“There were problems, there are no problems”: Oreshkin in Davos spoke about victory over corruption

The ex-head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin at a session in Davos said that problems with corruption in his former ministry were resolved. This was the answer to the question of the host of the session "Russia: Strategy Forecast". There, Oreshkin argued with investor Bill Broud about the “unambiguous positive” future of Russia.

What's happened

The session turned out to be more than tense: everything began calmly - with Oreshkin’s reasoning on his favorite topic - achieving macroeconomic stability: the budget in the surplus even with cheap oil, inflation under control, the situation is much better than five years ago.

The tone of the discussion changed when the host of the session, the editor -in -chief of The Foreign Policy Group, Jonathan Tepperman asked why Oreshkin draws “pink pictures” and does not talk about whether the Russian government has plans to combat corruption.

Oreshkin retorted that he could only tell about his experience in this area over the past three years in the Ministry of Economic Academy: “There have been some problems, there are no more problems” (There was some problems, the is no problems Anymore). He added that now everything is “clean” in the ministry and he is glad to transfer it to the new minister “in good shape” (the former governor of the Perm region Maxim Reshetnikov was approved by the new head of the department yesterday). What exactly had in mind Oreshkin, he did not specify. His predecessor as minister Aleksey Ulyukaev is serving a sentence for extorting a bribe from the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin (he did not find himself guilty).

Read also goodbye, 2010s: How Russia has exchanged economic growth for stability

A dispute with Browner

In the course of the same session, the question from the Hall of Oreshkin was asked by the founder of the Hermitage Capital Foundation Bill Brauder. He also convicted the ex-minister that he was drawing a “overly pink, optimistic picture”, and his own experience says that it is not at all like that-then Brauder told how he revealed corruption in Gazprom, recalled the “Magnitsky case” and the arrest of the founder of Baring Vostok Michael Kalvi.

In response, Oreshkin said that with the old problems listed by Brauder, he was not familiar, since he was not in the government. But the future of Russia considers "unambiguously positive."

To the remark of the leading session that in Russia there was a criminal environment that prevents the Russian economy from growing and repels foreign investors, Oreshkin replied: “Look at the numbers”. “Tens of billions of dollars arrive in the form of investments in the securities market, bonds. If there is a positive trend in the influx of investments, then everything goes well, ”the ex-minister concluded.

After leaving the government, Oreshkin is forgiven the post of assistant president for economics, but officially the appointment has not yet been announced.