Alexander Mercouris — Vladimir Putin replaces sacked liberal Economy Minister with another liberal

So much for the theory of the liberal purge.

Appointment of Maxim Oreshkin, a former banker and Finance Ministry official, and a graduate of the Higher School of Economics, to the post of Economics Minister in place of the disgraced Alexey Ulyukaev, points President Vladimir Putin's continued commitment to the hardline monetary and fiscal policies of the Finance Ministry and Central Bank.…

Much has been written about Ulyukaev and of his past connections with Yegor Gaidar and Anatoly Chubais, the two leading liberals in the Russian government of the Yeltsin era. As I have said previously, the case against him appears to be very strong, which would mean that he is also corrupt.
The fact nonetheless remains that Ulyukaev was the only high ranking official within the government to criticise the hardline monetary and fiscal policies of the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry.

Admittedly Ulyukaev did this from a Keynesian point of view (he was obviously no supporter of the radical politician and economist Sergey Glazyev, the hero of those who want a more controlled economy) but he was at least a consistent advocate of lower interest rates and of a more gradual policy of budget cutting than are the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank.

Ulyukaev’s replacement by a former banker and official of the Finance Ministry, who is more likely to follow the Central Bank’s and the Finance Ministry’s hard line, can only reduce the interchange of economic ideas inside the government, which means that the position of the liberal hardliners in the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry – Central Bank Chair Nabiullina, Finance Minister Siluanov, and former Finance Minister Kudrin – has been strengthened....

The Duran
BREAKING: Vladimir Putin replaces sacked liberal Economy Minister
Alexander Mercouris