The details of the reform of development institutions, which the government of Mishustin-Belousov carried out quickly and clearly, without going into long discussions and arguments, became known.
Details of the reform were revealed by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko. I advised you to pay attention to this Deputy Prime Minister for a long time. Back in September of this year, it became known that the supervisory board of “VEB.RF” [former Vnesheconombank – ed] will be headed by Grigorenko.
Usually, VEB’s supervisory board was headed directly by the Prime Minister. However, only formally. Of course, the head of government does not have too much time to delve into the affairs of such a huge structure as VEB. Therefore, the company’s policy was determined by Igor Shuvalov alone.
By appointing Grigorenko as head of the supervisory board, Mishustin was able to establish control over VEB. The Deputy Prime Minister in his new position will not just be a technical figure, but the person who will determine the policy of the state-owned company.
Dmitry Grigorenko clearly indicated how numerous development institutions will be reformed.
Here I would like to note the following fact. For all these years, development institutions have been the “feeder” of the liberal clan of Russia. Namely, the so-called “Family” – a group of liberals close to the family of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Despite the fact that Yeltsin left office 20 years ago, the “Family” managed to maintain its influence, even if now it is not acting in the primary roles. In particular, the “Family” controlled most of the development institutions.
However, this is now the end of it. Dmitry Grigorenko expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that in previous years the development institutions were not under the control of the government, and the tasks they implemented were actually invented by them. Now everything will change. Development institutions (DIs) will be directly subordinate to the government. Oh, exactly:
- Research and development activities will be focused directly on achieving the national goals. Grigorenko notes that previously their activities were practically not linked to the development of the state;
- DIs often duplicated functionality, which reduced their effectiveness and did not show results;
- Now strict monitoring of DI activities will be established, and specific and tangible goals will be set for them.
I would like to note that from all the development institutions, only the Industrial Development Fund worked relatively well. However, it was not controlled by the “Family”, but directly by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which is headed by Denis Manturov.
Well, now the most important thing. According to Grigorenko, the initiative to reform development institutions came directly from Russian President Vladimir Putin. This fact suggests that striking a blow to the liberal clan is the desire of the President himself. And this is quite logical.
We are waiting for a difficult period associated with the transfer of power in 2024. In this regard, it is necessary that the liberal clan be weakened as much as possible, and the statesmen be strengthened as much as possible. That is precisely why it is necessary to deprive liberals of both political and economic resources at the moment.
Konstantin Dvinsky
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