Management changes at Rosvooruzheniye,the defence export agency, are only a suprise in that they took so long to happen

Published: 8/4/1999

The long expected firing of Colonel General Gregory Rapota head of the state defence export agency Rosvooruzheniye has taken place and he has been replaced as expected with a Yeltsin appointee Alexei Ogarev. The sacking of Rapota , an appointee of former Prime Minister Primakov, has been expected for sometime, but it is believed that his competent performance in the position kept the administration from replacing him immediately. His replacement is a graduate of the Moscow Aviation Institute, where he studied with Yeltsin"s daughter Tatyana Dyachenko"s husband, leading to much speculation as to the increasing power of Tatyana, who is also close to Ogarev"s former boss Alexander Voloshin. A former Deputy Head of the Yeltsin Presidential Administration, where he reported to the aggressive Voloshin, Ogarev also served as Yeltsin"s advisor on ‘Military Technical Cooperation". Described by some sources as being ‘mediocre", but probably more fairly described as a ‘grey", Ogarev"s appointment is viewed by many as a move by the Yeltsin family to control the cash flow of the Russian government and the recent appointment r of a new head of customs close to the Yeltsin circle is felt to support this view. The agency is responsible for the vast majority of Russia"s defence exports is a major earner of foreign earnings of between $5-6 bn each year depending on the source.

Article ID: 733