Little-known transport minister to head powerful Russian railways

MOSCOW - Deputy Transport Minister Oleg Belozerov was named on Thursday to head Russia’s vast railway monopoly, a dramatic promotion for the 45-year-old from the president’s hometown of St Petersburg. The appointment, announced by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, came three days after the departure of Vladimir Yakunin, one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies - a rare shift within the Kremlin’s inner circle. Employing almost one million people and managing over 85,000 km (53,000 miles) of tracks, Russian Railways is the third largest rail network in the world. Yakunin spent 10 years at the helm of a company that is crucial to Russia’s huge energy, mining and farm sectors. He stepped down to become a senator, a move seen by many as a demotion to a largely ceremonial position. Belozerov was born and studied economics in St Petersburg, where Putin served as deputy mayor in the 1990s before becoming head of the secret service, prime minister and, ultimately, president in 2000. Belozerov indirectly worked for Putin during 2000-2001 when he was responsible for the finance department of the presidential envoy in Russia’s northwestern federal district, which includes St Petersburg. He then worked for various state and private companies before becoming deputy transport minister in 2009. “Together with the government and the Russian Railways team, (I plan) to focus on continued efficiency improvements,” he told Medvedev, according to the news agency Interfax. Russian Railways has been plagued with problems and chronic mismanagement on Yakunin’s watch, and last year returned a net loss of 99.32 billion roubles ($1.49 billion). In March, the newspaper Vedomosti cited a company letter saying that the firm would need 460 billion roubles ($6.9 billion) in government subsidies to ensure net profit up to 2020. ($1 = 67.0925 roubles)