On the afternoon of May 22, 2018, the State Duma of the Russian Federation voted for the appointment of Alexei Leonidovich Kudrin to the post of chairman of the Accounts Chamber. It became a sensation - the "net", as defined by 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 than 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 to the head of government.
Back in 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, due to a discrepancy over expenses with Dmitry Medvedev, was dismissed and removed from the Security Council of the Russian Federation.
While in retirement, Kudrin participated in opposition rallies, founded the Committee for Civil Initiatives, 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 Stepashin's persuasions, accepted the offer to head the Accounts Chamber.
According to Alexei Leonidovich, in his post he intends to further improve the methods of control over the spending of budgetary 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 foundations and public organizations in which he is a member.
Kudrin sees the activities of the Accounts Chamber in combating 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 in his new post, Alexei Leonidovich compared the Russian government to 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 such 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 direction of Kudrin may be the verification of the 223rd federal law, which permits the withdrawal from state control of state purchases of interdependent persons. It is quite possible that because of this law, as well as because of other holes in the legislation, trillions of rubles are leaking from the budget through state purchases through various corruption schemes.
It is necessary to check the tax benefits provided to businesses from the budget. The annual volume of tax incentives is about 10 trillion rubles, despite the fact that most of them are ineffective, outdated and in need of revision.
Many experts, analysts and political scientists are of the opinion that there is nothing strange in the appointment of Kudrin as head of the Accounts Chamber. Alexey Leonidovich is a professional financier, a former finance minister and has an excellent idea of the budget structure, the movement of financial flows within it, budget expenditures and their effectiveness. It is a person who perfectly understands these mechanisms, who will be able to perform in the best way the functions of the head of the Accounts Chamber.
When Alexei Kudrin was finance minister, he was widely criticized for his approaches to budget savings. Now, as the country's chief auditor, these approaches will be most effective.
The previous head of the Accounts Chamber, Tatyana Golikova, resigned from this position in connection with the appointment to the post of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
