Prokhorov said to be removed from Kremlin commission

Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who owns the New Jersey Nets, was dismissed from a Kremlin commission on modernizing the economy, two people familiar with the decision said.

The Kremlin has decided to expel Prokhorov from the commission, the people said, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the order. Earlier, Prokhorov’s press service said he wasn’t invited to attend a Sept. 26 commission meeting to be chaired by President Dmitry Medvedev in the Ulyanovsk region.

Natalya Timakova, Medvedev’s spokeswoman, declined to comment, as did Yuliana Slashcheva, Prokhorov’s spokeswoman.

The commission, made up of government ministers and business leaders, is Medvedev’s platform to discuss initiatives and legislation to develop the Russian economy.

Sitting on such commissions gives businesspeople access to political leaders and allows them to influence economic decisions.

“In Russia, for billionaires it is very important to have a direct line to the president and prime minister,” Mikhail Vinogradov, head of the Petersburg Politics Foundation research group, said by phone. “To be kicked off such a commission means losing access and as a result success.”