Former Prime Minister of Russia
Born on 15 September 1941 in Sverdlovsk Oblast (then the Soviet Union), he served as Prime Minister of the Russian Federation from 2007 to 2008. He has extensive experience in economic management: early in his career he held leadership positions on state farms, and later worked for many years in economic and administrative management in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast. His career spanned industry, agriculture, local government, and federal finance.
Before becoming Prime Minister, he was a senior expert in Russian finance. From 2001 he served as First Deputy Minister of Finance, and from 2004 he led the Federal Financial Monitoring Service. During this period, he worked to build and improve Russia's national anti-money-laundering system, efforts that received domestic and international recognition. For his professional achievements, he was awarded the title "Honored Economist of the Russian Federation."