Zurabov Mikhail Yuryevich, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in Ukraine: Biography

Zurabov Mikhail Yuryevich for his life occupied a lot of high posts, but most remembered, perhaps, the period of his leadership of the Pension Fund. It was also a difficult part 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 an extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador in this former fraternal Soviet republic.

List of positions formerly occupied by Zurabov

Prior to the appointment of Ambassador Zurabov in the period from 2008 to 2009, he was an adviser to the Russian president (at that time, this post was occupied by D. Medvedev). A year before, he had been 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. In the period from 2000 to 2004 he was chairman of the Pension Fund.

1999 - working as an adviser in the sphere of social issues with Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin.

1998 - Deputy Minister of Health of Russia.

He was one of the main founders of insurance companies "Max" and "Max M".
1990 - 1992 - Director of "Converse Bank".

Zurabov Mikhail Yuryevich holds the title of candidate of economic sciences. He was the main initiator, and then the immediate implementer of reforms in the pension and medical spheres, as well as the monetization of preferential payments.

Mikhail Zurabov, biography

A future statesman appeared on 3.11.1953 in the Northern capital. In the family of a high-ranking employee of the Ministry of Moraflot of the Soviet Union Zurabov Yuri Grigorievich 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 sea and aircraft "Compass-Sarsat."

Zurabov Mikhail Yurievich, whose parents' parents sometimes provoked various insinuations in the press, studied at the specialized physics and mathematics school No. 239 until 1970, then enrolled in one of the faculties of the Leningrad Institute of Water Transport, where he left a year later as a transfer to the Moscow Institute of Management for Economic Cybernetics , Where he studied until 1975.

In 1981 he graduated from the post-graduate course (Institute for System Studies of the State Committee for Science and Technology). He became a candidate of economic sciences only in 1982 at the Orgtechstroy-11 scientific research institute.

Start of work

Right after the end of the Moscow Institute of Management, Zurabov Mikhail got a job as an assistant, and 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 lecture rooms of the Moscow Technical School, then he directed the industrial laboratory at the Research and Design Institute for Mounting Technology.

In 1986 he traveled as a specialist in installation works in Chernobyl for liquidation works. There he met Yevgeny Adamov, a leading atomic scientist, who at that time held the post of director at the Research and Design Institute for Power Engineering, and later was appointed to the post of minister in charge of the allied nuclear industry.

Some media outlets note that Zurabov, as an economist-cybernetics, has occupied since 1988 the post of deputy director for economic issues at the trust "Mospromtekhmontazh" on the recommendation of Adamov.

Work in "Converse Bank"

Since 1990, the direction of his work has changed somewhat. Minatom of the Soviet Union established "Converse Bank" in 1989, where a year later, Zurabov Mikhail was appointed the head.

The bank serviced representatives of the subsidiaries of the Ministry of Atomic Industry, and it was also created to provide Soviet conversion nuclear programs.

A year later, the management of foreign exchange financial operations in this bank was headed by Zurabov's younger brother Alexander, who later, from 1996 to 1999, was chairman of MENATEPA's board of directors, and in 2003 he headed Aeroflot's board of directors.

Work in the medical field

Since 1992, Zurabov started creating the insurance company "Max", which he began to manage. According to reports, E. Adamov also joined the founders of this structure.

Since 1994, Zurabov also became the head of the medical insurance company "Max M".
The Moscow government gave the company in 1996 several masters, in particular, on concessional housing insurance.

Since 1997, this company has obtained 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, headed by Sergei Kiriyenko.

Many again saw in the advancement of Zurabov in this position the patronage of E. Adamov, who in this cabinet is the minister of the Russian nuclear industry.

After the Cabinet was headed by Yevgeny Primakov, Zurabov in October 1998 had to withdraw from the government.

In November 1998, he became an advisor to the Russian President Yeltsin, who oversees social issues.

Management of the Pension Fund

Since May 2000, Zurabov headed the Pension Fund of Russia. He led the implementation of the pension reform, which began in 2002.
The result of this 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 mass media, the result of reforming the pension system was assessed very negatively. There was a rather low percentage of participation in it of ordinary Russians.

Return to the government

At the head of the government, M. Fradkov again appointed Zurabov to the post of minister in March 2004, entrusting him with the health and social development of the country.

At the initiative of Zurabov, since 2005, the country began monetizing benefits: the replacement of the natural benefit with monetary compensation. As the legislative basis for this reform was Federal Law No. 122 of 2004.

