The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), a lobby group based in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, promotes the interests of

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It has over 1,000 members, including both private and state-owned companies, factories, and foreign and Russian plants. The RSPP represents the successor in the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

of the previous USSR scientific and industrial union founded in the summer of 1990.

Arkady Volsky Arkady Volsky (15 May 1932 – 9 September 2006) was a Soviet politician and businessman. He served as a senior aide to three Soviet General Secretaries, including Mikhail Gorbachev, and was one of three Deputy Prime Ministers in the last g ...

founded the Union in 1991 and headed it until 2005. He was succeeded by Aleksandr Shokhin, vice-premier of Russia from 1991 to 1994, and subsequently a

Duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

deputy for eight years. The current president is Alexander Shokhin. The current vice-president, Igor Yurgens, a graduate of

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, has served as an adviser to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

and to the Trade Unions Council, and chaired the

General Confederation of Trade Unions The General Confederation of Trade Unions or GCTU (russian: Всеобщая Конфедерация Профсоюзов, ''Vseobshchya Konfederatsya Profsoyuzov'' or VKP) is an international trade union confederation. It was founded on 16 Apr ...

in 1996. Yurgens is sometimes interviewed by Western media on issues concerning Russian industry. At a meeting of the lobby in July 2009,

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

s executives portrayed the most popular

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

programs like

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

and ICQ as encroaching foreign entities that the government must control.

References

External links

Official site (mostly in Russian with a small English section)Igor Yurgens on BBC Online
Business organizations based in Russia 1991 establishments in Russia Organizations established in 1991 {{Poli-org-stub