By Vera Kuznetsova
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, just back from Sochi, was obviously in an upbeat mood during the Monday meeting of the Cabinet, in spite of all the financial troubles. Before he presented himself to the full Presidium in the revamped office he had gone into a huddle with Central Bank President Sergei Ignatyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin, the Minister of Telecommunications and Mass Communications Igor Shchyogolev, and then again with Mr Kudrin.
The Prime Minister opened the meeting of the Cabinet in the newly built and heavily gilded conference room by praising the actions of the financial authorities. After greeting the President of the Central Bank, Sergei Ignatyev, who was attending the Cabinet meeting for the first time, Mr Putin proceeded to give him instructions. The Central Bank and the Finance Ministry must "study" the initiatives of the deputies who want the mandatory government insurance premiums to be increased. It turned out that the Central Bank had proposals of its own, which the Prime Minister described as "reasonable and measured". It was obvious that he liked them better than the proposals tabled by the deputies.
Mr Putin asked the Finance Minister exactly when the full anti-crisis package would be implemented. Mr Kudrin reported that his ministry would submit a document to the Duma on Monday, which would allow VAT to be paid in instalments over a period of three months beginning from October 1.
The Prime Minister recalled that the Government had earmarked 250 billion roubles to support the stock market in 2009. Mr Kudrin promptly reported that the Finance Ministry would prepare corresponding amendments to the three-year 2009-2011 budget by the beginning of October and would submit them to the Cabinet. After these promises the Prime Minister drew the attention of those present to the fact that the Government would on no account tap into the National Welfare Fund, that is, the reserve it leaves for the future generations. "This should be covered by current assets. We have every opportunity to do that because we have additional revenues," Mr Putin said.
The Presidium of the Cabinet of Ministers yesterday formed a new Government Commission, which would be charged with the difficult task of implementing the general scheme of the location of energy industry facilities until 2020. The Prime Minister appointed his Deputy Igor Sechin, who is in charge of energy, as the Commission's head.
The creation of such a commission had long been expected. The former head of the power monopoly, Anatoly Chubais, himself suggested that after the liquidation of RAO UES there must be somebody to coordinate the ongoing reform. It was decided to set up the Commission. According to Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, it will be a "coordinating advisory body". The Minister said, however, that the Commission's decisions "would be binding on all the agencies that are its members". The Minister could not explain why the decisions of an advisory body should be binding. But he said that representatives of the business community would also sit on the Commission.
Mr Shmatko said the Commission's task was to address "the most fundamental issues connected with the development of the energy industry." As for the tariff policy, the Minister promised that the Commission would not issue any directives but suggested that it should supervise the conciliation procedures in this sphere.
Mr Chubais was not appointed to the Commission. "He is on leave," Mr Shmatko said. "When he comes back, the format of our future interaction will be decided upon." Later in the day it became known that President Medvedev had appointed Mr Chubais Director-General of the Government-owned corporation Rosnanotech. So, Mr Chubais will have no time for the energy industry.
