Viktor Alekseyevich Zubkov ( rus, Ви́ктор Алексе́евич Зубко́в, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ zʊpˈkof; born 15 September 1941) is a Russian civil servant, politician and businessman who served as the 36th

Prime Minister of Russia The prime minister of the Russian Federation, also domestically stylized as the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation and widely recognized as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia and the second highest ranking ...

from September 2007 to May 2008. He was

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

's First Deputy Prime Minister during the presidency of

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

. A

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

who held various positions in the

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

under the Soviet regime, he later served as advisor to Cabinet Ministers. Zubkov was a

financial crime Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud (cheque fraud, credit card f ...

investigator until he was nominated on 12 September 2007 by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

to replace Prime Minister

Mikhail Fradkov Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov ( rus, Михаи́л Ефи́мович Фрадко́в, p=mʲɪxɐˈil jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ frɐtˈkof; born 1 September 1950) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 2004 to 2007. An Ind ...

, who had resigned earlier that day. The nomination was approved in the

Duma A duma () is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were formed across Russia ...

on 14 September 2007. On 7 May 2008 Zubkov's cabinet was automatically dismissed. This procedure, following an

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

of the

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

is required by the Russian Constitution. After Putin became prime minister, Zubkov was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation. Now in his 80's Zubkov is still the current

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...

, Russia's largest corporation and one of the largest oil and natural gas companies in the world.

Life and career

Born in

Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...

, Zubkov graduated from the Economic Department of the

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Agriculture Institute in 1972. In 1966, he was drafted to the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

for an 18-month term. From 1967 to 1985, he worked on leading positions in

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

es of

. From 1985 to 1991, he occupied several leading positions in the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

in Leningrad Oblast: Chairman of the Priozersk City Executive Committee, First Secretary of the Priozersk City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and head of the Department of Agriculture and Food Industry and the Agricultural Department of the Regional Committee of the CPSU. He was also First Deputy Chairman of the Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee from 1989 to 1991. From January 1992 to November 1993, he was a deputy Chairman of the External Relations Committee of the Saint Petersburg Mayor Office led by

. From 3 November 1993 to 30 November 1998, Zubkov was the Chief of the Saint Petersburg Department of the State Tax Inspection and simultaneously a Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Inspection for Saint Petersburg. In December 1998, during the term of Yevgeny Primakov's Cabinet the State Tax Inspection was reorganized into the Tax Ministry of Russia and Zubkov's deputy head position was abolished, but he was immediately reappointed Chief of the Saint Petersburg Directorate of the Tax Ministry. On 23 July 1999, Zubkov was appointed Deputy Tax Minister of Russia for the Northwestern region. In a few days he was also appointed Chief of the Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast Directorate of the Tax Ministry. On 12 August 1999, he was registered as a contender in the

governor election, assisted by Boris Gryzlov as his election campaign manager, but lost the election to Valeriy Serdyukov on 19 September 1999, with 8.64 percent of the vote (4th place out of 16). On 5 November 2001, he left his positions in the Tax Ministry and was appointed First Deputy

Finance Minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

of Russia and Chairman of the Financial Monitoring Committee of the ministry, aimed to fight

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

. On 16 March 2004, after the dismissal of Mikhail Kasyanov's Cabinet, the Financial Monitoring Committee was renamed to Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Finance Ministry, but Zubkov retained his position in Mikhail Fradkov's First Cabinet and Mikhail Fradkov's Second Cabinet. In a 2006 survey of political experts, Zubkov was ranked as Russia's 84th most influential politician. Zubkov's daughter is married to Anatoly Serdyukov, the former Russian Defense Minister.

Prime minister

On 12 September 2007,

proposed his candidacy for the post of

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and on 14 September, the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

approved him in the post (he was voted 381 MP). Zubkov resigned 8 May 2008, after

became president. Some Kremlinologists viewed Zubkov as one more technical prime minister, interpreting the move as a way to renew a competition between possible successors. Another theory suggested that Putin chose a man of unquestioning loyalty to help him control powerful factions jostling for position inside the Kremlin. Another clue to his usefulness lies in Zubkov's experience under Putin as the man leading the fight against

. Putin said that there were five people who can run for president and can be elected, including Zubkov. On 13 September, Zubkov himself said he might run for President of Russia in 2008. However, in December 2007, Putin officially gave his support to

for the 2008 presidential election, effectively dashing Zubkov's hopes for the presidency. After Medvedev took office, Zubkov succeeded him as Chairman of Gazprom. Zubkov and Orban

Sanction

He was sanctioned by the UK government on 24 February 2023 in relation to the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

Honours and awards

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

** 1st class ** 2nd class (19 September 2008) - for his great personal contribution to the economic policy of the state and many years of fruitful activity ** 3rd class (9 May 2006) - for outstanding contribution to protecting the economic interests of the Russian Federation and many years of diligent work ** 4th class (11 April 2000) - for services to the state and a major contribution to the implementation of economic reforms * Ceremonial dagger *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

(1981) *

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

(1975) * Medal "Veteran of Labour" (1986) * Honored Economist of the Russian Federation (16 September 2001) - for services in the field of economics and finance * Diploma of the Government of the Russian Federation (1998) * Honorary Citizen of the Leningrad Region (2009) *

Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow The Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow () is an award of the Russian Orthodox Church, established in 1988. There are three classes. History The Order was created by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Pimen I, and the Holy Synod of 28 ...

, 1st class (Russian Orthodox Church, 2011)

Notes

References

External links

* *
Biography
by Vladimir Pribylovsky
Profile
at

Profile: Viktor Zubkow
at ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', 12 September 2007 * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Zubkov, Viktor 1941 births 20th-century Russian politicians 21st-century Russian politicians Living people 1st class Active State Councillors of the Russian Federation People from Kushva Acting prime ministers of the Russian Federation Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Heads of government of the Russian Federation Gazprom people Our Home – Russia politicians Full Cavaliers of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" Recipients of the Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions