RUSSIA-INDUSTRY: Cabinet Changes Signal Yeltsin Policy Reversal

MOSCOW, Nov 10 (IPS) - After three years in the political wilderness Russia's powerful industrial and agricultural manufacturers are bouncing back to power.

The recent state of top-level changes in the government amount to a major economic policy reversal with the hold of the monetarist reformers weakening as those who favour state controls and aid for domestic production rise to the top, say political affairs analysts here.

President Boris Yeltsin continued with the cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday by promoting two new deputy prime ministers -- one day after he had appointed a new economics minister.

Foreign trade minister Oleg Davydof and technocrat Alexei Bolshakov were elevated to the third rung of the cabinet operating below first deputy prime ministers Oleg Soskovets and Anatoli Chubais.

Davydof will look after Russia's debt negotiations with the London and Paris Clubs (aid donors) while Bolshakov has been given charge of promoting integrative ties with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

On Tuesday, Yeltsin appointed Yevgeny Yasin as economics minister. The 60-year-old former economics proffessor groomed most of today's younger reformers and had worked on the ambitious but ill-fated 500-day programme for economic reform in the last days of the Soviet Union.

Nearly one month after the disastrous fall of the rouble on Oct. 11, all the government's main economic portfolios have changed hands in what is emerging as the biggest shake-up since the beginning of Russian reforms.

Mikhail Berger, a reputed economic analyst for the 'Izvestia' newspaper, Wednesday commented that Yeltsin had used 'Black Tuesday' as a pretext for changes which have been in the works for some time.

But Berger says that of greater significance is the fact that "The events have led to a situation in which the national Security Council is playing the major role in the cadre changes".

Behind the scenes is the strong hand of Oleg Lobov, an old Yeltsin confidante with extensive ties to the industrial directors' lobby now led by his associate Yuri Skokov.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service