Putin ally backs power chief

WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- Russian electric power chief Anatoly Chubais may reportedly keep his job because an ally of President Vladimir Putin is backing him.

Vladimir Pekhtin, deputy speaker of the Duma, the main chamber of the Russian parliament, denied Wednesday media reports he was going to replace Chubais as head of the Unified Energy System of Russia -- the nation's electric power generating monopoly.

Chubais was a leading free market reformer under previous President Boris Yeltsin.

"Chubais led UES out of the crisis in 1998 when he was appointed and now UES is developing dynamically," the TASS news agency reported Pekhtin said.

Pekhtin is a member of the United Russia faction in the Duma that supports Putin.