MP readies ban on US consulting for Russian state companies

MP readies ban on US consulting for Russian state companies
Published time: June 19, 2014 09:42
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A ruling party MP is preparing a bill banning state-owned companies from using the services of US consulting firms and their subsidiaries. The sponsor claims it would protect the Russian economy from direct foreign influence and hidden manipulation.

The idea belongs to Yevgeniy Fyodorov of the United Russia caucus who is known for his earlier suggestion to outlaw the use of US accountancy firms to financially audit state corporations.

“The Russian economy is only growing 0.5 percent a year because foreign consultants are lobbying for their own state. A few days ago we discussed the Central Bank’s report and the deputy chairman directly stated that the mass bankruptcy of Russian banks were a result of foreign consultations,” the MP said in an interview with mass circulation daily Izvestia.

Fyodorov added that the consulting firms were not helping Russian banks to set up their own management schemes but simply appointed management. In addition he complained that the Central Bank was still being audited by a foreign company.

The MP also suggested that along with a ban on Russian state corporations working with foreign consultants the authorities should invest in new national consulting institutions and strategic think tanks.

Fyodorov’s initiative is very similar to the one made by the Chinese authorities in late May this year. Chinese state-owned enterprises were ordered to cut ties with US consulting companies over fears they are spying for the US government, the Financial Times reported quoting a source close to senior Chinese leaders. FT also noted that the Chinese ban came very soon after the five Chinese military officers were indicted in the US on charges of cyber espionage.

The press secretary of Russian state owned oil major Rosneft told reporters that the ban was not completely useless, but added that there were much more important factors restricting Russia’s economic growth, such as controls enforced by international economic regulators. He also added that major companies, such as Rosneft, choose their partners and contractors according to their competence and hardly needed additional red tape in this process.

Hurts Russian business more than anything.

OCguy said:

Hurts Russian business more than anything.

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nope it will create new business in russia, made by russians not americans

senheiser said:

nope it will create new business in russia, made by russians not americans

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Yes, because forcing business to contract with inferior vendors is how you make business thrive.

This isn't even law, it is a proposal to cater to the xenos and neo-nationalists in Russia.

OCguy said:

Yes, because forcing business to contract with inferior vendors is how you make business thrive.

This isn't even law, it is a proposal to cater to the xenos and neo-nationalists in Russia.

Click to expand...

BS, we have japanese, chinese, singapore and what ever companies who offer experts if seriously needed. It will promote Russians to make their own service industry. Its redicolous why should we pay americans for zero importance service.

senheiser said:

BS, we have japanese, chinese, singapore and what ever companies who offer experts if seriously needed. It will promote Russians to make their own service industry. Its redicolous why should we pay americans for zero importance service.

Click to expand...

Yes because the Chinese would never think of corporate espionage, right?

I don't know when some Russians decided that the Cold War was back on, but it is interesting to see the shadowboxing.

OCguy said:

Yes because the Chinese would never think of corporate espionage, right?

I don't know when some Russians decided that the Cold War was back on, but it is interesting to see the shadowboxing.

Click to expand...

It is not shadow boxing, it is the process of becoming a fully sovereign state, pole of power lost in 1991. After a few years, Russia will have completely independent emission center, its own banking payment system, own credit rating agencies. And also - the sale of oil and gas for rubles, not dollars.

OCguy said:

Yes because the Chinese would never think of corporate espionage, right?

I don't know when some Russians decided that the Cold War was back on, but it is interesting to see the shadowboxing.

Click to expand...

yeah and how rich are chinese in comparison to america?



you dont need unfair advantages in the first place but you still use them

Duma mulls new bill to define and punish ‘aggressor nations’
Published time: July 29, 2014 09:56
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RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenko

Conflict, Politics, Russia, Sanctions
Ruling party lawmakers propose altering Russian legislation to allow for automatic sanctions against foreign countries that the government includes on a special list of ‘aggressor nations’.

The bill, prepared by United Russia MPs Evgeny Fyodorov and Anton Romanov, together with the ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty’ group uniting representatives of all State Duma parties, seeks to amend several existing laws, such as the Law on State Contracts and the Law on Audit.

Lawmakers want to give the Russian government the powers to form and approve a list of ‘aggressor nations’ – countries where authorities introduce sanctions against Russia, its citizens or companies.

Once some country is included in this list, all its citizens, permanent residents and companies registered on its territory automatically lose the right to deliver legal services, business consultancy and financial audits on Russian territory. The Russian government also will be able to lift some of the sanctions or introduce additional restrictions on business activities on such people and companies if such necessity arises.

Fyodorov has told the mass circulation daily Izvestia that the list would definitely include all six major US auditing and consulting companies that work in Russia – Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst and Young, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Boston Consulting and McKinsey. He added that, in his view, some restrictions on these companies could be introduced straight away, as the State Duma will only consider the bill in autumn and some government contracts need to be signed before that.

The MP is known for similar suggestions made earlier this year. In June, he claimed that the lower house was preparing a bill that would completely ban state-owned companies from using the services of US consulting firms and their subsidiaries. Prior to that he suggested outlawing the use of US accountancy firms to financially audit state corporations.

The MP has claimed that foreign consultants were secretly and lobbying the interests of their own states and this caused the Russian economy’s slow growth. He also noted that the consulting firms were not helping Russian banks to set up their own management schemes, but simply appointed management, often building the dependency from external interventions.

The lawmakers’ latest move was welcomed by the head of the Russian Institute for Problems of Globalization, Mikhail Delyagin, who said that any corporation, even the largest one, has to be loyal to the country where it is registered and is likely to execute some of its government’s secret orders, without publicly acknowledging this fact.

“Some countries, like the USA, have the practice of specialists’ rotation – they leave business positions for government posts and vice versa. Any senior manager of a major US consulting company can one day assume a senior position in the CIA, for example, and later go back to business administration,” Delyagin told Izvestiya.

However, Delyagin noted that it would be better to strictly define the definition of aggressor nation and the Russian sanctions against it in the law, in order to relieve the government from additional workload.