Mikhail Kasyanov is a famous domestic political and statesman. Currently, he is in opposition to the existing government, heading the Parnassus party. In the early 2000s, for four years, he served as chairman of the Russian government. According to analysts, it is considered one of the most effective prime ministers in the history of Russia. At the same time, a number of experts and economists negatively assess his activities, especially in the last two years as chairman of the government. He has been in opposition to the country's leadership since 2005.
Childhood and youth
Mikhail Kasyanov was born in 1957 in the Moscow region in the small village of Solntsevo. His parents were classic Soviet intellectuals. Father is a math teacher and principal of a local school, and his mother is an economist. The hero of our article was the youngest child in the family, had two sisters - Tatyana and Irina.
At school, teachers remembered Mikhail Kasyanov as a serious and diligent student who was distinguished by high academic performance. A brilliant certificate of secondary education allowed him to enter the Automobile and Road Institute in the capital without any problems. But after the first two courses I had to interrupt my studies. Mikhail Kasyanov went to serve in the army.
For outstanding external and physical data he was taken to the Kremlin Regiment, which was stationed in Moscow. Returning to the "citizen", the hero of our article began working at a research institute under the Gosstroy of the USSR. He received the position of senior technician. Soon he was promoted to engineer and transferred to the apparatus of the State Planning Commission of the GSFSR.
In 1981, Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov reinstated in high school to complete higher education. A few years later he received a diploma in civil engineering.
On this, he decided not to stop. He passed the Higher Economic Courses at the State Planning Commission, which allowed him to fairly quickly move up the career ladder. Soon he became the head of the department of foreign economic relations of the State Planning Commission. It is noteworthy that during the same period, his mother worked in the same department as a senior economist.
Political activity
A sharp turn in the biography of Mikhail Kasyanov contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. When this happened, the State Committee of Economics was quickly abolished, and the Ministry of Economics and Finance took its place, the head of which was the famous young reformer Yegor Gaidar.
Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov worked in his department as deputy head of the department of foreign economic activity.
In the future, his movement along the career ladder continued. In 1993, the future Prime Minister became the head of the department in the Russian Ministry of Finance. In this post, he manifests himself as a purposeful and highly professional employee, which is noted by all managers. One of his main achievements of that time was the restructuring of the state debt of the collapsed Soviet Union. He was able to masterfully solve issues with Western creditors, for which he was especially highly appreciated.
In particular, Mikhail Kasyanov, whose photo is in this article, at that time agreed with an unofficial organization of creditor banks known as the London Club to restructure Russian debt. The payment of 32.5 billion dollars was able to stretch over the next quarter century with a seven-year grace period. Kasyanov's achievements were highly appreciated, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Finance.
International debt
In 1998, his experience in negotiations with Western partners was required again. The politician became the head of the working group on the restructuring of Russian foreign debt. It was necessary to take urgent measures in the country, which hit the deep economic crisis. Then default struck in Russia.
In this situation, Mikhail Kasyanov, whose biography is devoted to this article, again proved himself in all its glory. He managed to gain understanding with creditors, transfer payments, minimize interest rates and penalties. After this success, he received another promotion. Now Kasyanov is already the First Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.
At that time, he was considered one of the few high-ranking government officials who really understood the economic situation in the country, had a good idea of ââwhat to do, what to do in this situation. Therefore, it was decided to appoint him in parallel to another position - Deputy Governor for Russia at the European Bank. The hero of our article is also among the representatives of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Development Bank.
At the head of the ministry
Kasyanovâs career growth was progressive, but for many it was still a surprise to appoint him Minister of Finance in 1999. It is worth noting that Kasyanov himself, as claimed by people who knew him well, was not happy about this increase. At that moment, the Russian budget was barely making ends meet, the position of Minister of Finance could well be regarded as a firing squad.
However, the politician was full of ambition, he decided not to be afraid of difficulties, taking on this difficult and heavy burden.
After the new president Vladimir Putin came to power, who succeeded Boris Yeltsin, Kasyanov retained the portfolio of the Minister of Finance. In parallel, he was invited to begin to act as prime minister of Russia, until the head of state decided on a new head of government. As a result, Putin decided not to change anything and approved him as prime minister.
Activities as head of the Cabinet of Ministers
One of Kasyanovâs first projects as prime minister was a plan for full-scale reforms of the entire system of executive authorities, primarily at the federal level. In 2002, the project was approved and approved by Vladimir Putin. Also, experts associate Kasyanovâs figure with the introduction of key provisions of the electric power industry reform, tax reform, which led to a significant reduction in value added tax.
The new prime minister had many other promising projects. For example, it was he who initiated the transfer of Russian military units on a contract basis, which greatly increased the combat effectiveness of the domestic army. Under him, a reform of the housing and communal sector was carried out, which caused sharp discontent among some political parties, which even made a vote of no confidence because of it. However, the vote failed, the deputies of the State Duma could not collect the necessary number of votes for the resignation of the prime minister. Kasyanov himself simply ignored the parliamentâs attempt to dismiss him, without appearing at a decisive vote.
However, the successes achieved by Kasyanov at his post did not allow him to retain the prime ministerâs post after Putinâs re-election for a second term. The head of government was dismissed.
