Nabiullina Elvira

Born in 1963 in Ufa. In 1986 she graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University with a degree in economics. Member of the CPSU since 1985. Economist Sergei Aleksashenko, who was her classmate, characterized her as “a Karl Marx scholarship recipient who loved Marxist-Leninist political economy and firmly believed in the ideals of communism,” “one of the first students accepted into the communist party on the course,” and “an exemplary Soviet person.” Considering Nabiullina’s future “liberal” reputation, this characterization of her views in her youth is at least worthy of attention.

In 1990, she graduated from graduate school at Moscow State University (department of history of national economy and economic studies), prepared a candidate’s thesis, but did not defend it. Partial results of the research were published in the work of four authors, “Alienation of Labor: History and Modernity” (1989).

In 1991-1992, he was the chief specialist of the directorate of the permanent committee of the board of the Scientific-Industrial Union of the USSR (the predecessor of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs) on issues of economic reform.

In 1992-1994 - chief specialist, consultant to the directorate of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) on economic policy issues.

In 1994 - advisor to the Expert Institute of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

In 1994-1997 - deputy head of the department, then head of the department at the Ministry of Economy of the Russian Federation. In 1997-1998 - Deputy Minister of Economy of the Russian Federation.

Then Elvira Nabiullina left the civil service for some time and in 1998-1999 worked as deputy chairman of the board of Promtorgbank. In 1999 - Executive Director of the Euro-Asian Rating Service.

In 1999-2000, she was vice-president of the Center for Strategic Research Foundation (the president of the foundation was German Gref).

In 2000-2003, she served as First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation (the minister was German Gref).

In 2003-2005 - President of the Center for Strategic Research Foundation.

In 2005-2006 - head of the expert council of the organizing committee for preparing and ensuring the Russian Federation's chairmanship of the Group of Eight in 2006.

From September 2007 to May 2008 - Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, and after the “reformatting” of this ministry - Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, from 2007 to 2012, she was a member of the supervisory board of the Russian Technologies State Corporation. In 2008-2011 - member of the board of directors of OJSC Gazprom. In 2008, she was a member of the board of directors of RAO UES. Since 2010 - member of the Government Commission for Economic Development and Integration, member of the Board of Trustees of the Skolkovo Foundation. Since 2011 - member of the supervisory board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. Since 2012, she has been a member of the “high-level panel of eminent persons” of the UN initiative to develop the Post-2015 development agenda. Since 2013 - Deputy Chairman of the National Financial Council.

From May 2012 to June 2013 - Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for Economic Affairs.

It must be admitted that under Elvira Nabiullina, the ministry she headed was considered one of the most “liberal” (as far as possible under the Putin system) departments. In particular, on Nabiullina’s initiative, the regulatory impact assessment was introduced, a number of redundant forms of supervision and control over business were abolished, and inspection procedures were streamlined. In turn, Elvira Nabiullina associated the decline in economic growth rates in Russia by the mid-2010s with the insufficient quality of government institutions (especially the judicial and law enforcement systems) and high administrative barriers to business.

In addition, it was the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation under Nabiullina that was the “flagship” of Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), which largely contradicted the “isolationist” and anti-Western foreign policy course that was subsequently taken by the Russian leadership.

In June 2013, Nabiullina became chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (the first woman to head the central bank of a country that was part of the then G8).

Activities in this position earned Nabiullina a reputation as a figure capable of “tough decisions”: this applies to both the sharp increase in the interest rate in 2014 (in the context of a rapid fall in the ruble exchange rate and rising inflation), and the dramatic “cut” by the Central Bank of the number of banks in the Russian Federation - almost 3 times: from about 900 in June 2013 to 331 in April 2022. In addition, in 2018, Nabiullina supported raising the retirement age and stated that this measure would “have a positive impact on the labor market.”

Because of this position, Nabiullina made enemies among Putin’s “etatists”: she was often attacked by the “ultraconservative” TV channel “Tsargrad” of the “Orthodox oligarch” Konstantin Malofeev; the economist, “z-patriot” and deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Mikhail Delyagin stated that she “provides for the interests of financial speculators, ignoring the interests of the real sector, and has specially built such a policy of reserving risks that banks that do not have serious political protection simply cannot lend to the real sector.”

However, more often her professional effectiveness was assessed positively, including at the global level: in 2015, Nabiullina received the Euromoney magazine award as the best head of the Central Bank in the world, and in 2017–2021 she was among the top 100 most influential women in the world according to Forbes. In September 2016, Nabiullina was awarded 6th place in the ranking of the best heads of central banks in the world according to the Global Finance magazine.

After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this assessment, as expected, changed to sharply negative: in November 2023, Nabiullina topped Politico magazine’s rating in the “disruptor” category for her contribution to strengthening the Russian economy.

Nabiullina actually reacted to the beginning of this war, but at the end of March 2022, Bloomberg reported that Nabiullina was going to resign after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but Vladimir Putin asked her to remain as head of the Central Bank. Later, the regulator’s press service called Bloomberg’s report untrue.

She has several awards, in particular the Order of Honor “For great contribution to the development and strengthening of the banking system” (2018), the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2012), the Order of Friendship (2011), the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland » I degree (2006), medal of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” II degree (2002). She is a laureate of the Alexander II Prize, awarded in 2003 by the Institute for the Economy in Transition (now the Yegor Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy).

Elvira Nabiullina is married to Yaroslav Kuzminov, founder and scientific director of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. They have a son, Vasily (born in 1988), who studied sociology at the Higher School of Economics at the University of Manchester in the UK. Worked at the Center for Fundamental Sociology of the Higher School of Economics.

Ensuring the functioning of the state power system under the dictatorship of Vladimir Putin.

In June 2022, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for Economic Affairs, former Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin, assessing the work of the Central Bank and the economic bloc of the Government of the Russian Federation in the conditions of the “crisis”, called Elvira Nabiullina, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov and the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov a “medical team” for rescue Russian economy.

This means that thanks to the “responsible” and effective work of Elvira Nabiullina to “save” the Russian financial system, the Russian Federation (currently in the grip of the Vladimir Putin regime) was able to survive the primary economic shock (from the imposition of sanctions, the freezing of Russian assets, the collapse of trade-logistics chains and so on), began the process of “structural adjustment” (Nabiullina’s expression; de facto this means the militarization of its economy) and thanks to this was able to continue the monstrous, shameful and senseless war in Ukraine.

According to economist Sergei Guriev, the effective actions of the current Central Bank team prolong the war and are comparable to the work of technocrats in Nazi Germany, and therefore the actions of the employees of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation should be “condemned as cooperation, a contribution to the work of the criminal regime .”

For this reason, Elvira Nabiullina, despite the fact that her activities do not directly relate to the armed forces, the military-industrial complex, or pro-war propaganda, bears full responsibility for this war and other crimes of the Putin regime.

In 2022, Elvira Nabiullina was added to the sanctions list of Canada, Ukraine, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand .