Awwal 18, 1432 H / April 22, 2011, SPA -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that government officials leaving state company boards must be replaced by impartial professionals and not by "clerks from ministries", according to Reuters. Some Russian corporate board members are seen as close to powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and last month's order to remove them is seen as part of Medvedev's bid to assert sway over his mentor ahead of a March 2012 presidential election. "Now a new problem emerges, which we must resolve in a worthy way: the people who replace you must be professionals, impartial, uncorrupt and possessing authority on the market," Medvedev said at a meeting with Putin and other officials. "They should not be simply clerks from ministries ... We need to think about how to make these signals understood correctly by the investment community." The remarks showed that Medvedev is determined to increase his influence and put teeth into one of his biggest initiatives ahead of the election. Both Medvedev and Putin have said they might run for the presidency, and have suggested they would decide together which will stand. Shortly after Medvedev's order late last month, Putin's deputy Igor Sechin, Russia's energy tsar, stepped down as chairman of state oil giant Rosneft and said he would leave its board. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin followed suit by tendering his resignation as chairman of VTB, Russia's second-largest lender, and of diamond miner Alrosa. But officials have cast doubt on whether Medvedev -- still struggling to emerge from the shadow of Putin, who named him as favoured successor in 2008 after eight years as president -- could bring about any major change.
