Sechin to Oversee Shipbuilding

Later today Bob will weigh in with his views on the latest cabinet appointments, but those hoping for a full siloviki purge, they’ll have to keep holding their breath. Igor Sechin, chairman of Rosneft and a powerful figure in the Kremlin, will enjoy continuing broad powers over the energy, industry, and natural resources sectors in his new post as Deputy Prime Minister. Most everybody we spoke to had assumed this would be the case, as Sechin has quite a solid base of support for the time being, and was not going to be easily moved out. What is interesting are these reports announcing that Sechin has also been made chairman of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, heading up a $12 billion enterprise established by Putin last year, taking over from Sergei Naryshkin – who is now going over to work under Medvedev (at one point it was speculated that Naryshkin could vie for the presidency). Seems pretty wild to have just one man controlling Russia’s largest oil company as well as the country’s shipyards, where energy transport fees will become an incredible revenue generator in coming years.