On the afternoon of May 22, 2018, the State Duma of the Russian Federation voted to appoint Alexei Leonidovich Kudrin to the post of chairman of the Accounts Chamber. This became a sensation - the “net”, by the definition of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, returned to the government of the Russian Federation!
This return was predicted by a number of experts, although it was known that Kudrin would not be subordinate to Dmitry Medvedev. Therefore, more Alexei Leonidovich was considered a more likely candidate for the post of prime minister. But it turned out that he became the head of the Accounts Chamber, because it reports directly to the Federal Assembly, and not the head of government.
In the distant 2000, Alexei Kudrin headed the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, combining his work in this post with the duties of Deputy Prime Minister in 2000-2004 and 2007-2011. In 2011, Kudrin was dismissed and removed from the Security Council of the Russian Federation due to a discrepancy over expenses with Dmitry Medvedev.
While retired, Kudrin participated in opposition rallies, founded the Civil Initiatives Committee, and in 2016 began his return to power, taking the post of head of the council of the Center for Strategic Research and deputy head of the Economic Council under the President of the Russian Federation. In 2018, Kudrin, heeding the persuasion of Stepashin, accepted the proposal to head the Accounts Chamber.
According to Alexei Leonidovich, at his post he intends to further improve methods of control over the spending of budget funds, to prevent corruption, promising not to turn the control department into a second government. He also said that in connection with the appointment, in the near future he will leave the composition of the funds and public organizations in which he is a member.
Kudrin sees the activities of the Accounts Chamber in countering corruption, in linking the budget with the strategic goals of the Russian Federation, in increasing the openness of the process of forming the state budget and implementing national development.
In one of his first statements at the new post, Alexei Leonidovich compared the Russian government with a tiger preparing to jump. Explaining what was said, he said that in the near future he expects from the government a number of breakthrough and advanced reforms in accordance with the May decree of President Vladimir Putin. One of these reforms will be raising the retirement age.
Also, among the upcoming reforms, according to Kudrin, the formation of a new ministry is expected - the Ministry of Digital Development with the appointment of a separate deputy prime minister for the development of the digital economy.
One of the first practical steps in the activities of the Accounts Chamber under the control of Kudrin may be to check the 223rd federal law, which allows the interdependent entities to be taken out of state control. It is possible that because of this law, as well as because of other holes in the legislation, trillions of rubles are leaked from the budget through state purchases under various corruption schemes.
It is necessary to check the tax benefits provided to the business at the expense of the budget. The annual amount of tax benefits is about 10 trillion rubles, despite the fact that most of them are inefficient, outdated and need to be reviewed.
Many experts, analysts and political scientists express the opinion that there is nothing strange in the appointment of Kudrin to the post of head of the Accounts Chamber. Aleksei Leonidovich is a professional financier, former Minister of Finance and is well aware of the budget structure, the movement of financial flows within it, budget expenditures and their effectiveness. It is a person who is well aware of these mechanisms that will best be able to fulfill the functions of the head of the Accounts Chamber.
When Alexei Kudrin was the Minister of Finance, he was criticized a lot for his approaches to saving budget funds. Now, as the country's chief auditor, these approaches will be as effective as possible.
The previous head of the Accounts Chamber, Tatyana Golikova, left this post in connection with the appointment of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
