Alexei Kudrin announced on his Telegram channel that he is stepping down from the position of head of the Accounts Chamber. In his message, he stated that he has submitted a relevant application to President Putin in due course.
He noted that he had spent roughly 25 years in public service. Now he wishes to concentrate on major projects connected with developing private initiatives while also delivering significant benefits to people.
The head of the Federation Council budget committee, Anatoly Artamonov, confirmed to RIA Novosti that the Federation Council had received Kudrin’s proposal to remove him from the post. A source in the upper house added that the document would be discussed at a meeting scheduled for November 30. Elena Perminova, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s budget committee, also corroborated this information.
Sergei Ryabukhin, deputy chairman of the Federation Council budget committee, told RIA Novosti that senators would soon consult on candidates for the chairmanship of the Accounts Chamber and would present them to the president by year’s end.
Rumors about the transition to Yandex
On November 25, RBC reported, citing unnamed sources, that Kudrin had met with President Vladimir Putin the previous night. According to the channel, they agreed Kudrin would move from the Accounts Chamber to Yandex, with plans to reorganize the company’s leadership and ownership structure.
RBC claimed Kudrin would head a new management block at Yandex that would include the current top management of the tech giant.
The RBC report also suggested Kudrin planned to leave the Accounts Chamber about a week after meeting Putin, though legislative discrepancies around the appointment of the chamber head could push the timeline by at least two weeks. The report noted that after constitutional amendments in 2020, the authority to approve this position had shifted from the State Duma to the Federation Council, yet no corresponding changes were made to the law On the Accounts Chamber.
The article indicated that for Yandex’s Russian assets, a new legal entity would be created in which Kudrin would acquire a certain position and an option for 5% of the shares. An RIA Novosti source said Kudrin’s move to Yandex should be completed before year-end. During a briefing, Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, declined to confirm or deny the meeting between the president and Kudrin.
By November 28, Anatoly Artamonov told RIA Novosti that the upper house had not yet received a presidential presentation but that senators were prepared to discuss impeachment if needed. Kudrin had been dismissed on November 30, according to the latest statements.
Artamonov added that his committee had not yet submitted new candidates to Putin to head the Accounts Chamber.
Nearly 25 years in public service
Aleksey Kudrin was born in 1960 in Dobele, Latvia, into a military family. He earned a degree in economics from Leningrad State University in 1983. By 1990, Kudrin had moved into the executive authorities of Leningrad, serving as Deputy Chairman of the Economic Development Committee from 1991 to 1992.
From 1992 to 1993, he led the Main Finance Department of the St. Petersburg City Hall. He subsequently held roles including chairman, first deputy mayor, and deputy chairman of the City Hall’s Committee on Economy and Finance until 1996. In 1996, Kudrin joined the Presidential Administration as the Deputy Head and led the Main Control Directorate. In 1997, President Boris Yeltsin appointed him First Deputy Minister of Finance, a post he led from March 2004. He remained in financial leadership until 2011 when, by presidential decree, he was dismissed.
Kudrin became the Head of the Accounts Chamber in 2018 and held that position until the changes proposed and reported in late 2020s, which set new timelines for leadership transitions within the chamber.