Zurabov Mikhail Yuryevich held many high posts during his life, but the period of his leadership of the Pension Fund was perhaps the most memorable. It was also not an easy part for him to represent the interests of our state on Ukrainian soil during the coup on the Maidan and the civil war. Since the beginning of 2010, he is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to this former fraternal Soviet republic.
List of posts previously held by Zurabov
Prior to his appointment as ambassador, Zurabov was an adviser to the Russian president from 2008 to 2009 (at that time D. Medvedev held this post). A year earlier, he was an adviser to the previous head of state - V.V. Putin.
From 2004 to 2007, he was Minister of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation. From 2000 to 2004, he was chairman of the Pension Fund.
1999 - work as an adviser in the field of social issues for the Russian President B. N. Yeltsin.
1998 - Deputy Minister of Health of Russia.
He was one of the main founders of the insurance companies "Max" and "Max M".
1990 - 1992 - Director of Converse Bank.
Zurabov Mikhail Yuryevich has the title of candidate of economic sciences. He was the main initiator, and then the direct executor of reforms in the pension and medical spheres, as well as the monetization of preferential payments.
Mikhail Zurabov, biography
The future statesman was born on November 3, 1953 in the Northern capital. In the family of a senior official of the Ministry of Morphlot of the Soviet Union, Zurabov, Yuri Grigoryevich and Engelina Robertovna, a microbiologist, doctor of biological sciences.
My father was engaged in the development of international space systems for the emergency rescue of ships and aircraft Compass-Sarsat.
Zurabov Mikhail Yuryevich, whose nationality of the parents sometimes caused various insinuations in the press, studied at the specialized physics and mathematics school No. 239 until 1970, then entered one of the faculties of the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport, from where he left a year later by transferring to the Moscow Institute of Management for Economic Cybernetics where he studied until 1975.
In 1981 he graduated from graduate school (Institute for System Studies of the State Committee for Science and Technology). He became a candidate of economic sciences only in 1982 already at the Research Institute Orgtekhstroy-11.
Start of work
Immediately after graduating from the Moscow Institute of Management, Zurabov Mikhail got a job as an assistant, and a little later as an engineer, at the Faculty of Economic Cybernetics in the same educational institution.
From 1981 to 1982, he worked as a teacher in the classrooms of the Moscow installation college, then he headed the industry laboratory at the Research and Design Institute for Installation Technology.
In 1986, he went to Chernobyl as an installation specialist for liquidation work. There he met Yevgeny Adamov, a leading nuclear scientist, who at that time held the post of director at the Research and Design Institute for Energy Engineering, and later was appointed minister, who was in charge of the union nuclear industry.
Some media outlets have noted that Zurabov, as a cyber economist, has taken up the post of deputy director for economics in the Mospromtekhmontazh trust since 1988 on the recommendation of Adamov.
Work at Converse Bank
Since 1990, the direction of his work has changed somewhat. The Minatom of the Soviet Union established Converse Bank in 1989, where a year later Mikhail Zurabov was appointed the head.
The bank serviced representatives of subsidiaries of the Ministry of Atomprom, and it was also created to provide Soviet conversion atomic programs.
A year later, the foreign exchange financial management department in this bank was headed by Zurabov’s younger brother, Alexander, who later, from 1996 to 1999, was chairman of the board of directors of MENATEP, and in 2003 he headed the board of directors of Aeroflot.
Work in the medical field
Since 1992, Zurabov began to create the insurance company "Max", which he began to lead. According to reports, E. Adamov also entered the founders of this structure.
Since 1994, Zurabov also became the head of the Max M medical insurance company.
The Moscow government gave the company in 1996 several state orders, in particular for preferential housing insurance.
Since 1997, this company received the rights of the general insurer of the Ministry of Atomic Industry.
Since May 1998, Zurabov was appointed First Deputy Minister of Health in the Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Sergei Kiriyenko.
Many again saw in the promotion of Zurabov to this position a patronage of E. Adamov, who is the minister of the Russian nuclear industry in this office.
After the cabinet was headed by Evgeny Primakov, in October 1998, Zurabov had to resign from the government.
In November 1998, he became an adviser to Russian President Yeltsin, overseeing social issues.
Pension Fund Management
Since May 2000, Zurabov headed the Pension Fund of Russia. He led the implementation of the pension reform, which began in 2002.
The result was the replacement of the distribution pension system with a funded one, when a significant part of the pension funds was able to be transferred to a private company for further management.
Experts and the media evaluated the result of the reform of the pension system very negatively. A rather low percentage of participation of ordinary Russians in it was noted.
Return to Government
The head of government, M. Fradkov, in March 2004 again appointed Zurabov to the post of minister, entrusting him with the country's health and social development.
