RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin at the weekend gave the chief executive of Russia's sprawling electricity monopoly a public dressing-down at a meeting discussing the fallout of a major power cut.
The head of Unified Energy System, Anatoly Chubais, has uneasy relations with Kremlin hardliners and his firm's management is facing a criminal case over possible negligence after an electricity outage paralysed the capital on May 25th.
Mr Putin said Russia needed to examine the amount of taxes UES paid - comments likely to alarm investors as they weigh up whether a campaign to extract back payments from now crippled oil major YUKOS was a one-off case or not.
"I only ask you not to talk today about a lack of financing or a lack of money," Mr Putin told top security officials at the meeting that Mr Chubais attended.
Officials say an explosion at an aging electricity substation caused the outage and that there was no evidence of a terrorist attack. Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, Russia's most wanted man, has said his rebels were responsible, though some people dismiss this as empty talk.
"It is necessary once more to check up on the real tax burden on UES in recent times," Mr Putin added. UES is already fighting a court battle with tax officials over a $130 million claim.
Mr Chubais was a rare public figure inside Russia to condemn the prosecution of YUKOS founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky, sentenced this week to nine years in prison for tax evasion.
Mr Chubais has already taken responsibility for the blackout, which halted public transport and stopped trading at exchanges, but he has resisted calls for him to resign.
Ordinary Russians, however, are no great fans of Mr Chubais who was the architect of the mass privatisations of the 1990s. - (Reuters)