#6005
#3
Putin fires Russia's besieged railways minister
MOSCOW, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin sacked Railways Minister Nikolai Aksyonenko on Thursday after prosecutors charged him with abuse of office.
The Kremlin said Putin had signed a decree relieving Aksyonenko of his duties at a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Kasyanov met Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov beforehand, television said.
The government press service said Aksyonenko had tendered a resignation letter in which he acknowledged "moral responsibility" for problems in his ministry. The minister had been heatedly fighting charges of corruption.
Aksyonenko, 52, has been widely credited with keeping Russia's massive railway network from falling apart as the Soviet Union's demise sent most industries into a tailspin.
Known for his military management style, Aksyonenko was seen as close to former Kremlin chief Boris Yeltsin, whose proteges Putin has been steadily pushing to the sidelines.
His career culminated during Yeltsin's last years in power, when he became deputy prime minister and was rumoured to wield more power than his boss, Sergei Stepashin, who was then prime minister.
Aksyonenko was dismissed as deputy prime minister but retained his ministry after Putin came to power in 2000.
Stepashin, soon after being appointed head of an auditing body keeping tabs on the state budget, led an in-depth investigation of the transportation ministry and last year handed incriminating figures to the prosecutor's office, which opened a criminal case.
Aksyonenko, charged with overspending on his staff, has said accusations against him were politically motivated and made no regard for his ministry's unique status, which allowed it to combine state functions with commercial activities.
Russian parliamentarians said Aksyonenko's dismissal conformed to Putin's strategy of cleansing the old guard and suggested that Aksyonenko had been sweet-talked out of his chair with the Kremlin's usual mix of a stick and a carrot.
Back to the Top Next Article
- Back to the Top -