Dmitry Kozak

Dmitry Kozak

Dmitry Nikolayevich Kozak (Russian: Дмитрий Николаевич Козак) (born 7 November 1958 in Kirovohrad, Ukrainian SSR), is a Russian politician, serving since October 2008 as deputy Prime minister of the Russian Federation.

He was previously regional development minister in the Russian cabinet headed by Viktor Zubkov and in 2004-2007 he served as presidential plenipotentiary representative in the Southern Federal District (North Caucasus and Southern European Russia).

Dmitry Kozak is known as a close ally of former president and current prime minister Vladimir Putin, having worked with him in the St Petersburg city administration during the 1990s and later becoming one of the key figures in Putin's presidential team.

During the 2004 Russian presidential election he was head of Putin’s election campaign team. Kozak was one of several members of Putin's circle touted in the media as a possible candidate to succeed Putin as president in 2008.

Kozak is married and has two sons.