02 July 2003 13:17
New office seen as poisoned chalice for former head of Russia`s second city
Despite the huge range of tasks entrusted to former governor of St Petersburg Vladimir Yakovlev in his new role as
deputy prime minister, his potential to get results looks decidedly limited, Svetlana Ofitova wrote in the Russian
newspaper, Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Indeed, the main objective - of clearing the way for the Russian president's envoy
in the Northwestern Federal District, Valentina Matviyenko, to become governor of St Petersburg - may already have been
achieved merely by moving Yakovlev to Moscow. Once there, the newspaper suggests, Yakovlev will have to battle personal
animosity stemming from his own political past and to run the gauntlet of powerful interests in the government
apparatus. The following is an excerpt from the report, which was published on 1 July; subheadings have been inserted
editorially:
Regional development, issues of local self-government, architecture and construction matters, urban development,
housing policy, the reform of the housing and municipal service sphere, the development of mortgage matters and
transport policy. All this raft of problems henceforth will burden the shoulders of the government's new deputy
prime minister, Vladimir Yakovlev. [Passage omitted]
Lots to do, little chance of making an impact
In St Petersburg he was proprietor of a bigger setup but responsible for a smaller range of problems. Now, in
exchange for undivided authority, as Nezavisimaya Gazeta presupposed (19 Jun 03) Yakovlev has "received" a
broad list of his new "range of duties" but one which is very dubious as regards his opportunity to exert
influence on the progress of any particular reforms. And moreover, there is the multitude of "overseers" from
the government apparatus - the latter was enlarged to nine by [Prime Minister Mikhail] Kasyanov's directive
yesterday and these are naturally drawn from the prime minister's team. [Passage omitted]
The denizens of the White House, however, are unanimous in noting the importance of the sphere with which Yakovlev
has been charged. "It cannot be said that he is now a nobody. If he proves an excellent manager, everyone will be
pleased. The only thing that can hinder him is the complexity of the task itself and his personal views of it," a
high-ranking White House official observed in conversation with your Nezavisimaya Gazeta observer.
Relations with senior officials already troubled
The personal views of the governor from St Petersburg, however, are precisely what can spoil his triumphal ascent.
Yakovlev has a reputation as an opponent of control over the increase of tariffs and an advocate of a lack of
transparency on the part of the monopolies. Moreover the distinctive features of the ex-governor's predilections
had determined his relations with many of his current colleagues long before he joined the Cabinet of Ministers. In
particular his relations with Aleksey Kudrin who was compelled by Yakovlev's arrival [in St Petersburg, where
Kudrin was once deputy mayor], to "take himself off" to Moscow. "Kudrin gives out the money for pipes,
but Yakovlev will have to take responsibility for ruptures in the pipes," the White House "sharks" are
noting sarcastically. Nor can you call the ex-governor a kindred spirit of the head of UES [Unified Energy System of
Russia], Anatoliy Chubays, who is pushing his Russian Municipal Systems" into the Russian 'market' and
who has already received carte blanche from the president to restructure housing and municipal services as he sees fit.
But Yakovlev, when he was in the post of governor, managed to incur Chubays' wrath by creating in Petersburg the St
Petersburg Electricity Grid in a de facto attempt to snatch from under the nose of the UES head a piece of his
"pie". Yakovlev runs the risk of quarrelling with Gosstroy [the state construction committee] too where he
professes views for the reform of the housing and municipal services that differ from those of Chubays. The problems of
architecture which have been assigned to Yakovlev also promise no restful contemplation: The struggle for historic real
estate is going on there.
Yakovlev is unlikely to be able to play first fiddle in questions of local self-government either, since these are
overseen by Dmitriy Kozak, deputy chief of the presidential staff, who, didn't stay on long at the Smolnyy [seat of
St Petersburg administration] after the departure of Anatoliy Sobchak, despite blandishments from Yakovlev. [Passage
omitted]
Balancing act needed to work with government staff
But the most unpleasant thing facing Yakovlev is learning how to perform a balancing act between officials in the
government apparatus who possess just as much influence as the deputy prime minister: Not a single directive from a
deputy prime minister ever sees the light of day without the White House apparatus. Yakovlev will have to correlate his
actions on a broad spectrum of duties with almost all the apparatchiks. The newly appointed ones - Mikhail Sinelin, the
first deputy chief of the apparatus (he will keep the post of head of the prime minister's secretariat), and the
ordinary deputy chiefs: Mikhail Kopeykin (who remains chief of the section in charge of the economy and management of
the government apparatus' property) and Anton Drozdov. The last two mentioned are considered very close associates
of Kasyanov. This kind of "mini-administrative" reform which essentially began by merging the work of the
apparatus and the government secretariat, will appreciably reinforce the positions of the prime minister who, under the
conditions of the final year of the government's work, is unlikely to get much involved with the problems of his
new deputy.
Apart from the "novices" we have named, Yakovlev will also have to "make friends" with tried and
tested "old-timers" among the deputy chiefs of the apparatus: Yevgeniy Arefyev (transport) and Aleksandr
Kozlov (regional policy), with whom Yakovlev, in his previous post, had managed to "lock horns".
Yakovlev shunted aside to let Matviyenko run St Petersburg
Ploughing his own furrow in St Petersburg has not promoted a strengthening of links between Yakovlev and the
Petersburg group nor the maintenance of relations with the "Moscow and family" group - he does not belong to
Kasyanov's close circle and is no longer burdened by his former support in the Kremlin. No-one intends either to
help or hinder Yakovlev. His transition to Moscow has already resolved its main task - the go-ahead has been given for
Valentina Matviyenko to proceed towards the governorship in St Petersburg. Yakovlev has in fact been removed from real
politics and his purpose is to unravel a tangle of thorny economic issues while running the risk of becoming bogged down
in apparatus intrigues.
[Nezavisimaya Gazeta] |
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