Moscow's energy crisis leads to significant political consequences in Russia

Russian and foreign journalists believe that Putin finally has substantial reasons to get rid of Anatoly Chubais, the head of the Russian energy giant

Russian experts believe that the criminal case that the Office of the Prosecutor General filed against the head of the Russian energy giant, RAO UES of Russia, on account of yesterday's energy crisis in Moscow, has an evident political motive. The case was filed on two clauses of the Russian Penal Code – negligence and power abuse.

”It would be insane to surmise that the administration of the Russian energy corporation caused the blackout in Moscow deliberately. Such an accusation bears resemblance to an intentional political decision, the goal of which is to show pressure on Russian right-liberal circles,” a statement from the movement “For Human Rights” said.

Russian and foreign press believes that President Putin finally has substantial reasons to remove Anatoly Chubais, the head of RAO UES of Russia, from Russia's political life.

A lot of political observers share the opinion about a possible dismissal of Anatoly Chubais in connection with yesterday's blackout in Moscow. Mr. Chubais is reputed in Russia as the last top manager of the national natural monopoly. In addition, Anatoly Chubais cannot be referred to as a person of Putin's team. To crown it all, Mr. Chubais is the ideologist of the notorious Russian privatization, which resulted in the creation of the class of oligarchs.

The reaction of the Russian administration to the highly vulnerable position of its potential political opponent is to become clear in the near future. Anatoly Chubais has not been noticed for making any anti-Putin statements after he left the Union of Rightist Forces party in 2003. Chubais, however, is still regarded as one of the largest shadow personas of the possibly united liberal opposition. It goes without saying that the Kremlin administration has a wish to replace Anatoly Chubais with someone from their team. Such a possibility is quite likely to occur at the forthcoming annual meeting of RAO UES of Russia's shareholders (the meeting is to take place at the end of June). The state owns the control shareholding of the energy giant, which means that it has an absolutely legal possibility to take such a decision.

Anatoly Chubais was supposed to come to the Office of the Prosecutor General for interrogation at 4:00 p.m. Moscow time today. However, the head of the Russian energy giant said that he would be able to arrive only after 7:00 p.m. – Mr. Chubais is too busy working on the liquidation of yesterday's consequences.

Meanwhile, Anatoly Chubais decided to conduct his own investigation of yesterday's energy crisis in Moscow. A workgroup of RAO UES of Russia's specialists is trying to find out the reasons of the blackout, in order to determine the responsibility of the company's officials. The workgroup has only two weeks for this work.

The serious energy crisis, which paralyzed Moscow yesterday, became the second stressful situation that Anatoly Chubais had to experience after the recent attempted assassination in March of the current year. The breakdown in the energy system of the Moscow region has become the most serious crisis in history, Chubais said. It is noteworthy that the supposition saying that the crisis was an act of diversion aimed against Anatoly Chubais surfaced immediately after the blackout hit Moscow, Newsru writes.

Prior to his visit to the Office of the Prosecutor General, Anatoly Chubais told reporters that RAO UES of Russia would pay compensations to those who suffered from the energy crisis yesterday in the event the fact of economic damaged is proved according to the Russian legislation.

On the photo: Anatoly Chubais, the head of RAO United Systems of Russia