POLITICS LIVE: Putin shows Zuma how it's done with pre-dawn arrest of Russian finance minister
14.52 ----- Vladimir Putin has just schooled Jacob Zuma on how to deal with a finance minister who won't sign off on a dodgy deal. Russia's economy minister, Alexei Ulyukayev, was arrested in an early morning raid in connection with a claimed "$2m bribe" and thrown in jail. Ulyukayev's sin appears to be his failure to sign off on the purchase of an oil company by the state-controlled Rosneft. See, that's how you ram through a $1tn nuclear deal! This from the Reuters story: Russia’s crackdown on its economy minister carries a cost. Alexei Ulyukayev may or may not be guilty of accepting a $2 million bribe - as alleged after he was detained in an early-morning operation on Nov. 15. But it’s less good for the Russian economy if he no longer plays a senior role in government. Ulyukayev and his counterpart in the finance ministry, Anton Siluanov, have of late been calling for restraint in spending to deal with economic realities - chiefly, persistent low oil values. In a draft budget rec...
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