Russia’s acting Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will replace long-standing minister Alexei Kudrin, who was sacked on Monday, as head of the Anti-crisis Fund in the regional Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and governor for the country in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said on Thursday.
“As far as the EurAsEc’s Anti-crisis Fund is concerned, we are preparing documents for Anton Germanovich (Siluanov), and we will do the same for the positions of governors for the Russian Federation in the IMF and the World Bank,” Storchak told journalists.
Kudrin will however retain the posts of the head of the National Banking Council and head of the Council for Financial Markets, he added. Presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Kudrin would retain the posts at least until a new minister was appointed.
Storchak said that Kudrin would continue working on the creation of an international financial center in Moscow, one of President Dmitry Medvedev’s most cherished projects.
Kudrin was sacked following a dispute with Medvedev, citing disagreement with the president on economic policies, in particular, on rising defense expenditure.
Foreign investors regarded Kudrin as the person most likely to carry out far-reaching economic reforms in the next government, with Western economists unanimously seeing his departure as negative for the Russian economy.
Kudrin has retained the posts of chairman of the National Banking Council and the Presidential Council for Financial Markets, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said on Thursday.
The former finance minister will also be responsible for Moscow’s projected International Financial Center. “This remains within his responsibility,” Storchak added.