It is clearly bad news when a free marketer goes, and someone who spoke clearly at that.
The developments in Russia are not a cause for confidence and having foreign businessmen involved at high levels is not a bad thing, as long as they are able to pressure for openess, efficiency and good governance. The difficulty with the recent Evans appointment, which he refused, was related to the fact that we were not sure if he was one of these needed businessmen or a lobbyist looking for a quick buck.
Onésimo Alvarez-Moro
See article:
Andrei Illarionov, President Vladimir Putin’s chief economic adviser but also an acerbic critic of the Kremlin’s grab for economic power, offered his resignation on Tuesday, saying Russia was “no longer free”.
Mr Illarionov famously described Russia’s partial renationalisation of the Yukos oil company 12 months ago as the “scam of the year”; days later he was stripped by Mr Putin of his role as Russia’s “sherpa”, or representative, to the Group of Eight industrialised nations.
Still, he survived in his post as economic adviser another year despite evermore blunt outbursts, prompting some analysts to consider him him a “court jester” kept on to promote the appearance of plurality and tolerance within the Kremlin.
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