The implementation of the monetization mechanism was very ambiguously met by society. In early 2005, there was a wave of protest speeches, both spontaneous and organized. Reformed not only opposition forces, but also ordinary citizens.

The press often accused Zurabov of lobbying the interests of commercial structures involved in the insurance and medical business in which he had previously worked.

For example, the opinion was expressed that during the implementation of the program on additional medicines the state purchased medicines from companies related to Zurabov. And the cost of medicine was often higher than the market price.

The arrest of Zurabov's partners

In autumn 2006, the former Zurabov partner Andrei Taranov was arrested, who was his deputy in the company "Max" from 1994 to 1998, and then became the director of the MHIF Foundation. He occupied the last post, presumably, under the patronage of Zurabov.

The prosecutor's office charged Taranov with a charge of taking bribes and spending budget funds in an inappropriate way.

In addition to Taranov, his deputies were arrested: Dmitry Shilyaev, Natalia Klimova, Dmitry Usenko and the chief accountant of the fund Galina Bykov.

When the leadership of the Mandatory Medical Insurance Fund, controlled by Zurabov, was arrested, some deputies and public figures recommended him to resign voluntarily, but he did not quit.

A new wave of criticism

In 2007, the deputies again sharply criticized Zurabov. Due to errors in the process of planning the budget for the supplementary drug provision program, many beneficiaries could not get expensive medications. Among them was a lot of people with serious illnesses.

The Minister also proposed a mechanism for the pension scheme, which some experts called "theft of finance from ordinary citizens."

In April 2007, the State Duma gave an unsatisfactory assessment of the work of Minister Zurabov and came out with a proposal to divide his ministry into a department for health and social development.

At the same time, the faction of United Russia managed to block the idea of the resignation of the minister.

Taking into account the fact that Fradkov was asked to deprive the entire cabinet of ministers of power, from September 12, 2007 Zurabov moved to the category of the Minister's VRI.

Prime Minister this request was justified by the intention to provide the head of state with more freedom in personnel decisions on the eve of the upcoming election campaigns.

Putin's resignation was accepted, but he asked the government members to temporarily remain in office.

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 positions

Since October 2007 Zurabov was appointed to the post of presidential adviser. It is noteworthy that official reports about this did not follow.
After the reelection of the president in 2008, the newly appointed head of state, D. Medvedev, reassigned Zurabov to the post of his adviser.

In 2009, Chernomyrdin left the embassy in Ukraine. Since 2010, the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine - Mikhail Zurabov. At the same time he received the appointment of a special presidential representative, called upon to develop trade and economic relations between the two states.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

On the part of the deputies of the parliament, Zurabov's accusations of weak competence in his post are heard from time to time. The Duma faction of the Communists stated that nothing had been done on its part to prevent the strengthening of anti-Russian sentiments in the once fraternal republic in a timely manner.

The role of Mikhail Zurabov in the Maidan in Ukraine is assessed from the negative side.

Deputies Valery Rashkin and Sergei Obukhov in March 2015, a request was made to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia to address the proposal to the head of state to remove Zurabov from the post of ambassador.

In their deputy's 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 noted the manifestation of concern for the Russian after, in particular, for the dipkinals to Russia, there are proposals to expand its powers, although relations between the countries remain extremely tense.

Poroshenko allegedly wanted Mikhail Zurabov (ambassador to Ukraine) to be included in the negotiating contact group on 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 the Ukrainian leadership is comfortable with. Moreover, he could not respond in advance to the onset of the second Maidan and state coup. In the press there is information that for a long period of time the events, known as "ambassadorial evenings", funded by the Ukrainian president, where, under the cover of historical discussions, representatives of the liberal Russian opposition with Ukrainian nationalists met in the chic Kiev multi-star hotel halls, Mikhail Zurabov . The nationality, the religion of the participants in these meetings did not matter, but all of them necessarily had a one-sided worldview justifying the events taking place in Ukraine.

According to unconfirmed reports, with the protection of Poroshenko, Zurabov has something like a pharmacy business.

Family status of Zurabov

Zurabov Michael has a big family. The sphere of activity of Yulia Anatolyevna's wife is the import of medical equipment and medicines.

In addition to their own son and daughter, the Zurabovs raise a child, whose adoption they carried out in 2006 at the age of two.