MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs elected Alexander Shokhin its new president Friday, hoping he would breathe new life into the organization that has been criticized as an elitist business club out of tune with the times.
Shokhin, 54, one of the champions of democratic reform in Russia in the 1990s, said in a radio interview he would focus on small and medium-sized companies to make sure the union represented wider entrepreneurial circles, not just big business.
His 73-year-old predecessor, Arkady Volsky, stepped down after holding the post for 14 years.
Explaining his decision Friday, Volsky said infighting and policy differences had prevented the board from adequately responding to recent changes, including the slowing pace of industrial growth and the government's unpopular welfare reform, involving the replacement of Soviet-era benefits in-kind with cash payments.
He said "all these developments began to rock our boat, calling for... a new approach to economic life," but that the board "failed to proactively respond to the situation."
Boris Titov, leader of the Delovaya Rossiya association, which represents medium-sized businesses, announced his resignation from the board Friday. He said he did not want to be affiliated with what he viewed as an oligarchs' trade union which they used to lobby for their own narrow interests instead of working for the benefit of the entire business community.
Others, like former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, are keen to stay on. The oil tycoon continued paying his membership fees after he was put in jail on fraud and tax evasion charges two years ago, Volsky said, and he asked colleagues to let him remain on the union's board at least until its next congress in March 2006.
But Vice President Igor Yurgens said this may be problematic, given the growing pressure from board members opposed to the idea of having a convicted criminal amid their ranks.
