Anatoly Chubais - Privatization Chief

Privatization Chief

In 1990, after Anatoly Sobchak being elected as the Chairman of Leningrad Soviet, Chubais became his deputy. He was trying to implement Sobchak's idea of creating a Free Economic Zone in Leningrad. In 1991 Chubais refused to accept the position of the Chairman of Leningrad Ispolkom and became an advisor to Anatoly Sobchak's Mayoral Administration in St Petersburg. Simultaneously he worked as the president of newly created Wassily Leontief Center for research in economics.

In November 1991 Chubais became a minister in the Yeltsin Cabinet handling the portfolio of the Chief of Rosimushchestvo (Committee on the State Properties) that had the task of the Privatization in Russia.

Chubais originally advocated quick privatization for money, similar to the model used for Privatization in Hungary but that model was unacceptable for the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia. Eventually a compromise form of a voucher privatization similar to used in Czech Republic was proposed and adopted on 11 June 1991 by the Supreme Soviet of Russia. The program was started by the decree of President Boris Yeltsin on 19 August 1991.