Ilya Klebanov is one of those unsinkable politicians who appeared in sufficient numbers on the waves of perestroika. He made a dizzying career, moving from a simple engineer to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. His life is an example of active progress towards the goal, but using sometimes dubious means.
Parents and early years
Ilya Iosifovich Klebanov was born in Leningrad on May 7, 1951. The family was ordinary: my mother worked as a small employee in an insurance company, my father served in the air forces. The Klebanovs lived safely, although there was no particular wealth. Elijah’s childhood was completely typical for that time: kindergarten, school, yard friends. Nothing foreshadowed any outstanding life. After graduation, Ilya Klebanov enters the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. In 1974, he received a diploma of higher education with a degree in electrical engineer. At the institute, Klebanov did not show much activity in public life and study. According to the distribution after the institute, he comes to the electron research and production association. Ilya worked there for three years in his specialty.
LOMO
In 1977, Ilya Klebanov, whose biography was very typical for an engineer from the Soviet era, came to work at the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association named after Lenin, shortly called LOMO. The company produced equipment for the military industry, film technology and conducted scientific research in the optical field. Ilya began working as a design engineer. The salary here was better than in Electron, but Klebanov did not have much wealth. For 15 years, he went through all the stages of career growth: he was a workshop foreman, head of a design and technological bureau, deputy chief technologist, and chief engineer. Therefore, he knew the organization from the inside out. In 1992, he became the CEO of the association.
After a year, LOMO goes through the process of corporatization. The company received significant funds that allowed him to upgrade equipment and reach a new level of production. As a result of this modernization, LOMO began to produce more competitive products and was able to significantly increase exports and increase profits. The country's largest investors: Potanin and Prokhorov took part in the privatization of the enterprise. These acquaintances later still come in handy to Klebanov. As a result of all these processes, Ilya Iosifovich got quite a lot of money. If before that, for him, the most significant amount was the money earned during a vacation with construction comrades, now he could receive a solid guaranteed income.
The path to politics
In 1992, Ilya Klebanov was a member of the Council of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs under the Government of the Russian Federation, which was personally supervised by B.N. Yeltsin. It is from this place that the vertical take-off of Ilya Iosifovich’s career begins. Since 1994, he has been a member of the Presidential Entrepreneurship Council. At the same time he became a member of the boards of directors of several companies, a member of the board of trustees of the theater. Tovstonogov. Having entered the “director's lobby”, Klebanov finds great connections and favorable attitude of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, who in 1997 even mentions him as “national wealth” in his annual message.
Government work
In 1997, Ilya Klebanov received an appointment to the government of St. Petersburg: he becomes deputy prime minister. Informed sources claimed that this appointment, as well as the mention of Klebanov’s surname in the President’s speech, was planned by Anatoly Chubais. He expected that Ilya Iosifovich would soon replenish his team, but for now he needed to gain experience. In the government of Yakovlev, he held the post of first deputy and oversaw the city economy and industrial policy of St. Petersburg.
But a year later he had to move to Moscow. He received the post of Deputy Prime Minister Stepashin and began to deal with the problems of the military-industrial complex. In 1999, after the change of government, Klebanov retains his post under V.V. Putin. In 2000, when Putin became president, Mikhail Kasyanov became prime minister, Ilya Iosifovich again remained in his chair. In 2001, he received an additional post and became the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology of the Russian Federation. In 2002, Klebanov was removed from the post of Deputy Prime Minister, retaining the post of Minister. In 2003, he had to vacate this place.
Authorized representative
In November 2003, Ilya Iosifovich Klebanov ceded his ministerial chair to the good friend A. Fursenko, and he received a new position. President Putin appoints him as his plenipotentiary in the Northwestern Federal District. So he returned to St. Petersburg. Experts said that it was an “honorable exile” by Klebanov for his conflicts with circles close to the government. In parallel, Ilya Iosifovich was a member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. After the presidency was occupied by D. Medvedev, Klebanov retained his post. And only in 2011 he was relieved of these duties in connection with the transition to a new job.
Sovcomflot
In 2011, he became the head of Sovcomflot, the largest Russian shipping company. This company was established by the government of the Russian Federation, and in its hands is the bulk of the sea transportation of gas in Russia. Its tanker fleet has more than 200 units. Ilya Iosifovich Klebanov, for whom Sovcomflot became a platform for the application of his forces, actively set about establishing relations with various foreign partners. Since there is a powerful administrative resource behind it, the company quite easily manages to get large contracts for the delivery of gas by sea from Russia to partner countries.
Business
Many people who know the surname of a politician have a question: "Ilya Iosifovich Klebanov, where is it now?" The average layman is unlikely to be able to answer him. And business people will probably say that he is now a big businessman. Leaving government posts, he took up the development of the family fishing business, which earlier, not without his help, had acquired a daughter, Catherine and her husband. Today, several companies controlled by Klebanov have an annual turnover of 6 billion rubles.
Compromising evidence
Ilya Klebanov has repeatedly become the object of various attacks and investigations. He was accused that during his time at LOMO he was involved in the sale of technology to competing companies, but this information was not officially confirmed. Journalists claimed that during his deputy prime minister he lobbied the interests of V. Potanin and the Jewish community, helped them take over companies in different regions of the country. In 2016, three offshore companies associated with Klebanov’s name were discovered in documents known as the “Panama dossier”. Comments from Ilya Iosifovich did not follow.
Awards
For his government life, Ilya Klebanov received such awards as an honorary diploma of the President of the Russian Federation, the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, Honor, and For Merit to St. Petersburg. He is the current state adviser to the Russian Federation of the first class.
