S.Ossetia Replaces Finance Minister

Eduard Kokoity, the leader of breakaway South Ossetia, has sacked newly appointed finance minister, Aleksey Panteleev, a former Russian official, and replaced him by Inal Pukhaev, an official from the finance ministry of the Russia’s North Ossetian Republic.

Yuri Morozov, a former PM of the breakaway region, who was sacked after the August war, told the Russian daily Kommersant, that the move might be linked to the infighting for the control over the financial inflows from the Russian Federation.

“Before the war, when I was leading the government, all the financial inflows were accumulated in the hands of the head of the government,” Morozov said. “It caused irritation of the President [Eduard Kokoity] and he always tried to take decision-making on these [financial] in his hands. But Moscow made him to understand that the position of a Prime Minister, who was appointed by Moscow, existed for making financial inflows transparent.”

“But the situation has changed after the war,” Morozov continued. “President Kokoity set up a presidium of the government – similar to that in Russia. However, unlike Russia, this presidium is led not by the Prime Minister, but by the President himself. Hence, all the financial decisions are now concentrated in Mr. Kokoity’s hands. Power usurpation has taken place. I think, Panteleev has understood the entire absurdity of such a situation.”

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