 It
seems that Vladimir Putin’s comment about the need to tap the intellectual
capacity of parties that did not make it into the Duma, which he made in
the wake of the recent parliamentary election, was not made in vain. Today
the appointment of Igor Artemyev,
a prominent YABLOKO party member, as deputy economic development and trade
minister in charge of natural monopolies, is almost a foregone conclusion.
By a quirk of fate the reform of RAO UES (the United Energy Systems) will
be overseen by one of the company’s harshest critics. It is also
noteworthy that an opposition party leader is being invited to join the
Cabinet. As a politician, Artemyev came to prominence in the first democratic
Leningrad City Council where he was one of the most high-profile deputies,
heading the key Budget and Finance Committee. He pressed for a transparent
city budget, upholding his position in a heated debate with Mayor Anatoly
Sobchak. Naturally, he was well acquainted with the First Deputy Mayor
Vladimir Putin.
Artemyev was apponited First Deputy Governor of St. Petersburg responsible
for city finances under a coalition agreement between YABLOKO and Vladimir
Yakovlev who at the time seemed a competent manager, St. Petersburg’s
answer to Moscow’s Yuri Luzhkov. Two and a half years later the
relationship turned sour, and YABLOKO moved into opposition. But until
that Artemyev was very successful in his work. He prevented the collapse
of the municipal financial system in the wake of the 1998 default: the
city fulfilled all its obligations to creditors…
When he moved into opposition, Artemyev became a deputy of the State
Duma. In 2000 he tried running for governor against Yakovlev, but without
success. On the other hand, Artemyev’s parliamentary career developed
successfully, - his long-standing relationships with other "Moscow’s
St. Petersburgers," such as Dmitry Kozak, Alexei Kudrin, German Gref
and Ilya Yuzhanov, often helped him in legislative activity. This may
be the reason why YABLOKO always regarded Artemyev as a proponent of dialogue
with the government, avoiding criticism of the president; this did not
prevent Artemyev from leading YABLOKO’s struggle against the governmental
variant of energy reform.
Artemyev repeatedly stated that the Chubais version of reform lobbied
for by the government would result in "the creation of a super-monopoly
in Russia, uncontrolled price growth, monopolisation of the sector and,
finally, a dramatic loss in competitiveness by Russia’s entire economy."
The group headed by Artemyev demanded that the package of energy laws
include provisions preventing monopolisation of power generation capacities
in the “energy-closed” regions, ensuring transparency of ownership
changes during the reform process and prohibiting privatization of network
companies.
If Artemyev is able to uphold these positions as overseer of energy
reform, he will face a serious struggle with Chubais. It is yet hard to
tell how all this can be linked with the intentions of YABLOKO and Union
of Right-Wing Forces to join their efforts at regional and local elections.
It is also difficult to forecast how long Artemyev will be able to “survive”
in the federal government structures. YABLOKO’s leadership approves
of his transition to the executive authority, hoping that he will implement
there useful ideas and programme provisions of the party. However, in
accepting the post of German Gref’s deputy, Artemyev cannot fail
to realise that this will require utter loyalty to Vladimir Putin.
Artemyev assumed the position of First Deputy Governor of St. Petersburg
in accordance with a political agreement as a co-author of Yakovlev’s
victory, and thus was able to argue with his boss in public and maintain
his views saying that "one can only rely on providing real resistance."
Now, however, he will be unable to make any public criticism of the President’s
political and economic course.
The stronger YABLOKO’s opposition to this course, the more difficult
Igor Artemyev’s situation is going to be. And he could well end
up stuck between a rock and a hard place…
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