Two years ago there would have been no guest more welcome, at any meeting of foreign investors in Russia, than Anatoly Chubais. The country's best-known economic reformer had not only become a leading figure in a promising new government, but was also running United Energy Systems (UES), the national power company and one of the most traded shares in Russia. This week, Mr Chubais was indeed a much-awaited guest at an investors' conference—but in a rather different atmosphere. Angry foreign investors wanted to grill him about a restructuring plan at UES that many see as tantamount to asset-stripping. He cancelled belatedly. Stephen Jennings, a veteran Moscow investment banker who eight years ago worked with Mr Chubais on privatisation (and had invited him to the conference), spoke of his "evasive and cynical" behaviour. "Perhaps he knew there would have been a revolt in the room," said Bill Browder, of Hermitage Fund, a big Moscow-based equity fund. At the same time, 18 big foreign investors wrote a letter to President Vladimir Putin, condemning Mr Chubais's plans.
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