Industry & Trade Minister

NAME: VIKTOR BORISOVICH KHRISTENKO

BORN: 28 August, 1957 in Chelyabinsk

EDUCATION: *Mr Khristenko earned a degree in economics from the Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute (1979).  *Mr Khristenko has also studied at the Russian government’s Academy of the National Economy, and holds a degree from there (1988).  *In addition, he holds a postgraduate degree in economics at the Moscow Institute of Management (1997).

CAREER: *From 1979 to 1990 Mr Khristenko worked at the Chelyabinsk Polytechnical Institute as engineer, Head of laboratory and lecturer.  *Beginning in 1990 he became involved in Chelyabinsk city politics.  *From 1991–1994 Mr Khristenko was Deputy Head of Administration of Chelyabinsk oblast, handling economic problems.  *From 1994–1996 he served as First Deputy Head of Administration of Chelyabinsk oblast. *From March to June 1997, Mr Khristenko briefly served as the President’s representative in Chelyabinsk oblast.  *From July 1997 to April 1998 he served as deputy finance minister.  *In April 1998, Mr Khristenko was appointed new deputy prime minister (responsible for finance and economy, centre-periphery relations) in both Kiriyenko’s and Primakov’s governments. *He served as First Deputy Prime Minister in the Stepashin Cabinet, 12 May to 9 August 1999.  *He held the post of Deputy Prime Minister with responsibilities that included energy and natural resources, telecommunications, transportation, natural monopolies, and federal/regional issues from 10 January 2000 until 24 February 2004.  *From 24 February to 1 March 2004, Mr Khristenko served as Interim Prime Minister of Russia, after the resignation of Mikhail  Kasyanov.  *Mr Khristenko was appointed Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Industry and Energy on 9 March 2004.  *Prime Minister Putin appointed Mr Khristenko Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Industry and Trade on 12 May 2008.

MISCELLANEOUS: *Mr Khristenko has been married to Ms Tatiana Golikova (current Minister of Health & Social Development) since 2003. *He was a Member of the Board of Directors of JSC Gazprom from June 2004 to June 2009. *He is also on the boards of Russian Railways, and Transneft. *Mr Khristenko is the father of 3 children, Yulia, Vladimir, and Angelina. *Daughter, Yulia, married Yevgeny Bogdanchikov in Spring 2004. *Believed to be tied to Igor Sechin. *Hobbies include tennis, and photography.