Russian economy minister dismayed by economist Guriev’s resignation, departure

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 31, 2013) Russian Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov is dismayed by prominent Russian economist Sergei Guriev’s decision to resign as head of the New Economic School (NES) and not return to Russia from abroad for the time being.

“This is very disappointing for me. I’ve known Sergei for a very long time. We have had significant disagreements on a lot of economic matters, but I have always considered him a decent, quite flexible, and a brilliantly educated man who can think informally and unconventionally,” Belousov said in an interview with journalists in Moscow on Friday.

“What has happened now – I can tell you honestly, I cannot approve of his steps. I cannot approve of this precisely because I know what lies behind all this story. There is no politics there. I would say, this is purely about economic and administrative matters. This story appeared not yesterday, it appeared quite long ago: the situation at NES is well known to those who are close to NES. But turning all this into personal matters, saying ‘I’ll go’, I was really vexed to learn about this, because I thinkhe’s done the wrong thing,” Belousov said.

“Life regularly confronts any person with choices. People make their choices themselves. Now he has made his choice, and I cannot inwardly support or approve of him doing this,” he said.

Asked whether Guriev could have been detained if he had stayed in Russia, Belousov said, “Sergei, as well as any other person, especially someone of his level, has every opportunity to defend oneself.”

Asked how Guriev’s move could influence the investment climate in Russia, Belousov suggested that, “with all respect for Sergei, this is not a figure to affect the investment climate.”

“It is quite possible that our colleagues and rivals may somehow gamble on this situation, but I don’t think this will improve or worsen anything,” he said.

Asked whether the matter could involve some tax issues in NES itself, the minister said, “I don’t want to go into details. Let’s put it this way: I don’t know and don’t see any political reasons that would force Sergei to make this step.”

In commenting on Guriev’s questioning on the Yukos case, Belousov said, “(former Yukos head Mikhail) Khodorkovsky sowed such a large field in his time that it is very difficult now to find an independent non-governmental center that has not used Yukos’s money at least once.”

“Our center that I headed (the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting, or CMASF) did not use it, but this was absolutely by chance. Honestly speaking, if we had had any contact then, I would have pursued projects together with Khodorkovsky the same way as others, because they dealt with a very broad spectrum of projects,” Belousov said.

Asked whether there still could be questions for NES after Guriev’s departure, Belousov said, “This is not for me to answer, but my forecast is yes, although this is nothing more than just a forecast.”