Alexei Kudrin

Alexei Leonidovich Kudrin (Алексе́й Леони́дович Ку́дрин; born 12 October 1960) is a Russian liberal politician and economist.

Alexei Kudrin was born on 12 October 1960 in Dobele, Latvian SSR to Russian father and Latvian mother.

His first job was a motor mechanic and training assistant at the engine laboratory of the Academy of Procurement and Transportation of the Defense Ministry of the Soviet Union, before entering Leningrad State University to study economy.

He graduated in 1983, and got an internship at the Leningrad Institute of Social and Economic Problems.

In December 1985, he entered the internal postgraduate school at the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, where he later received his PhD. He then worked as a researcher at the Institute of Social and Economic Problems of the Academy of Sciences.

Kudrin has authored over 15 scientific works in the fields economics and finance, including topics such as competition and anti-monopoly policy in the Soviet economy of the transition period.

Under Kudrin, Russia's government paid most of the substantial foreign debt it had accumulated in the 1990s, leaving the country with one of the lowest foreign debts among major economies.

From 1990 to 1996, Kudrin worked in the Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg City Administration under the liberal mayor and reformer Anatoly Sobchak.

His first position was vice chairman of the Committee for Economic Reform.

Until 1993, he worked in various financial positions in the city administration, before he was promoted to deputy mayor, in which position he served from 1993 to 1996.

Future president Vladimir Putin was the other top deputy mayor of Saint Petersburg at the time.

Kudrin was also chairman of the City Administration's Economic and Finance Committee.

In 1996, he started working in the Presidential Administration of Boris Yeltsin.

In August 1996, Kudrin was appointed deputy chief of Boris Yeltsin's presidential administration, as well as chief of the Administration on Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technological Cooperation.

He was appointed as Finance Minister on 28 May 2000 and held the post for 11 years, making him the longest-serving Finance Minister in post-Soviet Russia.

In addition, he was Deputy Prime Minister from 2000 to 2004 and again beginning in 2007.

As Finance Minister, Kudrin was widely credited with prudent fiscal management, commitment to tax and budget reform and championing the free market.

In March 1997, he became first deputy finance minister, and on 28 May 2000, he was appointed finance minister by the new president Vladimir Putin.

In addition to his role as finance minister, Kudrin served as one of the deputy prime ministers of Russia from 2000 to 2004 and again beginning in September 2007.

Kudrin served as finance minister from May 2000 to September 2011.

Kudrin belongs to the group of so-called "St Petersburg economists"—liberal reformers who worked with Putin during his time in the St Petersburg administration—one of the three main informal groups during Putin's presidency.

John P. Willerton regards Kudrin and Herman Gref as the leading intellectual forces in crafting of the economic policies of the Putin and Medvedev presidencies.

According to Simon Pirani, Kudrin balanced the influence of the siloviki in the government with a financial sobriety.

During Putin's presidency, Russia's macroeconomic policies were highly prudent, and extra income from oil exports was put in stabilization funds.

The Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation is widely regarded as Kudrin's idea.

Alexander Osin, chief economist at Finam Management, regards the Stabilization Fund as one of Kudrin's main achievements.

However, other analysts have described The Stabilization Fund as "dead money", which doesn't benefit the real economy.

In 2005, Kudrin and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov clashed over a proposal to cut VAT tax from 18% to 13%.

Fradkov supported the proposal, but Kudrin argued that lower VAT could endanger stability of the ruble and would cause the government to withdraw money from the stabilization fund.

The same year, Kudrin received the "Finance Minister of the Year 2005" award by the Banker magazine.

Much of the revenue from exports was accumulated at the Stabilization Fund which helped Russia to come out of the 2008–2009 global financial crisis in a much better state than many experts expected.

The Stabilization Fund was split into the Reserve Fund and National Welfare Fund in February 2008.

During his career, Kudrin has won several awards, including the "Finance Minister of the Year 2010" prize from Euromoney magazine.

He was asked to resign from his position on 26 September 2011 by President Dmitry Medvedev.

From 2011 to 2022, he was the dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences in St. Petersburg State University.

As of 2016, he is co-chairman of the board of trustees of the Mariinsky Theatre,[25] and the chairman of the board of trustees of the foundation of the European University at St. Petersburg.[26]

He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.

Previously he served as the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber from 2018 to 2022 and as Minister of Finance from 2000 to 2011.

Since December 9, 2022 Corporate Development Advisor at Yandex.

After graduating with degrees in finance and economics, Kudrin worked in the administration of Saint Petersburg's liberal Mayor Anatoly Sobchak.