Mikhail Mishustin

Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin (Russian: Михаил Владимирович Мишустин, [mʲɪxɐˈiɫ vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ mʲɪˈʂusʲtʲɪn]; born 3 March 1966) is a Russian politician and economist serving as Prime Minister of Russia since 16 January 2020. He previously served as Director of the Federal Tax Service from 2010 to 2020.

He was nominated for Prime Minister of the Russian Federation by President Vladimir Putin on 15 January 2020, following the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev. Hearings on his appointment were held in the State Duma on 16 January, and he was confirmed to the office that day.

On 30 April 2020, Mishustin announced that he tested positive for COVID-19, thus becoming the highest-ranking Russian official and the second head of government in the world after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to be infected with the virus.

Mikhail Mishustin was born on 3 March 1966 in Lobnya, a town close to Moscow, or in Moscow itself, to the Mishustin family, Vladimir Moiseyevich and Luiza Mikhailovna. His mother was born in the city of Kotlas in the Arkhangelsk region. Mishustin's father, born in Polotsk, Belarus, was reportedly of Belarusian Jewish origin, was a member of the Komsomol.

In 1989, he graduated from the STANKIN, majoring in system engineering, and then in 1992, he completed postgraduate studies at the same Institute.

After finishing graduate school, he began working as a director of a test laboratory facility. In 1992, Mishustin began working at the International Computer Club (ICC), where he worked on facilitating the integration of Russian and Western information technologies. He ultimately headed the board of the International Computer Club.

In 1998, he joined the state service as an assistant for information systems for accounting and control over the receipt of tax payments to the head of the State tax service of the Russian Federation. From 1998 to 2004, he worked as Deputy tax minister, being second-in-command at the State Tax Service. He worked as head of the Federal Agency for Real Estate Cadastre within the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, and head of the Federal Agency for Managing Special Economic Zones.

In 2008, Mishustin left the civil service and returned to the private sector. He spent two years as the president of UFG Asset Management, an investment fund, before resigning to become head of the Federal Tax Service.

In February 2009, he joined the personnel reserve of the President of Russia.

In 2010, Mishustin was appointed head of the Federal Tax Service (FTS). After his appointment to this post, entrepreneurs expressed the hope that Mishustin, as coming from business, would be more "friendly" to Russian entrepreneurs. As head of the Federal Tax Service,Mishustin earned a reputation as a skilled technocrat and emphasized tax simplification and electronic tax services. During this period, however, the tax service was criticized for its overly strict approach to business; Mishustin rejected this criticism, pointing to a decrease in the number of on-site tax audits and tax inspections of large and medium-sized businesses.

As head of the FTS, Mishustin declared war on "dirty data" and targeted problems with unjustified value-added tax (VAT) refunds. Mishustin emphasized digitization and big data, making extensive use of "techno-authoritarian" systems of government surveillance of economic activity, including the collection of data on almost every transaction in Russia. This data collection was facilitated by new legislation that required all business-to-business invoices to be submitted to the government and required all retailers to automatically transmit real-time transaction data to tax authorities through an "online cash register" process. The government used artificial intelligence to identify persons suspected of tax evasion. This system of surveillance resulted in a decrease in the share of VAT uncollected by Russian authorities during Mishustin's tenure; the "VAT gap" reportedly declined from 20% to less than 1%).

Appointment

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, along with his entire Cabinet, resigned on 15 January 2020, after President Vladimir Putin delivered the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, in which he proposed several amendments to the constitution. Medvedev stated that he was resigning to allow Putin to make the significant constitutional changes suggested by Putin regarding shifting power away from the presidency. Putin accepted the resignation.However, on Putin's instructions, the Cabinet continued its work as a caretaker cabinet until the formation of a new government.

On 15 January 2020, Putin nominated Mishustin for the post of Prime Minister. According to Putin, he was offered four candidates, but Mishustin was not among them. As a result, Putin independently decided to nominate Mishustin for the Prime Minister. The next day, he was confirmed by the State Duma to the post and appointed Prime Minister by Putin's decree. This was the first time ever that a PM was confirmed without any votes against.

Cabinet

On 21 January 2020, Mishustin presented to President Vladimir Putin a draft structure of his Cabinet. On the same day, the President signed a decree on the structure of the Cabinet and appointed the proposed Ministers.

In general, the government has been updated by half. Only four Deputy Prime Ministers remained from Medvedev's Cabinet (three retained their seats, one was appointed to another post) and twelve Ministers.

According to many political analysts, Mikhail Mishustin is the only one of Putin's Prime Ministers who truly formed his "own" Cabinet. He gathered a team of his own people and associates. Before that, in the XXI century, only Vladimir Putin was able to do this. In particular, two Deputy Prime Ministers were deputies of Mishustin in the Federal Tax Service. According to experts, this means that Mishustin has carte blanche for changes.

