Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin's statement that he is unwilling to work in a future Russian government after the presidential elections is unlikely to affect Russian trading floors on Monday and accelerate capital flight from Russia, Sberbank chief German Gref said on Sunday.
"The markets are currently in a state that it is difficult to plunge them into stress because they are already under stress," the head of Russia's largest retail savings bank told reporters.
On Sunday Kudrin ruled out working in the next government, if President Dmitry Medvedev becomes premier, following Vladimir Putin's expected return to the presidency next March.
"We are now in a period of turbulence when everyone is expecting key developments concerning the euro and so on. And this statement (by Kudrin) is not the most important event today," Gref said.
While announcing his decision, Kudrin said he would be unable to work in the new government to be headed by Medvedev over disagreements on economic policies.
"I do not see myself in a new government. The point is not only that no one has offered me the job. I think that the disagreements I have will not allow me to join the government," Kudrin told reporters.
Kudrin, 50, has served as finance minister since 2000, under whom the Russian government has paid most of its substantial foreign debt and created oil wealth funds to help Russia live through the global economic and financial meltdown.
