Former Advisor to Putin Finds a Position at the Center for Freedom and Prosperity
A former economic advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin and one of the Kremlin's staunchest critics, Andrey Illarionov, has left Russia for a post as a senior research fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Freedom and Prosperity in Washington. Mr. Illarionov is careful to stress that his departure does not mean emigration, but he calls his main work at the institute a continuation of the study of authoritarian regimes.
Yesterday it was announced that the project on global economic freedom run by the Cato Institute – the most authoritative liberal think tank in the world – has been turned into the Center for Global Freedom and Prosperity. The Washington, D.C.-based Institute has named as a senior research fellow Andrey Illarionov, a former economic advisor to the Russian president, who is currently in the United States. The financial details of the contract were not immediately available.
Mr. Illarionov says that he is not considering emigrating, but he confirmed that, according to his contract, he will live for nine months out of the year in Washington, where the center has its offices. This was confirmed for Kommersant by Jamie Dettmer, the center's media director.
"We are very happy that Andrey Illarionov, a real advocate of freedom, has joined our new center on global freedom and prosperity," said Cato Institute president Ed Crane. "For many years Andrey spoke the truth to those in power in the Kremlin. He is one of the most courageous people that we know." Jamie Dettmer said, "we invited Andrey because he has a reputation and a background in economics; he understands what democratic freedoms are and also simultaneously knows the character of the Russian government." Mr. Illarionov retired from his post in Mr. Putin's cabinet in February 2006 for political reasons.
Mr. Illarionov will work in Washington in the company of other government servants and people close to power from many different countries. The Indian economist Suaminatan Aiyar, who formerly worked in the Indian government, accepted a position at the center yesterday, joining a group of advisors that includes Gurcharan Dass, the former CEO of the Indian division of Procter & Gamble; Jose Pinera, the former labor and social welfare minister of Chile; and Fred Hu, the chief economist for Goldman Sachs in Asia.
The center's future plans include conducting research on questions of reform in Africa, the crisis of liberalism in Russia and Central Europe, and corruption and the success of economic reforms in Latin America and India. Andrey Illarionov, however, does not intend to leave behind his activities as a commentator on politics and economics. "One of the conclusions that must be drawn from the Russian experience of the last 15 years – possibly the most important conclusion – is that freedom is indivisible. If freedoms are curtailed in one sphere, then we pay for that in other spheres. If restrictions on freedom are not done away with as the very first priority, then they will only kill and destroy more and more people, and they will continue to destroy as long as they are not removed," he told Kommersant, commenting on the ongoing anti-Georgian campaign in Russia and the murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Mr. Illarionov has said that in his position at the Cato Institute he will not stop his investigations into the situation in Russia.
Only one acquaintance of Mr. Illarianov's who is close to the Russian authorities, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) head Alexander Shokhin, agreed to comment on his new position.
"The Georgians and Andrey Illarionov are obviously not needed by the Russian labor market. It was already clear when the president took him into his cabinet that he would not be a bureaucrat who was part of the system. Many people believed that the president kept him on to provide a different point of view from that of the bureaucrats. In that capacity, Andrey Illarionov excelled, successfully achieving a level of freedom – both economic and intellectual – unprecedented in the bureaucracy. It's not surprising that he is planning to continue to work on these topics in Washington," said Mr. Shokhin. Institute for Transitional-Period Economics head Yegor Haidar, the presidential administration's economic department head Arkady Dvorkovich, and Russian Economics and Trade Minister German Gref refused to comment. Vladimir Mau, the rector of the Administrative Academy, told Kommersant only that "Andrey Illarianov invested a great deal of work and time in that direction. All of this is to be expected."
In his new position, Mr. Illarionov is likely to continue to espouse the opinions that he has been expounding since his retirement from the post of presidential advisor early this year. In an interview with the Austrian newspaper Die Presse on October 5, he again harshly criticized Russia's use of its energy resources as "political weapons" against neighbors like Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The former presidential advisor has also not shied away from confrontation with EAS Russia chairman Anatoly Chubais. In particular, he has stated that the first time "energy weapons" were used was not against Belarus but against the authorities in Primorya, where the interruption of energy supplies to the region provoked a crisis that culminated in the departure from office of regional governor Evgeny Nazdratenko. He is also not inclined to overestimate the influence of the West on Russia: as he explains, "the Yukos affair showed that Western leaders do not worry about democracy in Russia."
It looks as though there can be no better place to search for kindred souls of Andrey Illarionov than in the Cato Institute. In the Institute's annual report on economic freedom, published at the beginning of September, Russia ranked 102 out of 130. A year ago, when Mr. Illarionov was still working as an advisor to Vladimir Putin, Russia's position was even worse: Russia shared the 114th spot with Rwanda. Apparently, however, a twelve-point improvement was not enough to convince Mr. Illarionov to look for work in Moscow instead of in Washington. In the Cato Institute's rankings the United States occupies third place, behind only New Zealand and Switzerland.
Dmitry Butrin and Maxim Shishkin
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 11, 2006
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