RUSSIA: MINISTER SNIPES AT DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER DURING CONFERENCE
Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref clashed openly with Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Zhukov at a
Moscow conference on 6 April, "Kommersant-Daily," "Vedomosti," and other Russian media reported on 7
April. Addressing the conference after Zhukov gave a lengthy summary of the new government's economic policies,
Gref said: "This has been a remarkable morning for me. I learned why our government has only one deputy prime
minister. He has told us everything and now the ministers can just throw their speeches away." In his speech, Gref
cast doubt on whether Russia will be able to achieve President Putin's stated goal of doubling GDP within 10 years,
saying it could be done only if Moscow "gets lucky" with world oil prices. "Izvestiya" commented on
7 April that Gref's mood has "significantly worsened" since Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov was appointed
on 1 March. The paper described Gref as "a European-style official" and Fradkov as "a Soviet-style
apparatchik." RC Copyright (c) 2004. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty
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