Putin companion throws up after 25 years – new position shows how much sanctions hit Russia
Created: 11/29/2022, 12:38 p.m
By: Stephanie Munk
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with Alexander Kudrin, head of Russia's Audit Office.
© Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin Pool/Imago
A close confidant of Putin is stepping down from his post in the Russian state after 25 years.
Alexej Kudrin expects a central role in the Russian Google counterpart Yandex.
Moscow - A longtime companion of Russian President Vladimir Putin is giving up his service to the Russian state: the liberal business politician Alexei Kudrin no longer wants to be head of the Russian Court of Accounts.
He submitted his resignation to Putin, Kudrin wrote on Tuesday (November 29) on his Telegram channel.
After 25 years in government service, he said he wanted to concentrate on projects in the private sector.
Kudrin has accompanied Putin since the 1990s
As the news portal
The Moscow Times
reports, Putin will officially dismiss the head of the Court of Auditors in the coming weeks.
According to the Russian business broadcaster RBC, Kurdin will switch to the Russian Internet giant and Google competitor Yandex.
The broadcaster reported that he had reached an agreement with Putin at a personal meeting on Thursday (November 24), citing a “source familiar with the negotiations”.
The 62-year-old Kudrin has accompanied Putin since their time together in the St. Petersburg city government in the 1990s.
From 2000 to 2011 he was Russia's finance minister.
After a seven-year political hiatus, he returned in 2018 as head of the Russian Court of Accounts.
He was long regarded as an advocate of liberal economic and political ideas in Putin's environment.
However, he was unable to assert himself against the influence of the secret service and other security authorities.
Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures
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Yandex is being restructured - cutting “toxic ties to the Kremlin”.
According to The Moscow Times
, Kudrin's move to Yandex takes place
against the background of a split of the IT concern.
Yandex is a subsidiary of the Dutch parent company Yandex NV.
Apparently, the business areas outside of Russia are now to be protected from Western sanctions as a result of the Ukraine war.
According to a report by the business
portal Heise
, Alexej Kudrin will in future lead the core business in Russia.
Other parts of the company, on the other hand, are to be outsourced and separated from the “toxic connections” to the Kremlin.
Putin approved this plan.
According to a report by the
Financial Times
, this reorganization finally quashed "Yandex's hopes of becoming an international internet giant".
Western investors and important partners have already distanced themselves from the company.
Yandex founder apparently "horrified" by Ukraine war - thousands of employees left Russia
Yandex founder Arkedi Volosh was "appalled" by Putin's attack on Ukraine, the
Financial Times
reports .
The manager, who lives in Israel, has not visited Russia since then.
Nevertheless, the EU imposed sanctions on Volosh because his search engine apparently hid content critical of Putin.
As a result, Wolosh resigned as CEO.
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After the start of the Ukraine war, thousands of Yandex employees left Russia, including several top managers.
Others have been forced to resign from their positions by EU sanctions in response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
According to the Russian business broadcaster RBC, Alexander Zhukov, previously Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, will be seen as Kudrin's successor.
(smu with material from dpa)
