Kudrin plans to pull out of VTB Bank, Alrosa
WASHINGTON. April 16 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin plans to step down as the chairman of the VTB Bank's supervisory council and the diamond giant Alrosa's supervisory board next week.
"I will pull out of VTB and Alrosa next week, right after I return. I will come home and submit my resignation," Kudrin told journalists.
It was reported earlier that President Dmitry Medvedev put forward ten initiatives on improving the investment climate in Russia at a session of the government commission on modernization in Magnitogorsk on March 31.
In particular, to eliminate excessive influence of state-owned companies on the investment climate, Medvedev ordered endorsing a schedule of privatization of large stakes owned by the state for 2011-2013.
In addition, members of the presidential secretariat and government ministers and deputy prime ministers in charge of regulating various economic sectors will have to withdraw from boards of directors or supervisory boards of companies operating in these sectors.
A number of high-ranking officials, including Kudrin, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, must leave their offices in state corporations by the end of the first half of 2011.
Kudrin chairs the VTB Bank supervisory council and the Alrosa supervisory board.
