The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs is a lobby based in Moscow that promotes the interests of business in Russia. It has over 1,000 members, which include both private and state-owned companies, factories, and foreign and Russian plants.
Its current president is Alexander Shokhin, vice-premier of Russia from 1991 to 1994, and subsequently a Duma depute for eight years. Its current vice-president, Igor Yurgens, has been an adviser to UNESCO and the Trade Unions Council, and was chairman of the General Confederation of Trade Unions in 1996. He is a graduate from Moscow State University. Yurgens is sometimes interviewed by Western media on issues concerning Russian industry.
At a meeting of the lobby in July 2009, telecommunications executives portrayed the most popular VoIP programs like Skype and ICQ as encroaching foreign entities that the government must control.[1]