MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2020) Anatoly Chubais's exit as long-term head of the Rusnano Group development institution is part of "rotation process," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, one day after first deputy chairman of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission, Sergey Kulikov, was invited to take the position.
"Anatoly Borisovich was heading Rusnano for quite a while. He, in fact, created Rusnano. So in this case, we are talking about a rotation process, quite a natural one," Peskov said at a press briefing.
The Kremlin spokesman confirmed that there were no current plans for Chubais to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin following the former's exit from Rusnano, although Peskov added that there was nothing stopping the pair from holding telephone talks.
Peskov also cited Putin's comments on the Rusnano Group made on Wednesday, stressing that the development institution has achieved great things since its establishment.
"Problems exist in various companies, and you know that since Rusnano invests in startups and projects with an increased risk, not all investments, of course, will, as they say, 'shoot up.' Debts can be formed and so on ... But at the same time, they have made a lot of important achievements," the Kremlin spokesman remarked, adding that the Russian government considers Rusnano Group to be an important institution for the country's economy.
Speaking at a forum on Thursday, Chubais confirmed that today would be his final day of work at Rusnano Group. Peskov added that he had no current indication of Chubais's future work plans.
Chubais, a prominent figure in the administration of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, was appointed chairman of the Russian Nanotechnologies Corporation in 2008, before a restructure three years later led to the establishment of the Rusnano Group. The development institution acts as a co-investor in prominent nanotechnology projects.
