Putin vs. Chubais

Vladimir Putin, the Acting President of Russia, addressing recently the board of the Ministry of Justice, scathingly criticized EES Russia (United Energy Systems of Russia) Company headed by Anatoly Chubais. At first glance, this hardly deserves mention, for the Russian economy is in a far from radiant state, and criticism of a giant monopoly which fails to fill the budget with fresh money is a normal thing. But most of those present at the meeting interpreted the criticism as political and directed not so much against EES Russia as its leader.

Quite recently, Mr. Chubais would approve literally everything Mr. Putin did, including the Chechnya War. He would explain to journalists he had at last seen the light and promise that he will help Mr. Putin to conduct his election campaign. Mr. Chubais’s support helped Mr. Putin create the image of a tough but very liberal leader, while Mr. Putin’s support helped the Chubais-led Alliance of Rightist Forces to enter the State Duma.

However now the situation is changing. It turns out the state can do quite well without liberals. Mr. Putin can afford not to rely on Mr. Chubais’s good offices but choose allies on his own. Moscow rumor had it Mr. Chubais was so greatly nonplused by the coalition of Unity and the Communists that he even fell ill after the formation of this strange alliance. And we were equally surprised to hear Russian liberals — those who had stood by the coffin with Galina Starovoitova almost a year ago — speak the language of howitzers. Was it worth betraying yourself only to form a parliamentary fraction, the more so that it is clear now that nobody, even the members, needs it?

Interesting, how will Chubais react now? Will he become aware of the fact that this regime can do well without not only Chubais but also his ideology? Will he continue to struggle for a place in the sun, for influence on Putin, and for victory over Boris Berezovsky? Or could the point be not in the eternal struggle between Messrs. Chubais and Berezovsky but in the fact that Russia’s new leader is very far from the liberalism of the Right? He believes in the state rather than in the individual or the market. This kind of belief is in general typical of those who wield power in Russia. If it comes to a new crisis, they call up Chubais-type people for a short time but reject their services on the first possible occasion.