MOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of Russia's state-owned electricity monopoly said on Saturday he would not bow to demands for his resignation over a blackout this week that paralysed the country's capital.
Anatoly Chubais, chief executive of Unified Energy Systems (UES), said his enemies were using the blackout, which halted public transport and stopped trading at Moscow's bourses, to wage a political campaign against him.
"These (people) want me to fold? Come on guys. Don't hold your breath. That has never happened and will never happen," he told Russia's RTR television station.
Chubais is despised by many Russians as the liberal reformer who in the 1990s, critics say, sold off state firms at bargain prices to a clique of politically-connected businessmen. His liberal views sit uneasily with Kremlin hardliners.
Chubais has accepted personal responsibility for Wednesday's power cut. He told the television station he would resign if the state, as the majority shareholder, told him to.
"That is a different matter ... If the shareholder takes this decision it will be carried out in three minutes," he said.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said earlier the city would sue UES to recover damages caused by the blackout. He said legal action would start once the cost of the damage was assessed.
Prosecutors questioned Chubais, 49, on Thursday as part of a criminal investigation into the blackout.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said UES had neglected the day-to-day running of the grid, but he said nothing about Chubais' future at the firm, which controls the world's fourth largest power network.
Opposition parties, in a minority in Russia's parliament, say Chubais should be fired.
Officials have ignored a claim from Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev that his group sabotaged Moscow's power grid.
The blackout was triggered by a fire at an antiquated electricity substation, UES engineers have said.
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