Confusion about the Presidential Economic Council and the Stolypin Club

Kremlin and River

Subject: Confusion about the Presidential Economic Council and the Stolypin Club
Date: Thu, 26 May 2016
From: Rachel Douglas <cmgusa@frontiernet.net>

Glad to see some attention to the Russian Presidential Economic Council meeting of May 25, but, setting aside the evaluations, there were quite a few errors of fact in two of the items included in JRL 2016-#95/May 26.

Stratfor

– “the presidium has shrunk to just six members”

The Kremlin website page on the Presidential Economic Council says that as of April 30, 2016 the Council had 35 members, of which 25 were on its Presidium.
http://www.kremlin.ru/structure/councils#institution-32

– “the presidium’s third camp, a strange collective that calls itself the Stolypin Club. Sergei Glazyev, a presidential adviser, and Andrei Kaplach, deputy chairman of Vnesheconombank, lead the group”

That would be “Kaplach” as in “Klepach”, Andrei Nikolayevich, formerly deputy minister of economics and now deputy chairman of VEB Bank’s board of directors, as well a teacher of economics at Moscow State University.

The formal head of the Stolypin Club is neither of those two economists, but is Boris Titov, co-chair of Business Russia, and Russia’s “business ombudsmen” since the creation of that post in 2012.

Academician Glazyev and Mr. Titov are members of the Presidium of the Presidential Economic Council; Mr. Klepach is not, though he’s on the Presidium of the Stolypin Club.

Ben Aris for Intellinews.com

– “Plan K has come out of the so-called Stolypin Club” (after “Plan K” has been identified with Alexei Kudrin)

But those are two different, opposing plans, each of which, according to statements reported in the media from participants in the closed-door meeting, was set forth there, along with reports by some other Economic Council Presidium members.

– “The Stolypin Club includes many of Russia’s leading liberal minds such as presidential adviser Sergei Glazyev, Deputy Chairman of Vnesheconombank Andrei Klepach, the deputy chairman of the Duma committee on economic policy Victor Zvagelski, Economy Minister Alexey Ulyukaev, and Kudrin himself.”

The first three people mentioned are announced members of the Stolypin Club.
http://stolypinsky.club/prezidium/

I don’t believe that there’s been any indication of either Ulyukayev or Kudrin joining the Stolypin Club.

It’s likely that Glazyev would be surprised to hear himself called a “leading liberal mind,” in view of what he generally has to say about economic liberals.

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