At the initiative of Zurabov, in 2005, the country began monetization of benefits: the replacement of in-kind benefits with monetary compensation. Federal Law No. 122 of 2004 served as the legislative basis for this reform.
The implementation of the monetization mechanism has been met with mixed ambiguity by society. At the beginning of 2005, a wave of protests took place, both spontaneous and organized. Reforms were opposed not only by opposition forces, but also by ordinary citizens.
The press often accused Zurabov of lobbying for the interests of commercial structures involved in the insurance and medical business in which he previously worked.
For example, it was suggested that when implementing the program on additional drug support from the state, medicines were purchased from companies related to Zurabov. Moreover, the cost of the drug was often higher than the market.
Arrest of Zurabov's partners
In the fall of 2006, Andrei Taranov, a former Zurab partner, was arrested, who was his deputy at Max from 1994 to 1998, and then became director of the MHIF Fund. He took the last post, presumably, under the patronage of Zurabov.
The prosecutor's office charged Taranov with taking a bribe and spending budget funds in an inappropriate way.
In addition to Taranov, his deputies were arrested: Dmitry Shilyaev, Natalya Klimova, Dmitry Usenko and the chief accountant of the fund, Galina Bykova.
When the leadership of the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund controlled by Zurabov was arrested, some deputies and public figures recommended that he voluntarily resign, but he did not resign.
A new wave of criticism
In the beginning of 2007, deputies again began to sharply criticize Zurabov. Due to errors in the budget planning process for the supplementary drug provision program, many beneficiaries were not able to get expensive drugs. Among them were many people with serious illnesses.
The minister also proposed such a mechanism for the pension scheme, which some experts gave the name "theft of finances among ordinary citizens."
In April 2007, the State Duma gave an unsatisfactory assessment of the work of Minister Zurabov and came up with a proposal to divide his ministry into a department for health and social development.
At the same time, the United Russia faction managed to block the idea of the minister’s resignation.
Given the fact that Fradkov made a request for the deprivation of authority of the entire Cabinet of Ministers, from 12.09.2007 Zurabov moved into the category of Interim Ministerial Minister.
This request was substantiated by the Prime Minister with the intention of giving the head of state more freedom in personnel decisions ahead of the upcoming election campaigns.
Putin's resignation was accepted, but he asked members of the government to temporarily remain in their posts.
In the new cabinet, headed by V. Zubkov, Zurabov was replaced by Tatyana Golikova, who previously worked as the first deputy of the Ministry of Finance.
Appointment to new posts
Since October 2007, Zurabov was appointed to the post of presidential adviser. It is noteworthy that there were no official reports about this.
After the re-election of the president in 2008, the new head of state, D. Medvedev, who took office, reassigned Zurabov to the post of his adviser.
In 2009, V. Chernomyrdin left the embassy post in Ukraine. Since 2010, the ambassador of Russia to Ukraine - Mikhail Zurabov. Then he received the appointment of a special presidential representative, called to develop trade and economic relations between the two states.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Deputies of the parliament periodically hear Zurabov’s accusations of poor competence in the current post. The Duma faction of the Communists said that nothing was done on its part to timely prevent the strengthening of anti-Russian sentiments in the once fraternal republic.
The role of Mikhail Zurabov in the Maidan in Ukraine is evaluated negatively.
In March 2015, deputies Valery Rashkin and Sergey Obukhov requested the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address the head of state with a proposal to remove Zurabov from the post of ambassador.
In their deputy request, they not only seriously criticize the work of the ambassador, but also declare the failure of the Russian political course in Ukraine.
In December 2015, the media reported that the Ukrainian side unexpectedly expressed concern about the Russian after, in particular, proposals for expanding its powers were sent to Russia through diplomatic channels, although relations between the two countries remained extremely tense.
Poroshenko allegedly wanted Mikhail Zurabov (ambassador to Ukraine) to be included in the negotiating contact group from the Russian side instead of Azamat Kulmukhamedov.
Some political scientists see the reason for this in the low efficiency of the current Russian ambassador, which suits the Ukrainian leadership. Not only that, he was unable to respond in advance to the onset of the second Maidan and the coup. Information appears in the press that for a long period of time, events called "embassy evenings", funded by the Ukrainian president, where, under the cover of historical discussions, representatives of the liberal Russian opposition met with Ukrainian nationalists in chic Kiev multi-star hotel conference rooms, were initiated by Mikhail Zurabov. Nationality, religion of the participants in these meetings did not matter, but everyone necessarily had a one-sided worldview, justifying the events taking place in Ukraine.
According to unconfirmed reports, with the patronage of Poroshenko, Zurabov has something like a pharmacy business.
