All the president’s men

Teimuraz Bolloev, 51, Baltika’s charismatic and colourful president of 13 years, handed in his resignation shortly before Christmas last year. His decision did not come as a surprise to Scottish & Newcastle that jointly owns Baltika with Carlsberg. While no one knows his plans for the future, it is not ruled out that as one of President Vladimir Putin’s close associates, Bolloev could take a high-level government job.
As early as September, in the wake of the Beslan hostage drama, when Chechen rebels, who were backed by Muslim militants, took more than 1,200 people hostage in this North Ossetian village, leaving several hundred dead, some Russian politicians tipped Bolloev to become North Ossetia’s next president. According to the Stepan Razin brewing company (St.0 to 1..

After all, Bolloev was born in North Ossetia in the Caucasus to a teacher’s family.
Whether or not the rumours will come true, it was definitely not the time for Bolloev to keep on brewing. Bolloev was replaced by Anton Artemyev, who joined Baltika’s board of directors three years ago.
Bolloev could not have ended his business career at a better moment. Whereas Baltika’s owners did not discuss Bolloev’s upcoming departure, local observers claimed that it had already been considered a fact by the competitors. Petersburg’s market leader and Baltika’s main competitor in the northern capital) Bolloev’s departure was a ‘long-expected event.’ He is not going to leave a poor man. Local media sources maintain that Bolloev holds a 1.5-percent stake in Baltika, which could yield more than USD1 million a year.
When Bolloev quit the company that he had created and propelled into a leading position on the Russian market, he must have received a signal that he was in for higher things. The question is: Who sent a signal to whom. Was it the Kremlin that, in exploring various options after the Beslan tragedy, indicated to Bolloev in no uncertain terms that he might be called upon in the very near future? Or was it Bolloev himself who decided that this was the time for another career move? In the past, many rumours had gone round that Bolloev was a member of President Putin’s inner circle as in 2000 and 2004, he reportedly served as President Putin’s election campaign coordinator.
Therefore, should Putin, in the foreseeable future, seriously think about changing his whole team or some of its members, he can all upon Bolloev to take on a very high-level job - be it president of a Russian Federation republic or a Russian Federation presidential chief-of-staff.