Biography:

 

Viktor Zubkov was born on September 15, 1941 in the village of Arbat, Kushvinsky district of Sverdlovsk Oblast.

The first place of work of Vladimir Zubkov was Monchegorsk repair and engineering factory. He worked as an apprentice mechanic in the engine shop, there he gad got qualification of mechanic of the 3rd cathegory, and later was transferred to the mine "Nittis-Kumuzhe.

In 1960, Zubkov entered the economics department of the Leningrad Agricultural Institute in the town of Pushkin, Leningrad Oblast, where he met his future wife, Zoya Zubkova.

In 1965, after graduation, Zubkov was drafted into the army, served in Pushkin. In 1967, he worked as Deputy Director for General Affairs in the State Farm "Krasnaya Slavyanka" in the Gatchina district of Leningrad Oblast.

In 1982, Zubkov was appointed CEO of the agricultural association "Pervomayskoe”, the parent company of the Priozersky area.

In August 1985 Victor Zubkov worked in senior positions in the Soviet and Party organs of Leningrad Oblast: in 1985-86 years he was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Priozersky City Council of People's Deputies; in the spring of 1986 he was appointed First Secretary of CPSU Priozersky City Committee. In 1987, Zubkov was appointed Head of the Department of Agriculture and Food Industry of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, and in 1989 - First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad Regional Council of People's Deputies. In the Executive Committee Zubkov was also responsible for agriculture.

In September 1991, at the suggestion of St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak, Zubkov was appointed as the representative of Russian President Boris Yeltsin in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast; in November 1991 - became deputy chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia at the suggestion of Ruslan Khasbulatov, and in December 1992 - became deputy Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.

In early 1992, Zubkov was the head of AOZT "Etamarket", which founders were the administration of the Leningrad region, Kirishsk Biochemical Plant, Concern “Leninets", “Phosphorit”. In the same year, Zubkov was replaced at the helm of "Etamarketa" by the CEO of Concern “Leninets” Anatoly Turchak.

In January 1992, Zubkov was deputy chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee (FRC), St. Petersburg City Hall ayor, headed by Vladimir Putin then - in the City Hall Zubkov supervised agriculture.

November 3, 1993 - Zubkov was appointed Deputy Chief of Head of State Tax Service of Russia and head of the State Tax Inspection in St. Petersburg - post Zubkov received at the protection of Putin. In December 1993, at the initiative of Mr. Zubkov an economic council was created under the State Tax Inspection in St. Petersburg.

In May 1995, Zubkov joined the movement "Our Home - Russia", Chairman of the Board of the St. Petersburg Branch of the movement was Vladimir Putin.

In December 1998 the State Tax Service was transformed into the Ministry of Taxes and Levies, and in July 1999, after the reorganization of the government, Zubkov was not only leader of the joint management of Taxation in the city of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, but also the deputy head of the ministry, which was then Alexander Pochinok. As Deputy Zubkov was in charge of 12 North-West regions: Republic of Karelia and Komi, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Kirov, Leningrad, Murmansk, Novgorod and Pskov Oblast, Nenets Autonomous District and Saint Petersburg.

November 5, 2001 Zubkov was appointed the first deputy finance minister of Russia and became the head of the newly formed committee for Financial Monitoring (CFM).

March 16, 2004 Zubkov was appointed head of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (FSFM, or the Rosinfmonitoring) under the Ministry of Finance, which was headed by Kudrin in the government of Mikhail Fradkov.

September 12, 2007, President Putin at the request of Fradkov dismissed the government of Russia. On the same day, the president proposed the appointment of Zubkov as the new Prime Minister. State Duma approved Zubkov as chairman of the Russian government - 381 deputies voted "fors", and 47 members of parliament voted “nays”, 8 of them abstained

October 15, 2007 Zubkov was approved as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union State of Russia and Belarus.

May 7, 2008, immediately after the resignation of Russian President Putin, Zubkov dismissed the government and became acting Prime Minister.

May 12, 2008 - Putin appointed Zubkov as First Deputy Chairman of the Russian government - he was charged with the implementation of national projects on agriculture, development and realization of state policy in the field of fisheries, as well as the development of forestry and agro-industrial complex.

Since September 4, 2007 - permanent member of Security Council of Russia;

27 June of that year, Zubkov was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO “Gazprom”, head of the board Alexey Miller was elected Deputy of Zubkov.

In December 2008, Zubkov was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO “Rosagroleasing".

Since January 11, 2010 - Deputy Chairman of the Joint Governmental Commission for Economic Development and Integration; head of the subcommittee on customs-tariff and nontariff regulation, protective measures in foreign trade

Zubkov is the state tax service advisor of I rank, holds a Ph.D. in economics. He was awarded “the Badge of Honor "(1975)," Red Banner of Labor "(1981),"Merit” IV degree (2000), and III (2006), as well as the medal" Veteran of Labour "(1986) and honorary Diploma of the RF Government (1998).

