Anatoly Chubais is a politician and economist from the Belarusian city of Borisov. He started out as a teacher at the same university where he had studied at the “Leningrad Institute of Engineering and Economics” (LEEI). He started a small group called Reforma while he was an assistant professor. This economist’s political dreams took off with the help of an organization that wrote new laws. Along with his brother Igor, he also started groups like “The Young Economists” and a branch of the “Perestroyka Club.” The goal of all of these groups was to bring together smart people who believe the same things about the “market economy.” Soon, this economist became more well-known, and he got a job working for the leader of the “Leningrad City Council.” From there, this visionary started putting in place Free Economic Zones and, later, privatizing Russian industries. He moved up in politics and became the country’s, Deputy Prime Minister. Even though he is still seen by many as one of the most important people in the Russian economy, this politician and his reforms have received a lot of criticism because they created a divide between the classes. He is now retired and works as a financial advisor to some of the biggest names in the business.
Early years and childhood
Boris Matveyevich Chubais and Raisa Efimovna Sagal had Anatoly Borisovich Chubais on June 16, 1955, in the Belarusian city of Borisov.
Boris was an official in the army during World War II. After the war, he went on to teach Scientific Communism and Philosophy. Raisa used to work as an economist, but when she had a child, she chose to stay at home. The couple also had a philosopher son named Igor.
In 1977, the young boy finished his higher education at what is now called the “Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics” (LEEI, or “Leningrad Institute of Engineering and Economics”). He joined the “Communist Party of the Soviet Union” in the city that same year.
Anatoly Chubais’s Career
In 1982, Anatoly began working as an Associate Professor at his old school, LEEI.
In the same year, he worked with economists Grigory Glazkov and Yury Yarmagayev to write an article called “Questions of Expanding the Autonomy of Business Enterprises under the Conditions of Scientific and Technological Progress” (Questions of Increasing the Autonomy of Business Enterprises under the Conditions of Scientific and Technological Progress). The article tried to prove the idea that central planning can’t figure out what people will want to buy in the end.
During that time, the young economist met Yegor Gaidar, who later became Russia’s Prime Minister. Gaidar started going to Chubais’s lectures often not long after he started going.
The Russian economist got his Ph.D. in Economics in 1983 for his thesis, which was called “Research and Development of Methods for the Planned Improvement of Management in Industrial Research and Development Organizations.”
In 1984, Chubais became the leader of a small group of economists in Leningrad called “The Young Economists.”
In 1987, he opened a branch of the “Perestroyka” club in Leningrad so that people could talk about democratic issues from a common intellectual point of view.
Igor, Anatoly’s brother, was one of the most important people in this branch (founder of the Moscow branch of the same club). Alexei Kudrin, Vladimir Kogan, Ilya Yuzhanov, Pyotr Mostovoy, Mikhail Manevich, and Alexander Kazakov, who wanted to run for office or run a business, were also there.
Chubais was put in charge of helping the new leader of the “Leningrad City Council,” Anatoly Sobchak, in 1990. As the deputy, he tried to carry out Sobchak’s plan to make the city a Free Economic Zone.
In 1991, the economist who became a politician broke up with the “Communist Party.” He turned down the job of Chairman of the “Leningrad City Council” and instead became an advisor to Sobchak, who was now the Mayor of the city. The economist was also named President of the “Wassily Leontief Center for Research in Economics.”
In November 1991, President Boris Yeltsin chose him to be a member of his cabinet. His job was to oversee privatization in the country. He was told to run “Rosimushchestvo,” which stands for “Committee for the Management of State Property.”
The “Congress of People’s Deputies of Russia” did not agree with his first plan for quick privatization as a way to make more money. Then he suggested using vouchers to privatize the government, which was an idea that economist Vitaly Nayshul had come up with almost eleven years ago. In a funny twist, Chubais himself had turned down the same idea.
On August 19, 1991, the proposal was made official by Boris Yeltsin, who was then the president of Russia. In the end, the program got a lot of bad press because regular people lost all their savings. The wealthy people who got richer because of privatization were called “kleptocrats” because they didn’t give anything back to the government.
Anatoly became the first “Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Policy of the Russian Federation” on June 1, 1992. The next year, he helped form a political party called “Vybor Rossii,” which means “Russia’s Choice.” It was led by Gaidar, who later became Prime Minister.
In July 1994, the well-known politician joined the governing council of the party “Democratic Choice of Russia,” which was part of “Vybor Rossii.” In the same year, Viktor Chernomyrdin chose him to be the first Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.
From 1995 to 1996, the economist represented Russia at the “Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency” (MIGA) and the “International Bank for Reconstruction and Development” (IBRD).
After he quit his job as Deputy Prime Minister in January 1996, Anatoly set up the “Center for Protection of Private Property Foundation” in July of that year.
On March 17, 1997, he was chosen again as Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
On March 23rd, 1998 the Deputy Prime Minister retired from his post and was then appointed as the Chairman of ‘RAO UES’, a government-owned electrical power company.
In the same year, he was in charge of big international meetings like the “Bilderberg Club session” in Scotland and the “Round Table of Industrialists of Russia and the European Union.”
In 2000, he joined the Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Businessmen. In Russia, he was named President of the “CIS Electric Power Council” and co-chairman of the “Coordinating Council” of the Russian political party “Union of Right Forces” in the same year.
In 2005, an attempt was made to kill this politician. Vladimir Kvachkov, a former officer in the Russian army, was arrested in connection with the case, but the jury let him go.
In May 2010, Chubais was named Chairman of the “Board of Trustees” of the “Gaidar Foundation,” which was put together by the “Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy” and Maria Strugatsky.
He is in charge of running the “Russian Nanotechnology Corporation” (RUSNANO) right now. He is on the advisory boards of well-known companies and organizations, such as JPMorgan Chase and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Works of note
This economist and politician are well known for starting the privatization process in Russia with reforms that were put into place while Boris Yeltsin was President. At first, these changes made him popular, but in the long run, they were also criticized.
When, on the one hand, people lost all of their savings and, on the other hand, the rich kept getting richer, his financial decisions were criticized.
Awards & Achievements
From 1995 to 1998, Chubais was given three presidential commendations for his important work on improving the Russian economy.
In 2001, the “International Union of Economists” gave the well-known politician an honorary diploma for his work to modernize Russia’s fiscal policies and bring about economic growth.
The national newspaper Vedomosti named the Russian economist “Professional of the Year” in 2007 for his work on privatizing the country’s economy.
The next year, the president gave him another commendation for helping to write the Russian constitution.
In 2010, the Russian Federation gave him a state decoration called the “IV degree Order for Merit to the Fatherland” for his work in nanotechnology in the country.
Personal History and Legacies
Anatoly was first married to a woman named Lyudmila, who now runs a restaurant in St. Petersburg called “Mechta Molokhovets.” They have a daughter named Olga and a son named Aleksey.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the politician left Lyudmila for Maria Vishnevskaya, an economist.
In 2012, Anatoly Chubais married Avdotia Smirnova, who is fourteen years younger than him and works as a TV host and screenwriter.
Estimated Net worth
Anatoly Chubais is one of the most popular and wealthiest politicians. Based on what we found on Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider, Anatoly Chubais has a net worth of about $28 million.
Trivia
In 1997, a British magazine called this well-known but controversial Russian politician “The World’s Best Minister of Finance.”