary to comment.”