Viktor Zubkov is married. His only daughter is married to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov

Sources: “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” № 217 (2829) on 03.11.2001, www.lenta.ru, www. interfax.ru from 12.05.2008.

 

Dossiers:

 

The first publication in the press about Viktor Zubkov appeared in 1992 when he became deputy chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, St. Petersburg City Hall, headed by Vladimir Putin. They wrote that Zubkov had been taken for that job in order to get the German credits allocated to the organization of farmers for the demobilized Soviet officers who served in Germany. A struggle for loans burst between the urban and regional government - officials of the Leningrad Oblast did not want to give their land for farming and horticulture of the Mayor of St. Petersburg. Zubkov was able to attract professionals to the town hall, who were professionally versed in agriculture, and was able to convince influential official of the Government of Leningrad Oblast become an ally of City Hall, bringing the city the loans.

Sources: "Novaya Gazeta» № 71 dated 17.09.2007, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta» № 217 (2829) on 03.11.2001.

 

The press wrote that Zubkov could be involved in barter scandal, which occurred in St. Petersburg in 1992. At that time, he was Deputy, Vladimir Putin on Agriculture, who had been heading the Committee on Foreign Relations in the City Hall in St. Petersburg. In connection with the food crisis, the city government decided to purchase products abroad in exchange for natural resources. It later emerged that the city had had undelivered 11.5 million dollars of food, and the license for the export of natural resources had been given to intermediary firms, which had been constantly changing. At the same time, the fly-by-night companies were associated with City Hall officials. Journalists assumed that Viktor Zubkov was a member of the commission, which had issued licenses to the firms-intermediaries, and he knew about the barter schemes, because of which the city had been receiving less food, and apparently had profited from it.

Source: "Novaya Gazeta” № 71 dated 17.09.2007.

 

Zubkov entered the circle of associates of Vladimir Putin during the Committee on Foreign Relations. They wrote that Zubkov helped Putin and some other influential persons to buy plots in Priozersk district of Leningrad Oblast. Thanks to the efforts of Viktor Zubkov Dacha-Consumer Cooperative "Ozero” was formed, in which the current Chief of Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, Education Minister Andrey Fursenko, co-owner of the bank "Russia" Yury Kovalchuk, former head of the Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Cherkesov, Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev purchased dachas.

Sources: Kommersant № 105 (2708) on 20.06.2003

 

Conflict accompanied Zubkov's nomination for the post of deputy chief of the head of the State Tax Service of Russia and head of the State Tax Inspection in St. Petersburg in November 1993. Once Zubkov took office, his predecessor, Dmitry Filippov was reinstated as head of the State Tax Inspection in St. Petersburg by the court decision, with the compensation of 275,000 rubles a month of enforced idleness. The reason for the unfair dismissal of Filippov was called verification by the Property Fund, based on it the tax brought suit in the amount of 500 million rubles against the Fund, but had no documents to prove such a sum. Filippov said that his resignation was political, as he had planned to conduct checks in all the Russian Property Fund. Filippov could not return as head of tax services in St. Petersburg, as it had been formally altered for Zubkov's nomination (moreover, Zubkov became leader and deputy chief of the State Tax Service of Russia, Vladimir Gusev). Filippov again brought to court and sued for about two years, won all the processes, so that he was reinstated as the head of the Tax Inspection in St. Petersburg; however Philipov did not require dismissal of Zubkov, but wrote a statement to dismiss him from the inspection of his own volition, as by that time he had become Chairman of the board of directors in the Petersburg Fuel Company controlled by the leader of the Tambovskaya criminal group Vladimir Barsukof.

Sources: "Izvestiya” № 204 from 02.11.2001, "Profil” № 3 (370) on 26.01.2004, "Pravda” № 99 dated 31.05.1995, "Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti” on 28.04.1994

 

In late 1998, Viktor Zubkov gained nickname "Vityok - give back a million." So they called him because Zubkov created an Office in the tax department - to monitor the large income individuals, and during the first year he managed to file criminal charges against more than 500 serious people who have violated tax laws.

