–ELECTRIC POWER:

Unified Electrical Systems (UES), in which the Russian state holds a 52 percent share, owns the national power grid and holds a controlling stake in nearly all of the country’s regional electric utilities. The annual meeting in June of UES shareholders elected President Yeltsin’s chief of staff, Aleksandr Voloshin, chairman of the board of directors. The shareholders also amended the company’s charter to require that any change in management have the support of at least three-fourths of the shareholders. The immediate beneficiary of the amendment is the company’s chief executive officer, Anatoly Chubais. Chubais, a so-called reformer and one-time darling of Western bankers, has served Yeltsin variously as finance minister, deputy prime minister and chief of staff, as well as chief fundraiser and strategist for the 1996 campaign. He came to UES in April 1998, following his dismissal as first deputy prime minister the month before. The presence of Voloshin as chairman may inhibit Chubais from using UES to further his own political ambitions, but Chubais’ new security as CEO brings him into the ranks of Russia’s top oligarchs.