Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 24 – Many have
welcomed the appointment of former finance minister Aleksey Kudrin to head the Audit
Chamber as the welcome addition to the Russian cabinet of a liberal reformer,
but Irina Pavlova argues that this image, one cultivated by the Putin regime
itself, does not fully correspond to reality.
On her blog, the US-based Russian
historian says that “in the system of Putin’s power, Aleksey Kudrin plays the
role of a liberal – in the first instance for the West and, one must say, he does so extremely successfully” given
that his undertakings since leaving government all reflected disagreements with
the Kremlin (ivpavlova.blogspot.com/2018/05/blog-post.html).
Kudrin resigned as finance minister in
2011 over his disagreement with then-President Dmitry Medvedev about increasing
military spending. That was enough for
him to be christened a liberal reformer by many “official liberal experts” and
thus someone who could be counted on to bring positive changes if he came back
to the government.
However, there is a fundamental
problem with this image of Kudrin: He “always was a man of the System and all
these years has worked successfully for its modernization.” Indeed, he fully confirmed
that in remarks to the Duma when two days ago it was considering his nomination
to head the Audit Chamber.
Asked whether in the light of his
resignation in 2011 over military spending he could fully support Putin’s ten-year
rearmament program, Kudrin responded with the following words: “While the
leader of the oversight administration of the Presidential Administration in
the 1990s and then finance minister for 11 years, I took part in strengthening
the defense capability and security of the country.”
“On the basis of the personal
directive of the president,” Kudrin continued, “I personally was involved in
supporting a number of kinds of forces with corresponding technology and
arms. This was governed by corresponding
and secret presidential directives that defined my role. And the achievements
the president mentioned in his message reflect my work as well.”
As far as his disagreements with Medvedev
is concerned, the new Audit Chamber head said, they reflected only the timetable
for the spending of money on defense, not the spending of money for that
purpose as such.
Pavlova observes that in her view, “the
most interesting feature in this passage is not the revelation by Kudrin about
his personal contribution to the militarization of the country” although that
undermines the image many have about him “but rather the public confirmation of
the existing regime of secrecy and oral directives by Putin.”
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