<!--StartFragment-->BBC Monitoring Russian finance minister urges oligarchs to show social responsibility Source: RTR Russia TV, Moscow, in Russian 1600 gmt 25 Apr 04
[Presenter Sergey Brilev] Four billionaires and several dozen oligarchs who own smaller fortunes account for 60 per cent of [Russia's] GDP. They all gathered in one hall - at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in London. Several Rolls Royce and Bentley limousines at the entrance indicated the presence of Russians. It was here, in London, that the Russian Economic Forum, or Russian Davos, took place [on 19 April].
[passage omitted: more details about the forum and its delegates]
On the forum opening day a sensational recount of a conversation with the Russian finance minister [Aleksey Kudrin] was published in the London-based newspaper The Times. The sensation is in the first paragraph: Within the next four years oligarchs may be subject to amnesty if they follow the new rules. Most probably, an amnesty to the capital was meant. As regards those who have already been punished, no amnesty is being prepared for them.
In an interview with our programme, Kudrin said The Times journalists twisted his words after all. Nonetheless, the newspaper put the phrase about the "new rules" in quotation marks, which means that this is a quote.
It was raining in London [Video shows Kudrin being interviewed by Brilev near the Houses of Parliament]
[Brilev] What do the words new rules mean? What are these new rules that the Russian businesses must follow?
[Kudrin] The thing is that we were discussing social responsibility of businesses in Russia. The attention to this subject has been drawn. I mentioned the three aspects which, in my personal opinion, can be attributed to social responsibility. First, this is the payment of taxes, honest payment, not the payment through offshore companies.
[Q] Does this include backdated payments?
[Kudrin] No, I have in mind, first and foremost, the payment of current taxes. Second, this should be participation in charitable activities. I stress that the payment of taxes should go first because businesses that transfer the sums subject to taxation to offshore companies and then declare their involvement in charitable activities, are actually exercising false charity. At first they take the money away from the teachers and doctors in the regions where they should pay taxes into the local budgets and then they declare that a smaller portion of that money will be used for charitable activities.
Third, support should be given to the political forces that care about the development of the country and promote its democratic values. When a member of the board of directors of a very well-known oil company supports the Communists, who propose that the entire oil industry should be privatized, personally I have doubts that these people demonstrate any social responsibility.
Also, one can hardly speak of any social responsibility in the situation where some shareholders support the right-wingers, whereas other shareholders in the same company support the left-wingers.
I believe that these are normal rules which must always be in place.
[passage omitted: Kudrin said more companies were now paying taxes in full and on time. He also said that those who resorted to illegal methods in the 1990s taking advantage of the state's weakness had no excuse, and urged Russians to keep their savings in roubles]
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