Sergei Kiriyenko

Infobox Officeholder
name = Sergei Kiriyenko
Серге́й Кирие́нко

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order = Prime Minister of Russia
term_start = 23 March 1998
term_end = 23 August 1998
president = Boris Yeltsin
predecessor = Viktor Chernomyrdin
successor = Viktor Chernomyrdin (Acting)
birth_date = birth date and age|1962|7|26|df=y
birth_place = Sokhumi
death_date =
death_place =

Sergei Vladilenovich Kiriyenko ( _ru. Серге́й Владиле́нович Кирие́нко) (born July 26, 1962) is a Russian politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Russia from March 23 to August 23 1998 under President Boris Yeltsin. Currently, he is the head of Rosatom, the state nuclear energy corporation.

Early life

Sergei Kiriyenko comes from a typical Soviet family. His grandfather, Yakov Israitel, made his name as a devoted Communist and Lenin awarded him with an inscribed pistol for his good service to the party. In the 1930s, Yakov Israitel served as the head of the KGB border guard on Russia's southern frontier. Sergei Kiriyenko was born in 1962 in Sokhumi, the capital of Abkhazian Autonomous Republic, Georgia, and grew up in Sochi, in southern Russia. After graduation from high school, Kiriyenko enrolled in the shipbuilding faculty at the Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) Water Transport Engineers Institute, where his divorced father taught. At this time, he dropped the Jewish family name of his father and adopted Kiriyenko, the Ukrainian name of his mother.

Prime minister

Kirienko was appointed Prime Minister after the dismissal of Victor Chernomyrdin's second cabinet. The State Duma, dominated by the communists, initially refused to confirm his appointment but president Boris Yeltsin nominated him a second time and Kiriyenko was confirmed.

Along with Deputy Prime minister Boris Nemtsov and Anatoly Chubays, Kirienko became known as one of "young reformists". They tried to improve the Russia's economy using International Monetary Fund credits, and it elevated the national debt to the level of $22.6 billion.

Kirienko's cabinet defaulted the GKO-OFZ government bond coupons which led to devaluation of the Russian ruble and Russian financial crisis. Responsible for the crisis, the prime minister resigned on August 23

Formation of SPS

Together with Nemtsov, Chubais, Irina Hakamada and Egor Gaydar, Kirienko formed the Soyuz Pravih Sil (SPS, Union of the Right forces), one of the largest Russia's liberal democrat parties. The party finished fourth on 1999 elections.

He participated in the elections for Moscow mayor chair and finished second after incumbent Yuri Luzhkov.

Rosatom

Kirienko was appointed to head Rosatom, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, on November 30, 2005. [http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=1352 Does the abrupt sacking of Russian nuclear energy minister signal a turnaround in Moscow`s policy on Iran’s nuclear program?] DEBKA] He is also chairman of the board of directors of the vertically integrated Atomenergoprom nuclear company. [http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/industry/AtomEnergoProm_established_and_board_named-100707.shtml]

He said on September 18, 2006 while in Vienna, that the reactor in the Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran should be operational by September 2007 and the plant itself will be active in November 2007. He advocated President Vladimir Putin's idea of creating an international system of uranium enrichment centers. A uranium enrichment center could be operational in Russia in 2007. [http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2006/09/1-rus/rus-190906.asp Russia says Iranian plant will come on line in 2007] RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty] Responding to a reporter's question, Kiriyenko said that the Bushehr power plant would not affect nuclear non-proliferation and that there was nothing preventing Iran-Russia energy cooperation. The Government of Russia plans to deliver nuclear fuel to the plant in March 2007. [http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0609288334170133.htm Kiriyenko: Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant fully accords int'l laws] Islamic Republic News Agency]

References

See also

* Sergei Kiriyenko's Cabinet

External links

* [http://www.rosatom.ru/ Federal agency on atomic energy of Russia]