Vladimir Yakunin
The replacement of the President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, presumably a close confidant of Vladimir Putin, was in the center of the attention of Russian media last week.
The replacement is surrounded by secrecy. One federal government official told Reuters that Yakunin was not even consulted about his resignation or replacement.
President Putin though declared that Yakunin decided to leave his post on his own volition. Putin also said that he still plans to discuss the matter with Yakunin:
“It’s his choice, everyone looks at own future as one sees it fit. Vladimir had worked long and successfully as the head of Russian Railways, an important part of Russian infrastructure. We’d still talk about it, when he’ll be back. He is now on vacation.”
Yakunin and his family are now abroad and some commentators doubt that he’ll ever be going back to Russia.
Officially Yakunin is slated to become a member of Russia’s upper parliament house, the Federation Council, which is sometimes used as a repository for the officials whom Putin wants to remove without hurting them too much.
Russian Railways is one of the country’s biggest companies. Employing almost a million people and managing over 85,000 kilometers of tracks, Russian Railways is the third-largest network in the world. The state owned company accounts for 40 percent of freight traffic in a country heavily reliant on raw materials exports.
Yakunin graduated in 1972 from the Leningrad Mechanical Institute, where he studied aircraft construction and maintenance of long-range ballistic missiles.
In 2003, Yakunin became Deputy Head of Russian Railways. In 2005, he was appointed Head of Russian Railways.
In October 2007, for “his contribution to the implementation of measures to reform the railway transportation development strategy of the Russian railways”, he was awarded Honorable Railway Man of Russian Railways.
In 2012 in Paris, the International Union of Railways General Assembly appointed Yakunin chairman of the Union.
Vladimir Yakunin
Over time Vladimir Yakunin became one of the favorite targets of anti-corruption criticism by the democratic Russian media. It was said that he was giving permissions to build restaurants and hotels near railroad stations all over Russia to his son Andrei, and as a result of it his son became a billionaire.
Andrei Yakunin
Also there are popular legends about an underground refrigerator for fifty fur coats built underneath of Yakunin’s “dacha”.
On March 20, 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, the United States government imposed personal sanctions on Yakunin, naming him as Putin’s “close confidant”.
It is widely believed, that Putin never betrays his “close confidants”. Which makes Yakunin’s removal especially mysterious.
In the Russian media there are several theories to explain the event.
According to the first of the theories Yakunin’s removal is caused by his possible fall in favor. Yakunin managed to become one of symbols of corruption in Russia.
But what is even more important, Russian Railways showed a net loss of 99.32 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) in 2014. It will need 460 billion rubles ($6.8 billion) in government subsidies to ensure net profit up to 2020, Vedomosti newspaper reported in March.
The railways’ condition is the part of the general crisis of Russian economy.
Yakunin’s sudden removal has triggered speculation that Putin could also remove other allies out of their key positions in an effort to improve Russian economy. The advocates of this theory think that Yakunin’s departure is a signal to the Russian elite — no one is untouchable in this time of crisis.
Another theory is built on the fact that Prime Minister Medvedev criticized Yakunin’s performance in the official governmental Russian press. It was a rear case of such criticizing of a Putin’s close ally. Some commentators believe that this fact shows Putin’s intention to leave the position of President, passing it again to Medvedev.
The third theory is the most exotic. It interprets the Yakunin’s departure from his position as his escape from the sinking ship of Russia. The proponents of the theory believe that Yakunin is not going to return to Russia from his vacation. And there are many other Russian top functionaries who are prepared for such an escape.
One of the reasons for creation of such a theory is the fact that Putin and his friends build-up significantly the export of capital from the country, putting it in American securities. In June 2015, Russia built-up investments in US Treasury bonds for $1.4 billion.
According to some sources, this rate further increased in July and August. A Russian journalist Victor Shevchuk quoted in his article a businessman, supposedly close to Kremlin: “I do not understand what is going on. The impression is that we pack our suitcases, because very soon everything will fall apart over here.”
