Putin's former Chief Economic Advisor from 2000 to 2005

Andrey Nikolayevich Illarionov is a Russian economist & Putin's former Chief Economic Advisor. Image: Flickr

Andrey Nikolayevich Illarionov is a Russian economist who served as the President of Russia's senior policy advisor from April 2000 to December 2005. He has served as a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, a non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C., since April 2021.

From 2006 to 2021, Andrei Illarionov was a senior fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity.

He's been a critic of Putin's administration, particularly its foreign policy, since quitting his job in the Russian Federation's government. 

He resigned at the end of 2005, becoming a vocal critic of Putin and the Kremlin. He is one of Russia's most prominent and strong proponents of open societies and democratic capitalism.

Illarionov was the chief economic adviser to Russian Federation Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin from 1993 to 1994. In February 1994, he resigned in protest of changes in the government's economic policies. Illarionov founded and became the director of the Institute of Economic Analysis in July 1994. Illarionov has produced three books and over 300 articles on Russian economic and social issues, as well as coauthoring various economic blueprints for Russian governments.