Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 17 January 2020
Russia's new PM a career bureaucrat with no political aims

By DARIA LITVINOVA son who has this experi- Over the years, Mishustin
Associated Press ence." Mishustin's lack of "has created a cutting-
MOSCOW (AP) — Mikhail political ambition or any edge tax service from the
Mishustin never had any political experience indi- ground up, using modern
political ambitions as a cates that he is likely to du- technologies and (means
career bureaucrat and his tifully carry out the Kremlin's of) digital economy," said
name didn't come up as a wishes as the head of the Vyacheslav Volodin, the
top candidate to become Cabinet — which some speaker of Russia's lower
Russia's next prime minister. commentators point out is house of parliament.
But the 53-year-old Mishus- especially important in the Under Mishustin, the tax
tin, the longtime chief of "transition period" of consti- service launched two vast
Russia's tax service, was tutional reforms proposed data centers that collect-
tapped for the post by by Putin. Mishustin, who ed invoices from businesses
President Vladimir Putin. has a degree in informa- and information from re-
The lower house of Rus- tion technology, has been tail cash registers, ensur-
sia's parliament, the Duma, a state official for the past ing better control of cash
quickly appointed Mishus- two decades. His career flows. Mishustin also intro-
tin as prime minister on Russian Tax Service chief Mikhail Mishustin listens to Russian kicked off in 1998, when he duced a variety of online
Thursday. President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in the Kremlin in became deputy head of services that made paying
Putin put Mishustin's candi- Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. the State Tax Service. taxes easier in an effort to
dacy forward on Wednes- Associated Press Although not active in poli- raise tax collection rates.
day night, several hours tics, he has rubbed shoul- In November, he proudly
after Dmitry Medvedev He doesn't belong to a and businessmen describe ders or even collided with reported that the amount
resigned along with the political party and in rare him as a professional and politicians as a player in of successfully collected
whole Cabinet. Just be- interviews prefers to talk effective manager who the amateur Night Hock- taxes had increased by
fore that, Putin proposed about innovations in tax understands the economy ey League, in which Putin 1.4 times since 2014. The
sweeping changes to the administration. well, which makes him a also plays. Mishustin also is share of tax revenues in the
constitution that could The move sent shockwaves good fit for the Cabinet a board member of Mos- country's gross domestic
keep him in power well through Russia's political during a time when Russia's cow's CSKA hockey team. product had also grown by
past the end of his term in elite and left them ponder- economy is weakened. In 2010, after a two-year 4 percentage points, while
2024. ing about future Cabinet "The main tasks for the stint at a private investment value-added tax collection
As a career bureaucrat appointments. new prime minister will firm, Mishustin returned to rose by 64%.
who has been in charge of Mishustin has been hailed come from the necessity to the tax service, this time as Mishustin's track record in-
Russia's taxes for the past for modernizing Russia's rig- modernize the economy," its chief and handpicked spired hopes that as prime
10 years, Mishustin has al- id tax administration system Abbas Gallyamov, a for- by Putin, then himself a minister, he would be able
ways kept a low profile and and boosting tax collection mer Kremlin speech writer prime minister. Having to shake up the country's
stayed away from politics. rates. Government officials turned independent po- earned around $2.6 million stagnating economy —
litical analyst, wrote in a in 2009, Mishustin was the something Russians have
Facebook post. "Mishustin third-richest state official in been increasingly frustrat-
has a reputation of a per- Russia at the time. ed about in recent years.q
Australia firefighters save

world’s only rare dinosaur trees

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press
CANBERRA, Australia (AP)
— Specialist firefighters
have saved the world’s last
remaining wild stand of a
prehistoric tree from wild-
fires that razed forests west
of Sydney, officials said
Thursday.
Firefighters winched from
helicopters to reach the
cluster of fewer than 200
Wollemi Pines in a remote
gorge in the Blue Mountains
a week before a massive In this photo taken early Jan. 2020, and provided Thursday, Jan.
wildlife bore down, Nation- 16, 2020, by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife
al Parks and Wildlife Service Service, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service personnel use
fire hoses to dampen the forest floor near Wollemi pine trees in
Director David Crust said. the Wollemi National Park, New South Wales, Australia.
The firefighters set up an ir- Associated Press
rigation system to keep the
so-called dinosaur trees two month edged closer. “That helped just to slow
moist and pumped water Firefighting planes strategi- the intensity of the fire as
daily from the gorge as the cally bombed the fire front it approached the site,”
blaze that had burned out with fire retardant to slow its Crust told Australian Broad-
of control for more than progress. casting Corp. q