Sources: " Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti” № 244 (1890) on 24.11.1998, " Izvestiya“ № 204 of 02.11.2001

 

They reported about Viktor Zubkov in 1999, when he unexpectedly announced his desire to participate in elections for the post of Governor of Leningrad Oblast. His campaign headquarters was headed by Boris Gryzlov, the assistance was provided by first deputy director of the FSB Viktor Cherkesov, the later offered several companies to finance the election campaign of Zubkov. Zubkov was helped financially by the head Novatek, Gennady Timchenko, by the leadership of "Surgutneftegaz", and the main shareholder of the bank "Rossia" Yuri Kovalchuk. According to documents, Zubkov was the candidate of the party “Democratic Choice of Russia", but the press wrote about constant presence of representatives of special services at his headquarters. Zubkov took the 4th place in the elections and, in the opinion of journalists, he was very pleased with that fact. It was said that his goal was not to beat Valery Serdyukov (which was good enough for members of the Government of the RF), but to withdraw the votes of the former head of the Oblast Vadim Gustov, since the Moscow authorities did not approve his election. Zubkov met the challenge. However, during the election campaign he appeared to be ridiculed because of the pictures of him with meaningless slogans which were printed on his campaign materials - boxes of matches.

Sources: "Moskovsky Komsomolets" from 15.09.2007, www. gazeta.ru on 01.09.2003, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta» № 217 (2829) on 03.11.2001, "Profi” № 3 (370) on 26.01.2004, www. igpi.ru

 

The name of Viktor Zubkov was mentioned on the site of the supporters of the leader of National Bolshevists, Eduard Limonov. The submission stated that some influential Muscovites put pressure on the Director General of OAO "Kirishinefteorgsintez” Vadim Somov to force him to finance the election campaign of Zubkov to the post of the head of the Leningrad region. They wrote that Somov did fund a significant amount of money for the campaign, but Valery Serdyukov was elected the governor.

Source: www.nbp-info.ru

 

In 1999, Zubkov, together with the head of the regional headquarters of “Edinstvo" in St. Petersburg, Boris Gryzlov, became one of the leaders of the Interregional Movement" “Edinstvo" by leading the political council of the organization. According to some reports, the initiative group of "Unity"in Petersburg used the name of Zubkov to obtain funding for large enterprises of St.Petersburg. A year later, Zubkov resigned as chairman of the political council. According to one version, Zubkov was depressed by constant conflicts among the members of the faction. According to another, Zubkov's resignation was caused by the publications appearing in the press about some letters received by CEOs of large St. Petersburg companies. Those letters were written on behalf of Zubkov and allegedly contained appeals to financially support "Edinstvo" in exchange for high protection in the future.

Source: “Izvestiya” № 204 of 02.11.2001

 

In November 2001, Zubkov was appointed First Deputy Minister of Finance of Russia and head of the Committee for Financial Monitoring (CFM). The latter structure was created to exclude Russia from the so-called "black list” of FATF, which contained the countries that had not been fighting with money laundering and terrorism financing. Subsequently, Russia was excluded from the "black list" and became a full member of FATF. There were lists of individuals in respect of which there was information about their involvement in extremist activity that were considered to be among the merits of Zubkov - they were called "Lists of Zubkov”. For 2006, the list of international terrorists included 317 individuals and 112 organizations, and the list of criminals - 1306 individuals and 21 organizations.

Sources: “Kommersant” № 186 (2555) on 12.10.2002, “Kommersant” № 202 (2332) on 02.11.2001, "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" on 07.02.2002

 

The press talked about the possible appointment of Viktor Zubkov for the post of presidential ambassador in the Northwestern Federal District. They named the following lobbyists - assistant to the president, former KGB officer - Viktor Ivanov and former director of the Federal Service for Drug Control - Viktor Cherkesov. But eventually Ilya Klebanov became the ambassador, while the press stated that Moscow officials were preparing Viktor Zubkov for some responsible job.

Source: "Profil” № 3 (370) from 26.01.2004

 

At his time, Viktor Zubkov had a serious conflict to the banking community. As head of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (FSFM), he proposed to reduce circulation of hard currency in Russia and to oblige everybody use plastic cards, in order to solve the problem of money laundering. Zubkov proposed to allow his department to freeze the accounts of companies suspected of money laundering for up to 45 days and he instructed all the banks to prepare a program to reduce cash payments. For several years the Office of Zubkov has uncovered dozens of major money laundering schemes, resulting in more than 60 banks were deprived of their licenses. At one of the parliamentary hearings the leader of the faction"United Russia" Boris Gryzlov suggested deprive the Central Bank of Russia of oversight functions and transfer them to the Office of Viktor Zubkov - Federal Financial Monitoring Service. Chairman of the Banking Committee of the State Duma Vladislav Reznik supported Gryzlov in this issue; he was closely linked with international criminal leaders Alexander Malyshev and Gennady Petrov. The idea was supported by the Russian government and by the presidential administration - only banking community was against.

Sources: www. politika.su, «Rossiyskaya Gazeta» № 596 from 20.03.2007, "Kommersant, Saint-Petersburg» № 228 (3312) on 03.12.2005, "Kommersant" dated 04.12.2005, "Kommersant" dated 21.02.2007.

