Anatoly Chubais
1955 – ? Russian economist, privatization chief, presidential chief of staff
The official who ran Russia's mass privatization and the loans-for-shares deals that created the oligarchs.
- Affiliations
- Union of Right Forces
Anatoly Chubais was the manager of Russia's privatization, first through the voucher scheme meant to spread ownership widely and then through the loans-for-shares auctions of 1995. Those auctions handed prize state companies to a handful of bankers at low prices in exchange for loans and political backing for Yeltsin, concentrating enormous wealth in the hands of the new oligarchs. He organized Yeltsin's 1996 re-election with their money and served as chief of staff and finance minister. Defenders say privatization made a return to communism impossible; critics say it was a giveaway that entrenched a corrupt elite. He left Russia after the 2022 invasion.
Connections
- associate of Boris Yeltsin — Put him in charge of privatization and re-election strategy.
- associate of Boris Yeltsin — Put him in charge of privatization and the 1996 re-election.
- associate of Vladimir Potanin — The banker whose loans-for-shares plan he carried out.
- associate of Vladimir Potanin — The official who carried out his loans-for-shares plan.
- ally of Yegor Gaidar — Fellow young reformer on the shock-therapy team.
- ally of Yegor Gaidar — Fellow young reformer who ran the privatization side of the program.
In the timeline
- 1991 Yegor Gaidar named to lead economic reform mentioned
- 1992 Anatoly Chubais placed in charge of privatization the privatization chief
- 1992 Voucher privatization program launched the architect
- 1992 Russian mass privatization program launched mentioned
- 1994 Voucher privatization phase ends the privatization chief
- 1995 Loans-for-shares auctions held the official who ran the auctions
- 1996 Davos pact among oligarchs to back Yeltsin the organizer of the re-election effort