Anatoly Chubais, chief executive of Russian electricity monopoly UES, is not one to play down the scale of the task he faces in raising billions of dollars to rebuild his country’s ageing power industry.

“The investment plan of our company totals more than $120bn – money that is desperately needed for the Russian energy sector. Even under optimistic forecasts there is no way to get $120bn from the budget to support the Russian energy sector. That is to support old people, the military, not energy.”