According to one of the conspiracy theories, the reason could have been a likely conspiracy between Kasyanov and Nemtsov, who were going to oppose the re-election of the head of state. Kasyanov takes the fourth place by the duration of his prime ministerial post in modern Russia. He was in this position for three years, nine months and one day, losing only to Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Instead of Kasyanov, Viktor Khristenko was appointed acting prime minister , and then Mikhail Fradkov was appointed head of the government.
In opposition
Kasyanov himself claims that after the resignation of the prime minister, Vladimir Putin offered him to become secretary of the Security Council, but he refused, saying that he was ready to go only to the elected post.
Already in February 2005, about a year after his dismissal, he made public statements about the slowdown in economic growth in Russia. Since then, Kasyanov has criticized power at every opportunity. He accused the Russian authorities of restoring the Soviet system with notes of capitalism. In particular, he praised the abolition of gubernatorial elections and the increase in the entry barrier for parliamentary parties to seven percent.
He also constantly stated that in the country there is no real separation of powers, there is no freedom of speech, an independent judiciary, and private property is not protected. All this made him join the liberal opposition.
At first, Kasyanov became a member of the Russian Peopleâs Democratic Union, participated in the March of Dissent, and held independent consultations on legal and financial issues. He even organized his own website, on which his critical articles and current news on the current state of affairs in the country were regularly published.
In 2007, he led the People for Democracy and Justice party. He even announced his intention to run for president of the Russian Federation in 2008. However, the Central Election Committee refused to register him because of the insufficient number of signature sheets collected by the candidate.
In 2009, Kasyanov released a journalistic work entitled "Without Putin. Political Dialogues with Yevgeny Kiselev." On the pages of the book, journalist Kiselev and Kasyanov discuss the current state of affairs in the country. They delve into the Soviet past, analyze the changes that have occurred over the past century. Assessing the 1996 presidential election , the so-called âYukos Caseâ against Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the fate of independent television that defaulted on the country, they are trying to understand whether it was possible to change something so that the country began to develop in a different way.
Party "Parnassus"
In 2010, Kasyanov reiterated that he had no hope of competing for the presidency. To this end, he takes part in the organization of the coalition "For Russia without arbitrariness and corruption", which will soon be transformed into the People's Freedom Party, known as "Parnassus". Companions of the hero of our article are Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Vladimir Milov.
However, the first time it was not possible to register a party with the Ministry of Justice. As a result of the audit, a large number of "dead souls" were found in her ranks.
Kasyanov becomes the leader of Parnassus, already in this status he continues to criticize the Russian authorities. In particular, he constantly accuses senior management of undemocratic rule. At the same time, it supports the position of Western countries regarding Russia, in particular, welcomes the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions.
Also, the opposition does not approve of the policy that Russia pursues in Ukraine, opposes the annexation of Crimea, considers it incorrect to support Moscow in the Donbas conflict.
State Duma Elections
In 2016, Karnyanâs party âPARNASâ still manages to register with the Ministry of Justice, it is even allowed to participate in elections to the State Duma.
True, during the election campaign, Kasyanov becomes a victim of several provocations, exposing documentaries in central channels of the country in which they accuse the politician, accusing him of insincerity.
As a result, the results of "PARNAS" are unsatisfactory. The party takes only 11th place after the counting of votes. She receives support only 0.73% of voters. She does not succeed in overcoming the 5% barrier to getting into the federal parliament.
Personal life
Kasyanovâs wife is Irina Borisova. They have been together almost all their lives, they have known each other since school. Irina is a graduate of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University, taught political economics, and is currently a simple pensioner.
The daughter of Mikhail Kasyanov was born in 1984. Her name is Natalya Klinovskaya. She graduated from the Department of Political Science of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. In 2006, she married the son of Andrei Klinovsky, co-founder of the Epicenter Market company. The daughter of Mikhail Kasyanov Natalia has two children. These are girls who were born in 2007 and 2009.
In 2005, the youngest daughter of Mikhail Kasyanov, Alexander Kasyanov, was born. Now she is a schoolgirl.
It is not known for certain where Mikhail Kasyanov lives, one can only say that he is constantly in Moscow.
Love affair at work
On the eve of the State Duma elections, the NTV channel showed the documentary Kasyanov Day. Intimate scenes filmed by a hidden camera were demonstrated in it. Allegedly, Mikhail Kasyanov and Natalya Pelevina, a member of the Parnassus party, are participating in them.
Lovers conduct discussions on various topics, including discussing the affairs of the opposition and the situation in their own party. In particular, the politician speaks negatively of some supporters. For example, with Natalia Pelevina, Mikhail Kasyanov discusses Alexei Navalny.
After this scandalous picture appeared on the screens, the deputy chairman of PARNAS Ilya Yashin even raised the question of confidence in the hero of our article, proposing to refuse him first place in the party federal list. However, party members did not support this proposal. It is safe to say that the video, which allegedly Mikhail Kasyanov and Pelevina, negatively affected his personal ratings, the attitude of the people towards the party itself.
Kasyanov is now 60 years old. He continues to remain in the liberal opposition, but recently he has practically not appeared in the information field, has not made any statements.
Moreover, he is regularly subjected to provocations and attacks. For example, in February 2017, on a march in memory of Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, an unknown person once again doused him with green.