GORKY, January 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Monday that government officials should be appointed to the boards of state-owned companies, in an apparent reversal of a signature reform he carried out during his presidency.
“Civil servants should be [on the boards of directors of state-owned companies] in a sensible quantity and in sensible positions,” Medvedev said during a meeting with his deputies.
Medvedev removed some of Russia’s most powerful officials from their posts at state-owned companies by presidential decree in 2011. The move was part of a series of measures aimed at improving the investment climate and was hailed at the time as increasing transparency and efficiency in the Russian economy.
The apparent U-turn on the issue is the latest example of reforms pushed through by Medvedev during his presidency being rolled back following the 2012 return to the Kremlin of Vladimir Putin.
The Cabinet has proposed returning state officials to the boards of hydroelectric power company RusHydro, pipeline monopoly Transneft, energy holding firm Rosneftegaz, electricity provider Russian Grids, VTB bank, Rosselkhozbank and railway giant Russian Railways, according to a report in Vedomosti newspaper Monday citing lists of candidates submitted to the presidential administration for approval.
The presence of officials will strengthen state control over the actions of the companies in question and help them co-ordinate with government ministries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the business daily.
