Kudrin's career will not end with departure from govt - analysts
MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax) - Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin will step down but this will not end his career, political analysts said.
"I think Kudrin will leave. He has had long-time differences," Dean of the Department of Applied Political Sciences at the Higher School of Economics Mark Urnov told Interfax on Monday.
For a long time Kudrin has expressed concern over the ability of the Russian budget to sustain the growing defense spending, he said.
"Rumor has it that Kudrin wanted to leave, because he has not been offered the prime minister's job, I do not know," Urnov said, adding that the conflict with the Russian president is now obvious.
"I do not think that Kudrin now has the desire and the possibility to remain in the government," the political analyst said.
The departure from the government will not be the end of Kudrin's career, he said. "He is a super-qualified person. If he does not work in the government, than he is likely to find himself a place in the business sector or the new president could take him to the administration. He [the president] will need competent economists, and as far as I know, Putin and Kudrin have been long-time friends," Urnov said.
Head of the Indem Fund Georgy Satarov concurred with him.
"Kudrin will have to go," Satarov told Interfax on Monday.
"As the future president, Putin will find use for him not to turn him into a foe," the expert said.
Kudrin's disagreement with the President Medvedev's policy is not a sign of major differences among the country's leaders, Satarov said. "It is a battle of local significance," the expert said.
President Medvedev has suggested that Kudrin step down over the differences with the president's economic policy. Kudrin responded by saying he will discuss his resignation with the prime minister and then report to the president.
