Ministers and senior officials will no longer be a part of state-owned corporations.
The Russian government is ready for independent directors, rather than ministers and other senior officials, to serve on the boards of state companies, a recent report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) indicates.
In a recent television appearance, the First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov of Russia said that certain government officials must leave their board seats by July 1, according to the RFE/RL, which is an organization that promotes freedom of the media in over 21 countries.
Following this, Bloomberg News reported that Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s current president, has ordered eight deputy prime ministers and ministers to be removed from their board seats.
Some of the officials due to be eliminated from their posts include Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who currently chairs the state-run petroleum firm Rosneft, and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, who sits on the boards of four state companies, including energy giant Gazprom, RFE/RL reports.
Moreover, ‘Medvedev has tried to expand Russia’s investment sector beyond energy to help push economic growth to 10 percent from last year’s 4 percent, and to match the pace in Brazil, China and India,’ Bloomberg reports.
The president added that independent directors may replace ministers and other officials by mid-year.
