The Foreign Investment Committee, part of the Finance Ministry, has been dissolved by order of the Russian president. The disappearance of this unit, a fundamentally new one in the Russian power structure, took place practically unnoticed.


This committee that vanished so imperceptibly was formed last autumn. The idea to create such a structure came, as so often happens, from the person who later headed it: Leonid Grigoryev, a professional friend of Yegor Gaidar's and the most "elderly" of the Gaidar group (he is over 40).


When on the evening of Nov. 7 last year Gaidar's group gathered at Gennady Burbuli's to assign places in the newly formed cabinet, it was Grigoryev who got the portfolio for the committee he had conceived. In rank this was a bit lower than minister but, on the other hand, he didn't have to run a ministry -- a difficult, thankless task.


Gaidar's inner circle, however, soon began to express dissatisfaction with the work of the Foreign Investment Committee. and Grigoryev, who, by the way, had taught many of the present young ministers at Moscow State University, began unofficially but rather publicly to express his opinion of the government's actions. and these opinions were not always complimentary.


Over time the differences began to get out of hand. Grigoryev came out in favor of preferential treatment for foreign investors, while the government wanted the same conditions for everyone. He also became a serious critic of the government's privatization policies. When the number of Grigoryev's enemies and their enthusiasm reached certain limits his fate was sealed -- in a strictly Soviet way. To get rid of a powerful official, you liquidate the structure he heads rather than firing him. This is exactly what happened.


Gaidar promised to appoint Grigoryev as Russian representative to the World Bank, which would probably have partially made up for the loss of his job. But then Gaidar changed his mind and sent somebody else to Washington.


Yet another organization was dissolved at the same time as the Foreign Investment Committee -- the Union of Soviet Societies of Friendship with Foreign Countries. Instead of these two organizations the State Agency for International Cooperation and Development was established.


But whereas the dissolution of the Foreign Investment Committee was solely to resolve the problem of Grigoryev, the liquidation of the other body had significant material benefits for the Russian leadership. Few people know that this organization had quite a lot of property: buildings and entire complexes in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and, most importantly, abroad. There are more than 40 Houses of Friendship in various countries -- quite an attractive bit of capital to fall into the hands of the Russian leaders.