Paul
Goble
Staunton, April 19 – Even as the government
talks about the temporary or partial nationalization of Rusal (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5AD858D2DBA7E), Dmitry Pristanskov, head of the State Property
Agency, has made one of the most false declarations ever about the Russian
economy, the Telegram channel SerpomPo says.
According
to Pristankov, almost everything that can be privatized has been and the
government is prepared to continue that process to the end. But in fact,
analysts say, the share of the economy controlled by the state has increased
from 25 percent in 1998 to more than 60 percent now and continues to go up (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5AD859EDB1133).
As a result, the analysts at SepomPo
say, “in the 21st century, Russia de facto has turned back to
socialism with the state dominating the economy. It may even be time to think about a new ‘voucher
privatization’ given how much belongs to the state” and how the government
acknowledges that scheduled privatization efforts have been put on hold.
In the last year alone, they say,
there hasn’t been a program of privatization but rather one of
re-nationalization whatever the government says. The government has taken over three major
private banks, the Magnit retail trade network, Peresvet Bank, two oil companies
as well as other firms.
Consequently, Pristankov’s words,
undoubtedly uttered to please those above him, can be ignored as completely
false. Russia is experiencing “a powerful process of the nationalism of
everything.” Saying anything else is like calling black white or white black,
and that is just what officials are now doing.
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