Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina and Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich have withdrawn their candidacies from the supervisory board of Russia's top lender Sberbank, its head German Gref said on Tuesday.
"Two members of the supervisory board have filed requests to withdraw their candidacies for the board. They are Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina and Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich," Gref told journalists.
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, stepped down as chairman of the board of directors of Russia's state-controlled oil giant Rosneft.
The departure of Nabiullina, Dvorkovich and Sechin from their posts in state firms follows a recent initiative by President Dmitry Medvedev to remove government officials from the boards of state-run companies to raise efficiency of their management and improve the investment climate in the country.
Sechin, who has masterminded a now-frozen $16 billion share swap and shelf exploration deal between Rosneft and BP, is known as Russia's energy tsar as he is responsible the country's huge energy sector. His resignation from Rosneft has raised fears of a split in Putin and Medvedev power-sharing tandem and struggle for presidency ahead of the March 2012 elections.
The presidential initiative will also cover Russia's second largest bank VTB, where Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin is chairman of the supervisory council, the country's flagship airlines Aeroflot and large Moscow airport Sheremetyevo, where Transport Minister Igor Levitin is board chairman and Russian Agricultural Bank, where First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov is a supervisory board chairman.
Sechin and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko are also likely to resign as board directors of state-controlled power trader Inter RAO UES and hydro power generator RusHydro.
MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti)
