MOSCOW — Russia’s influential finance minister was forced out Monday after a televised confrontation with President Dmitry Medvedev, who had angrily demanded that Alexei Kudrin immediately explain his criticism of Med vedev’s policies or resign.
The open conflict within Russia’s leadership followed the announcement over the weekend that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin plans to return to the presidency next year and Med vedev would then take his old job as prime minister. Russia will have a presidential vote in March, but Putin is sure to win.
The departure of Kudrin is likely to unsettle investors and further shake Russia’s markets. A longtime member of Putin’s team, he had been finance minister since 2000, and his tight hold over the budget has been seen as key to Russia’s economic stability.
“It is difficult to see how Mr. Kudrin’s resignation can be anything but market-negative,” said Neil Shearing, chief emerging-markets economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London.
On Saturday in the U.S., Kudrin said he would refuse to serve in the government if Med vedev was made prime minister because of policy disagreements he had with him, including plans to substantially boost military spending.
Addressing Kudrin on Monday, Medvedev called the minister’s remarks “irresponsible chatter” and “improper,” especially since they were made while the minister was in Washington for meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
“If you disagree with the course set by the president and being implemented by the government, you have only one choice: resign,” Medvedev said during a meeting of a presidential commission on modernization held in the town of Dimitrovgrad.
The Kremlin said Medvedev later signed a decree on Kudrin’s resignation. State news agencies quoted Kudrin confirming that he had quit.
