Sergey Kiriyenko

Sergei Kiriyenko's grandfather, Yakov Israitel, made his name as a devoted communist and member of the Cheka,[2] and Vladimir Lenin awarded him with an inscribed pistol for his good service to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Sergei Kiriyenko, son of a Jewish father,[3] was born in Sukhumi, the capital of the Abkhaz ASSR, and grew up in Sochi, in southern Russia. He adopted the Ukrainian surname of his mother.[3] After graduation from high school, Kiriyenko enrolled in the shipbuilding faculty at the Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) Water Transport Engineers Institute, where his divorced father taught.

Kiriyenko was appointed Prime Minister after the dismissal of Viktor Chernomyrdin's Second Cabinet. The State Duma, dominated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, twice refused to confirm his appointment but president Boris Yeltsin nominated him a third time and Kiriyenko was confirmed.

Along with Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov and Anatoly Chubais, Kirienko became known as one of "young reformists". They tried to improve the Russia's economy using International Monetary Fund credits, and it elevated the national debt to the level of $22.6 billion.

Kirienko's cabinet defaulted the GKO-OFZ government bond coupons which led to devaluation of the Russian ruble and 1998 Russian financial crisis. Responsible for the crisis, the prime minister resigned on 23 August.

Sergey Kiriyenko (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin

Together with Boris Nemtsov and Irina Hakamada, Kirienko formed the Union of Right Forces. Kiriyenko led the party in the 1999 legislative election. Party finished fourth on elections, receiving 29 seats. Sergey Kiriyenko headed the parliamentary group of the party.

Kiriyenko, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, 2010

Kiriyenko was appointed to head Rosatom, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, on November 30, 2005.[7] He is also chairman of the board of directors of the vertically integrated Atomenergoprom nuclear company.[8]

He said on 18 September 2006 while in Vienna, that the reactor in the Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran should be operational by September 2007 and the plant itself will be active in November 2007. He advocated President Vladimir Putin's idea of creating an international system of uranium enrichment centers. A uranium enrichment center could be operational in Russia in 2007.[9] Responding to a reporter's question, Kiriyenko said that the Bushehr power plant would not affect nuclear non-proliferation and that there was nothing preventing Iran-Russia energy cooperation. The Government of Russia planned to deliver nuclear fuel to the plant in March 2007.[10] After a delay of some three years, Kiriyenko said 21 August 2010's arrival of nuclear fuel at Iran's Bushehr I marks "an event of crucial importance" that proves that "Russia always fulfills its international obligations." Spent nuclear fuel from the plant will be sent back to Russia.[11]

For his work in Rosatom Kirienko was awarded by a confidential decree a Hero of Russia honorary title.[12]

When Sergey Kiriyenko was in the office of the first deputy chief of staff to President Vladimir Putin, he occurred in the list of 6 individuals and one organization sanctioned by United Kingdom and European Union on 15 October 2020 over Alexei Navalny poisoning. Alexei Navalny, a Russian oppositionist politician, became ill on 20 August 2020, while travelling on a flight inside Russia.[13]

• Sergei Kiriyenko's Cabinet

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sergey Kiriyenko.

• Federal agency on atomic energy of Russia