The Duma deputy who tells SPIEF what it doesn’t want to hear is back — and this year he used the word ‘war’
The chairman of the State Duma’s budget and tax committee, Andrei Makarov, called Russia’s security forces’ conduct during the war lawless. He made the remarks at a Sberbank business breakfast held as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
I understand that the role of the security forces during the war is a completely different situation. Perhaps it would not even be worth discussing, but the arbitrary behavior of law enforcement agencies is also not the best backdrop for tackling the challenges at hand and making headway on the issues [Deputy Prime Minister] Alexander Novak was just describing.
Makarov also took aim at the quality of Russia’s institutions, which should allow people to go to court and “trust that it will rule fairly.” “Not only when you are in a dispute with each other, but also when your dispute is with the state,” he added.
Russia ranks 131st in the United Nations innovation index for institutional quality, Makarov said. “On institutions, let me congratulate you — we have overtaken Venezuela — progress of a sort. Though we’re still no match for Lesotho,” he said.
I understand perfectly well that the voucher privatization auctions of the 1990s fundamentally destroyed respect for the institution of private property, simply because of the way they were conducted. But do we really think that today’s descending-price auctions will add to that trust?
The Bell noted that at SPIEF, Makarov played his traditional role as the forum’s chief critic. The independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo added that at last year’s forum, Makarov spoke about the absence of a fair judicial system in Russia, the growing wave of nationalizations, and law enforcement interference in business.
In recent years, Russia has seen a wave of nationalizations of large companies seized from their owners on various pretexts. Reselling those assets has often proved difficult, however — buyers are hard to come by, and the state has been forced to hold auctions in which bidding starts at the asking price and works downward. That is how Domodedovo Airport was put up for sale, as well as Yuzhuralgold, whose first auction fell through for lack of bids. A second auction was likewise declared void.
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