| Headline: Front end Source: Euromoney Date: May 2000 Edited: Antony Currie Chubais shuns portfolio As a major figure on the Russian political scene since communism fell, Anatoly Chubais could be expected to play a leading role in the new government of Vladimir Putin. Chubais backed Putin for the presidency and a call to arms could be on the cards. In London for the Russia 2000 conference in April, Chubais ruled out such a return. "First I don't think that tomorrow I will be asked to be finance minister, second I have already been finance minister, third I will say 'no'," he replied to Euromoney's questions. Chubais is chairman of Unified Energy Systems and says his goal for the next three to five years is to turn that company into a modern operation that can compete in a liberalized Russian power sector. He says he does not currently hold any political ambitions. But then he would say that wouldn't he? Cynics might argue that he still retains influence even without a formal position. Reflecting on his past political exploits, such as the controversial loans-for shares scheme, which put a huge chunk of Russian industry into the hands of the oligarchs, and on Russia's troubled relations with the IMF, Chubais says that loans-for-shares had its shortcomings but was the only way to ensure the supremacy of private property at a time when Russia could easily have slipped back into communism. |