On 26 March 2020, Mishustin proposed to restore the Government's Presidium, a body in the structure of the Cabinet formed to solve operational issues. Previously, such a body existed in the first Government of Medvedev, but in the second Government of Medvedev there was no Presidium.

Term

Mishustin cut the Federal budget for 2020 to 2022, in correspondence to the 2020 Presidential Address to the Parliament. Mishustin engaged in the digital economy and promised support to large companies. He also suggested creating a common electronic income database for Russians, where all citizens incomes will be tracked.

Since February 2020, Mishustin has started traveling around the country to make a real assessment of living conditions in various regions and identify issues on which it is necessary to strengthen work. Before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Mishustin managed to visit four regions: Novgorod, Kurgan, Yaroslavl and Kostroma oblasts.

Coronavirus pandemic

On 27 January, Mishustin instructed to form an operational headquarters for the prevention of COVID-19 on 29 January, approved its composition. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova was appointed its chief.

On 30 January, he signed an order to close the borders with China in the Russian Far East. On 18 February, Mishustin signed an order banning Chinese citizens from entering Russia. The ban has been in effect since 20 February.

On 14 March, Mishustin created a Coordinating council for the fight against coronavirus, which he personally headed. The next day, by presidential decree, a working group of the State Council was created, headed by Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. However, according to Dmitry Peskov, Mishustin's Coordinating Council is more important than Sobyanin's Working Group.

Since 16 March, flights to and from the European Union, Norway and Switzerland are limited to regular flights between capital cities (Geneva in case of Switzerland) and Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, and charter flights. Mikhail Mishustin announced that the border with Belarus has been closed for the movement of people, for which he was criticized by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and an entry ban for foreigners will be imposed from 18 March to 1 May. In addition, borders with other countries bordering Russia were also closed.

On 18 and 19 March, Mishustin announced measures to support business. In particular, he instructed to defer the payment of taxes for travel agencies and airlines, as well as to defer insurance premiums for small businesses.

On 19 March, Mishustin announced the government's control over food and drug prices due to the coronavirus. It also temporarily lifted all restrictions on the supply of essential goods.

On 20 March, Mishustin instructed to restrict flights to the United States, United Kingdom and United Arabic Emirates. On the same day, Mishustin announced that six drugs for coronavirus had been developed in Russia and were being tested.

On 27 March, as a follow-up to Putin's address to the nation, Mishustin ordered all reservations at pensions or holiday houses to be cancelled from 28 March to 1 June, recommended regional authorities to close all the pistes at resorts for the same period, instructed them to force all the public eating places (except for delivery services) to suspend activities from 28 March to 5 April, and recommend the citizens to refrain from travelling.

On 30 March, as Moscow and Moscow Oblast declared a lockdown, Mishustin urged all regions to follow the example and take similar measures. He also announced a bill that would raise fines for breaching quarantine requirements.

On 1 April, Mishustin and the Minister of Communications Maxut Shadayev announced creating a system of tracking quarantine violation based on data of mobile network operators. Violators will receive a text message, and if they breach it systematically, the information will be sent to the police.

After testing positive for the coronavirus on 30 April, he suggested to President Putin that his deputy Andrey Belousov be appointed to take over for him as the acting Prime Minister. Putin signed a decree to that effect, appointing Belousov to the role on an acting basis, following Mishustin's recommendation.

International trips

Country	Areas visited	Date(s)	Notes
Kazakhstan	Almaty, Nur-Sultan	30 January – 1 February 2020	Working visit, participation in the session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

Approval ratings

Mishustin is married and has three sons. He plays ice hockey. He is also an avid spectator of the sport, and is a member of the supervisory board of HC CSKA Moscow. It has been reported that, prior to his selection as Prime Minister, he and Putin developed a rapport with each other through their shared enthusiasm for the sport. Mishustin is an amateur musician, and is a pianist. As a hobby he has written pop music, including for the singer Grigory Leps.

On 16 January 2020, the Russia-based Anti-Corruption Foundation called on Mishustin to explain how his wife earned almost 800 million rubles over 9 years. On 19 January, the Kommersant newspaper published a detailed analysis of all the financial activities of Mikhail Mishustin, including his leadership of UFG Invest — one of the country's largest investment companies. When switching to the civil service in 2010, Mishustin, in accordance with the law, transferred all his assets and investment projects to his wife. From that moment, Vladlena Mishustina started receiving dividends, which is confirmed by official declarations. According to Kommersant, a significant part of the assets were sold in 2013 and 2014, and the proceeds were placed in deposit accounts to receive interest.

On 30 April 2020, Mishutsin tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia. He informed President Vladimir Putin of his infection via a video-call. He also stated that he was going into self-quarantine. Putin expressed sympathy and wished him a quick recovery. Mishutsin was the first high-ranking Russian official to disclose his coronavirus infection to the public. His diagnosis also makes him the most high-profile political figure in Russia to contract the coronavirus.