ABSTRACT
Primary energy resources always contributed considerably to the income of the Soviet and later Russian state budget and the branch subsidised a large number of consumers that were considered socially and politically relevant. For a long time, this has been neglected in the country's economic policy; the sector was perceived mainly as an auxiliary supplier, and related questions were normally decided by lower rank bureaucrats when the budget proposal had already entered the confirmation process (Sagers, Kryukov and Shmat 1995, pp.389-394). However, the liberalisation of the economy and the formulation of inter-budgetary relations within the Russian Federation have moved the financial role of the oil and gas industry1 to the attention of economic policy makers and transformed it into a fundamental pillar of the country's economic policy design. Parallel to this, those who managed the co-operation between state and industry also changed. The coalition of faceless state bureaucrats acting exclusively on behalf of their ministries and departments was replaced by a far broader alliance that included not only individual representatives of enterprises and lobbying groups, but also the representatives of the executive and legislative power organs. In addition, state interests were no longer voiced only by federal organs but also by Russia's regions and even municipalities.
