Igor Artemyev was dismissed from the post of the head of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service yesterday

Yaroslav Shcherbakov’s blog post, 12.11.2020

Photo: Igor Artemyev

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Yesterday Igor Artemyev, head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, was dismissed from his post! Will the hope for the development of competition in Russia leave us after his dismissal too?

This Service was formed under [Yabloko’s] Igor Artemyev [who was a Yabloko deputy in the State Duma and now is a member of the Federal Political Committee of the party], and it became the most effective executive authority in the Russian Federation.

In 2019, the Federal Antimonopoly Service Russia was in the top ten ranking of the best antimonopoly authorities in the world (Global Competition Review). In no other ratings are we next to Spain, Italy, Canada and Singapore. The next best result (the 34th place) was only with the tax service under Mikhail Mishustin, which enjoyed incomparably greater opportunities and resources. Only now, Mikhail Mishustin is Prime Minister, and Igor Artemyev has been appointed his aide.

By the nature of my activity, when I applied to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, I was almost always confident in an objective examination of the issue. In my memory, this is the only department that willingly gave explanations of the application of the legislation, without giving just formal replies. And these clarifications directly influenced application of law.

Nothing foreshadowed an imminent resignation (the result of the work was always was highly rated and almost by everyone), although there was traditionally a serious struggle for the post of the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service between representatives of various groups of influence of large monopolies.

In 2018, thanks to the Antimonopoly Service, the President adopted the Competition Development Plan until 2020.

Unfortunately, it will clearly not be fully implemented on time. But the fault here, objectively, does not lie on Artemyev. For example, in the Chelyabinsk Region, the BOARD FOR PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITION, which was supposed to contribute to the implementation of the Plan, was headed by Boris Dubrovsky, who monopolised the construction market and resigned early from the post of Governor, not least thanks to the work of the antimonopoly service.

The last meeting (in September 2020) of Igor Artemyev with Vladimir Putin also indicated of the untimely resignation, the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service boldly announced at the meeting his intention to make the sale of state property and bankruptcy property transparent. The Federal Antimonopoly Service has been also investigating why “the grass is greener at the neighbour’s yard”, although there is only one manufacturer (i.e., discrepancies in the quality of the composition of goods such as laundry detergents, chocolate, etc…). The meeting ends with the most interesting issue, as well as the work of the head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service.

In my opinion, this resignation brings nothing good yet, let us live to observe and participate…

YAROSLAV SHCHERBAKOV

is Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko