Medvedev demands govt suspend decision on selling grain
GORKI. Feb 9 (Interfax) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has demanded that the government suspend its decision on selling grain on exchanges and revisit the process by which grain is sold out of the country's Intervention Fund.
This issue arose following First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov's announcement that grain is sold in two ways - exchange trading and sales to certain regions at prices the government bought grain for the fund in 2008, which are lower than current market prices.
"You should suspend this decision and see: if you deem it impossible to hold trades, then you better distribute [grain] individually to each region. Anyway, this is not a market measure. I'll tell you openly: this poses the danger of corruption," Medvedev said at a conference dealing with economic issues.
The president demanded that grain be distributed on unified principles.
He asked First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov how grain is being sold now. Zubkov explained that, apart from trades, grain is also sold through intervention mechanisms, which should have knocked down the grain price.
"It [the price for grain] has not dropped because individual distribution has been plugged. What idiot will bargain if you can come to terms with bureaucrats?" Medvedev said.
