Russia needs fair elections: Alexei Kudrin

     Deputy Head of the Government Alexei Kudrin said that Russia suffered from weak governance and rule of law, and the economy was still far too dependent on oil and gas revenues.

          

     Also he said the 2011 parliamentary and 2012 presidential elections needed to be “just and fair” and involve “all the leading political forces and representatives of society” to ensure broad support for economic reforms. It means that the Deputy Head of the Government admitted that all previous elections in Russia were unfair.

          

     As we still remember, President Dmitry Medvedev gave a pre-election speech in 2008 calling for a crackdown on corruption, stronger property rights and independent courts. It’s clear that little progress has been made on those issues.

          

     "Rather than abiding by the rules, we live as we please and rely on winks and nudges," Mr. Kudrin said. "We have a very weak system of governance."

          

     “We have some private companies which are closer to the government and the state, than other private companies — that is, they use administrative support,” he said, according to the official transcript. "Questions of mergers and acquisitions, access to resources are frequently decided in the offices of officials". It means that Finance Minister acknowledged defeat President Medvedev’s struggle against corruption as complete because economic advantages in Russia are still granted based on relationships with government officials.

          

     In a lengthy speech that touched on many aspects of the Russian economy, Mr. Kudrin reported the third annual drop in foreign direct investment— down to $12 billion to $14 billion from a high point of $27 billion.  "Even in my wildest dreams I did not imagine that we would increase military spending in such a way", Mr. Kudrin said, adding that the rise in such spending had led to an increase in overall budget spending of 1.5 percent of gross domestic product.

          

     It was an unusual criticism coming from a man who has worked closely with Vladimir Putin for more than two decades. The last time Mr. Kudrin ventured so publicly into the political realm was a year ago, when during a television interview he said he no longer associated himself with United Russia, the ruling party, which Mr. Putin leads.