MOSCOW, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Russia's economic development minister clashed with President Vladmir Putin on oil privatization policy, the Moscow Times reports.
Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref has said he supports the privatization of the Rosneft and Yuganskneftegaz companies in a move that appears to put him in opposition to the Kremlin's policy of greater state control over the oil industry, the paper said.
Gref told the Kommersant newspaper in comments published Tuesday state companies have lower growth rates than private companies because the state is "ineffective." He cited Gazprom as an example.
"I consider that both Rosneft and Yugansk, if it becomes state-controlled, should be privatized," Gref said. "Gazprom's lack of effectiveness is obvious."
Those comments places Gref in opposition to Putin's policy, which seems to favor the creation of a state-controlled energy giant.
Putin last week stripped his maverick economic adviser Andrei Illarionov of one of his key duties as Russia's representative to the Group of Eight nations in what seemed to be punishment for his criticism of the Kremlin's conduct of the Yukos affair, the Moscow Times said.
