Lukes Interviewed on Corruption in the Kremlin
Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed on the arrest of Aleksei Ulyukayev, Russia’s economy minister on Tuesday, 15 November 2016.
Lukes was quoted in a November 27, 2016 article in TO BHMA entitled “Corruption Resides in the Kremlin.”
From the text of the article:
Nobody knows for sure the exact combination of forces that came together to bring about the shocking arrest of Aleksei Ulyukayev, 60, Russia’s economy minister on Tuesday, 15 November 2016. A member of President Vladimir Putin’s cabinet since 2013, Ulyukayev, an economist by training and a former Central Bank official, had never joined the innermost power circle that rules the Kremlin. As a technocrat, he stood out for not having been a KGB officer.
The state alleges that Ulyukayev was placed under house arrest because he had tried to extort a $2 million bribe in exchange for not blocking Rosneft’s acquisition of 50 percent of shares in Bashneft. Both oil companies are state-owned, but Rosneft, valued at c. $50 billion, is by far bigger and—this is crucial—is controlled by Igor Sechin, Putin’s very close friend and a former KGB officer. If convicted, Ulyukayev may receive a fine of $200 million or a sentence of up to fifteen years in prison.
You can read the entire article here.
Igor Lukes writes primarily about Central Europe. His publications deal with the interwar period, the Cold War, and contemporary developments in East Central Europe and Russia. His work has won the support of various other institutions, including Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, the Woodrow Wilson Center, IREX, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1997 Lukes won the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching at Boston University.