 

In 2007 there was an open conflict between Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and Vice-Premier, Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin. at a meeting of the Government Zubkov raised an issue of the loss of one billion rubles earmarked to Sakhalin, thus he indirectly accused Kudrin. In turn, Kudrin said that no billion had been earmarked to Sakhalin and publicly stated that the resignation of Viktor Zubkov from the post of the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit was a settled matter and that he was going to take place in the Federation Council. That was not the first conflict with the office of Kudrin – previously, Zubkov had entered into conflict with the Finance Ministry and Central Bank for banking supervision. The press reports speculated that the conflicts between Kudrin and Zubkov had been arising not only on business matters, but also because of personal animosity.

Source: www.politcom.ru of 14.12.2007

 

In March 2007, press publications began to appear on Viktor Zubkov's possible resignation the post of head of Rosfinmonitoring, as his place was intended for Vice Zubkov, Oleg Markov. They said that Zubkov was going to become Senator from the Omsk Oblast, because the age limit of stay in government service was limited to 65 years, thus such transfer to the Senator would be the most gentle way for his resignation. There was also an opinion that Viktor Zubkov's resignation as head of Rosfinmonitoring was related to his conflict with the Central Bank. But the appointment to the post of senator did not take place. In February 2008, in the press there is information on the resignation of the government of Viktor Zubkov – they wrote that Putin planned to take the post of Prime Minister after the elections of Dmitry Medvedev as President of the country.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 20.02.2008, Kommersant, 21.03.2007. - № 45 (3621), Kommersant, 15.06.2007. - № 102 (3678)

 

They wrote that Viktor Zubkov helped his brother-in-law- Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov - and set the right people in government departments and state companies.

Source: Vedomosti on 13.09.2007.

 

Viktor Zubkov was in the center of an intrigue of the weapons purchase for the army. In 2007, the head of “Rostekhnologii” Viktor Chemezov suggested his department functions of arms procurement. Zubkov, as Prime Mminister, immediately endorsed Chemezov, but at the same time began to lobby his brother in-law of Anatoly Serdyukov to be appointed the head of Rostekhnologii instead of Chemezov. Chemezov was offered the post of Minister of Defence but it did not suit him. Then Chemezov withdrew his proposal, and the state-owned corporation did not receive the function of procurement for the Army.

Source: www.polit.ru from 27.11.2007

 

The press highlighted the instruction given byVladimir Putin to Viktor Zubkov in July 2008 – that was making a draft decree on the establishment of the Federal Service - Rosalkogol for controlling trafficking of alcoholic beverages production. Some Duma deputies expressed their support for such solutions, assuming that the new structure could cope with counterfeiting and improve tax collection. Other MPs opposed the creation of "Rosalkogol", explaining that Viktor Zubkov was not able to cope with the challenge, put by Vladimir Putin - as the cause of counterfeiting lied in the social distress of the population, and Rosalkogol could not solve the problem

Source: Kommersant, 13.11.2008 - № 206 (4023) Kommentarii.ru, 14.11.2008

 

In December 2009, the press discussed the conflict that had arisen between Viktor Zubkov and Presidential Assistant Arkady Dvorkovich. The latter suspended the law of Viktor Zubkov on State Regulation of Trade and turned to the presidential administration with a letter in which he claimed to the rules proposed by Zubkov and his supporters. Russian retail chains also accused Zubkov - of lobbying for the interests of large foreign retailers, including Ashan, Metro and others and talked about the threat to their business. In the context of discussing the law on trade, Dvorkovich was called a supporter of modernization and the policy of President Dmitry Medvedev, and Zubkov - an opponent of modernization and a supporter of the Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.

Source: "Kommersant" from 09.12.2009

 

In February 2010, publications appeared in the press about the fact that Agriculture Minister Elena Skrynnik was about to quit the membership of the Board of Directors in "Rosagroleasing” and Rosselkhozbank, and certain people surrounding Viktor Zubkov were to be appointed to managerial positions there. The reason for Skrynnik's dismissal was her conflict with Zubkov. Zubkov was dissatisfied with the process of budget allocation in the special state Program of Development. As a result, Skrynnik was withdrawn from the board of directors in Rosagroleasing and Roselhozbank, and thus the ministry was left in isolation; and then at the direction of Viktor Zubkov, the state commission was sent there to conduct inspections. Viktor Zubkov personally led the new composition of the Supervisory Board of Rosselkhozbank, the bank itself was headed by the eldest son of former head of the FSB, Nikolay Patrushev - Dmitry. The following people of Zubkov had got new appointments in Rosagroleasing and Rosselkhozbank - head of Rosfinmonitoring Yuri Chikhanchin, Director of the Department of agricultural industry of Government - Igor Rudenya, and head of the secretariat of Viktor Zubkov - Tatiana Kulkina.

Source: Vedomosti on 25.05.2010.