Akademik

(1941– )

   Politician. A member of the Leningrad Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) leadership in the late 1980s, Viktor Zubkov began working with Vladimir Putin in the early 1990s in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office. He went on to executive positions in the state tax inspection department, first in St. Petersburg and then on the federal district level. He ran for governor of Leningrad Oblast in 1999, but finished a disappointing fourth. In 2001, he was appointed first deputy finance minister in Putin’s government. Based on his loyalty and experience in combating financial crime, Putin tapped him to replace Mikhail Fradkov as prime minister; he held that position from September 2007 until May 2008, when Putin himself took over the job as head of government. Zubkov subsequently took over as chairman of Gazprom, replacing Dmitry Medvyedev.