- Alexei Kudrin
Alexei Leonidovich Kudrin ( _ru. Алексей Леонидович Кудрин) (born
12 October ,1960 ) is aRussia nstatesman , and the Russian Minister ofFinance . He has held the post since18 May ,2000 .He attended
Leningrad State University and graduated from that institution in 1983. He worked in theSaint Petersburg Mayor's Office from 1990 to 1996 underAnatoly Sobchak , where he met the future President of Russia,Vladimir Putin .Kudrin is, as of December 1st 2007, the only remaining "Liberal Reformer" in President
Vladimir Putin 's Cabinet. The other two,Mikhail Zurabov andGerman Gref , the ministers of Health and Social Development, and of Economics and Trade, respectively, were dismissed in a reshuffle in September 2007. He is not believed to have any great influence overPutin 's policy decisions, and has been referred to as a "Bean Counter" by at least one analyst.Kudrin, Gref, and Zurabov all came under fire in early 2005 for economic reforms they tried to implement. Many of the reforms had to do with replacing free benefits, such as medical care and transportation, with cash benefits. This replacement angered many of the elderly because transportation costs are increasing. Protests took place across
Russia , but neither the administration nor theState Duma responded to these protests in any substantial way. The President reprimanded Kudrin on national television, and a few members of the State Duma went on a hunger strike for a short period of time. A no-confidence vote againstMikhail Fradkov 's cabinet was called by the State Duma in early February, but it failed. Some analysts saw the whole affair as an attempt to either discredit or perhaps get rid of one of the three men by other members of the cabinet. However, this was never proven and Kudrin, Gref, and Zurabov all retained their jobs.On September 24, 2007 Kudrin was promoted to post of Deputy Prime Minister equal to Medvedev and Ivanov.
On January 23 - 27, 2008, Kudrin attended the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
External links
* [http://research.rencap.com/eng/government/government_detail28.asp Renaissance Capital Research Portal]
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