German Gref
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
German Oskarovich Gref (German: Hermann Gräf, Russian: Герман Оскарович Греф, born February 8, 1964) is the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia.
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[edit] Education and early career
Gref was born in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan), the son of ethnic German deportees who were exiled there in 1941. He attended Omsk State University as a law student from 1985-1990 after fulfilling his two year military obligation. Then he moved to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and taught law at Leningrad University while completing his post-graduate degree, which he finished in 1993. In addition to his teaching position at Leningrad University and his studies, Gref worked in the Saint Petersburg City Administration in various capacities, such as legal adviser (a position he had also held when in Kazakhstan), and other jobs, most dealing with property and real estate.
[edit] Moscow years
In August of 1998, Gref was appointed First Deputy Minister of State Property of the Russian Federation, and was a member of its board until 2000. He was also appointed to the board of the Federal Commission for the Securities Market of the Russian Federation and the board of state-owned Gazprom in 1999, both positions he still holds.
[edit] Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
Gref was first appointed as Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Economic Development and Trade by Vladimir Putin on May 18, 2000. He held the position from 2000 until Putin sacked Mikhail Kasyanov's Cabinet in March of 2004. Mr. Gref was reappointed to the position in the succeeding Cabinet, headed by Mikhail Fradkov.
[edit] Liberal reformer
Gref is considered to be one of the "Liberal Reformers" in Putin's Administration. The others are Mikhail Zurabov, Minister of Health and Social Development, and Alexei Kudrin, Minister of Finance. In early 2005, the three men came under fire for reforms to benefits for the elderly that they suggested and the State Duma had approved in 2004. Many of the reforms had to do with replacing free benefits, such as medical care and transportation, with cash benefits. This replacement angered many of the elderly because transportation costs are increasing. Protests took place all over Russia, but neither the administration nor the State Duma responded to these protests in any substantial way. The President reprimanded Kudrin on national television, and a few members of the State Duma went on a hunger strike for a short period of time. A no-confidence vote against Fradkov's cabinet was called by the State Duma in early February, but it failed. Some analysts saw the whole affair as an attempt to either discredit or perhaps get rid of one of the three men by other members of the cabinet. However, this was never proven and Gref, Kudrin, and Zurabov all retained their jobs.
