Uneximbank President Vladimir Potanin on Wednesday denied his bank was involved in the payment of a $450,000 book advance to First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais and four other government officials.
"I am tired of refuting that we had nothing to do with this," Potanin said, addressing a small group of journalists on his return from London, where he sealed a strategic partnership Tuesday between Uneximbank-controlled oil company Sidanko and British Petroleum.
The powerful banker praised Chubais' contributions to economic reform and cautioned that a wholesale change in government could further upset Russia's already tenuous financial markets.
A publishing house called Segodnya Press, controlled by Uneximbank, paid the $450,000 advance to Chubais, former privatization ministers Maxim Boiko and Alfred Kokh, former bankruptcy chairman Pyotr Mostovoi and senior Kremlin advisor Alexander Kazakov for a textbook on Russian privatization.
All the officials except Chubais and Kokh were fired last weekend for their acceptance of the advance. Kokh had been fired in August for accepting a separate book advance.
Uneximbank this summer won two major privatization sales overseen by Chubais and Kokh for telecommunications holding Svyazinvest and metals producer Norilsk Nickel.
Potanin on Wednesday offered little detail but said his bank acquired its share in Segodnya Press after the book deal was signed. Uneximbank spokesman Sergei Chernitsyn later said the book deal was closed in the spring, while Uneximbank acquired a 51 percent stake in Segodnya Press in August when the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, in which the bank owns a 20 percent stake, merged with the Segodnya Group.
Sitting at the head of a table in his dark-paneled Uneximbank office, Potanin said he regrets the loss of any key government leaders at a time when Russian markets are down and government coffers are bare.
"When a team is sharply changed, it takes time for the new people to master the levers. At the present time, to put it bluntly, when one needs to take urgent and very serious measures aimed at stabilizing the situation, there is really no changing horses in midstream," Potanin said.
"Mostovoi, for example, should be engaged now in vigorously pursuing bankruptcies in order to raise discipline in tax collection," he said. "The same with Boiko. It would be good if he continued to work on the auctions, so that the rules there would be written more clearly."
Chubais has managed to retain his post despite the book scandal. Careful to stress that President Boris Yeltsin alone should decide Chubais' fate, Potanin nonetheless said the loss of Chubais would be damaging to business in general.
"I think that by his work he raises the capabilities of the entire government in a serious way," Potanin said. "It is easier to work when there are such people in the government."
He added, however, that "nothing will change for [Uneximbank] if there is no Chubais in the government."By Jeanne Whalen
and Boris Aliabyev
STAFF WRITERS
Uneximbank President Vladimir Potanin on Wednesday denied his bank was involved in the payment of a $450,000 book advance to First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais and four other government officials.
"I am tired of refuting that we had nothing to do with this," Potanin said, addressing a small group of journalists on his return from London, where he sealed a strategic partnership Tuesday between Uneximbank-controlled oil company Sidanko and British Petroleum.
The powerful banker praised Chubais' contributions to economic reform and cautioned that a wholesale change in government could further upset Russia's already tenuous financial markets.
A publishing house called Segodnya Press, controlled by Uneximbank, paid the $450,000 advance to Chubais, former privatization ministers Maxim Boiko and Alfred Kokh, former bankruptcy chairman Pyotr Mostovoi and senior Kremlin advisor Alexander Kazakov for a textbook on Russian privatization.
All the officials except Chubais and Kokh were fired last weekend for their acceptance of the advance. Kokh had been fired in August for accepting a separate book advance.
Uneximbank this summer won two major privatization sales overseen by Chubais and Kokh for telecommunications holding Svyazinvest and metals producer Norilsk Nickel.
Potanin on Wednesday offered little detail but said his bank acquired its share in Segodnya Press after the book deal was signed. Uneximbank spokesman Sergei Chernitsyn later said the book deal was closed in the spring, while Uneximbank acquired a 51 percent stake in Segodnya Press in August when the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, in which the bank owns a 20 percent stake, merged with the Segodnya Group.
Sitting at the head of a table in his dark-paneled Uneximbank office, Potanin said he regrets the loss of any key government leaders at a time when Russian markets are down and government coffers are bare.
"When a team is sharply changed, it takes time for the new people to master the levers. At the present time, to put it bluntly, when one needs to take urgent and very serious measures aimed at stabilizing the situation, there is really no changing horses in midstream," Potanin said.
"Mostovoi, for example, should be engaged now in vigorously pursuing bankruptcies in order to raise discipline in tax collection," he said. "The same with Boiko. It would be good if he continued to work on the auctions, so that the rules there would be written more clearly."
Chubais has managed to retain his post despite the book scandal. Careful to stress that President Boris Yeltsin alone should decide Chubais' fate, Potanin nonetheless said the loss of Chubais would be damaging to business in general.
"I think that by his work he raises the capabilities of the entire government in a serious way," Potanin said. "It is easier to work when there are such people in the government."
He added, however, that "nothing will change for [Uneximbank] if there is no Chubais in the government."
"I am tired of refuting that we had nothing to do with this," Potanin said, addressing a small group of journalists on his return from London, where he sealed a strategic partnership Tuesday between Uneximbank-controlled oil company Sidanko and British Petroleum.
The powerful banker praised Chubais' contributions to economic reform and cautioned that a wholesale change in government could further upset Russia's already tenuous financial markets.
A publishing house called Segodnya Press, controlled by Uneximbank, paid the $450,000 advance to Chubais, former privatization ministers Maxim Boiko and Alfred Kokh, former bankruptcy chairman Pyotr Mostovoi and senior Kremlin advisor Alexander Kazakov for a textbook on Russian privatization.
All the officials except Chubais and Kokh were fired last weekend for their acceptance of the advance. Kokh had been fired in August for accepting a separate book advance.
Uneximbank this summer won two major privatization sales overseen by Chubais and Kokh for telecommunications holding Svyazinvest and metals producer Norilsk Nickel.
Potanin on Wednesday offered little detail but said his bank acquired its share in Segodnya Press after the book deal was signed. Uneximbank spokesman Sergei Chernitsyn later said the book deal was closed in the spring, while Uneximbank acquired a 51 percent stake in Segodnya Press in August when the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, in which the bank owns a 20 percent stake, merged with the Segodnya Group.
Sitting at the head of a table in his dark-paneled Uneximbank office, Potanin said he regrets the loss of any key government leaders at a time when Russian markets are down and government coffers are bare.
"When a team is sharply changed, it takes time for the new people to master the levers. At the present time, to put it bluntly, when one needs to take urgent and very serious measures aimed at stabilizing the situation, there is really no changing horses in midstream," Potanin said.
"Mostovoi, for example, should be engaged now in vigorously pursuing bankruptcies in order to raise discipline in tax collection," he said. "The same with Boiko. It would be good if he continued to work on the auctions, so that the rules there would be written more clearly."
Chubais has managed to retain his post despite the book scandal. Careful to stress that President Boris Yeltsin alone should decide Chubais' fate, Potanin nonetheless said the loss of Chubais would be damaging to business in general.
"I think that by his work he raises the capabilities of the entire government in a serious way," Potanin said. "It is easier to work when there are such people in the government."
He added, however, that "nothing will change for [Uneximbank] if there is no Chubais in the government."By Jeanne Whalen
and Boris Aliabyev
STAFF WRITERS
Uneximbank President Vladimir Potanin on Wednesday denied his bank was involved in the payment of a $450,000 book advance to First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais and four other government officials.
"I am tired of refuting that we had nothing to do with this," Potanin said, addressing a small group of journalists on his return from London, where he sealed a strategic partnership Tuesday between Uneximbank-controlled oil company Sidanko and British Petroleum.
The powerful banker praised Chubais' contributions to economic reform and cautioned that a wholesale change in government could further upset Russia's already tenuous financial markets.
A publishing house called Segodnya Press, controlled by Uneximbank, paid the $450,000 advance to Chubais, former privatization ministers Maxim Boiko and Alfred Kokh, former bankruptcy chairman Pyotr Mostovoi and senior Kremlin advisor Alexander Kazakov for a textbook on Russian privatization.
All the officials except Chubais and Kokh were fired last weekend for their acceptance of the advance. Kokh had been fired in August for accepting a separate book advance.
Uneximbank this summer won two major privatization sales overseen by Chubais and Kokh for telecommunications holding Svyazinvest and metals producer Norilsk Nickel.
Potanin on Wednesday offered little detail but said his bank acquired its share in Segodnya Press after the book deal was signed. Uneximbank spokesman Sergei Chernitsyn later said the book deal was closed in the spring, while Uneximbank acquired a 51 percent stake in Segodnya Press in August when the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, in which the bank owns a 20 percent stake, merged with the Segodnya Group.
Sitting at the head of a table in his dark-paneled Uneximbank office, Potanin said he regrets the loss of any key government leaders at a time when Russian markets are down and government coffers are bare.
"When a team is sharply changed, it takes time for the new people to master the levers. At the present time, to put it bluntly, when one needs to take urgent and very serious measures aimed at stabilizing the situation, there is really no changing horses in midstream," Potanin said.
"Mostovoi, for example, should be engaged now in vigorously pursuing bankruptcies in order to raise discipline in tax collection," he said. "The same with Boiko. It would be good if he continued to work on the auctions, so that the rules there would be written more clearly."
Chubais has managed to retain his post despite the book scandal. Careful to stress that President Boris Yeltsin alone should decide Chubais' fate, Potanin nonetheless said the loss of Chubais would be damaging to business in general.
"I think that by his work he raises the capabilities of the entire government in a serious way," Potanin said. "It is easier to work when there are such people in the government."
He added, however, that "nothing will change for [Uneximbank] if there is no Chubais in the government."