Mikhail Mishustin confirmed as Russian prime minister amid questions over property portfolio

Russia’s parliament on Thursday approved a former tax chief as the country’s new prime minister the day after Vladimir Putin proposed sweeping constitutional changes, amid questions over his $10 million (£7.7m) property portfolio.

Mikhail Mishustin, 53, was voted in as Russia media and opposition politicians raised questions about his lavish property and his wife’s income.

Mr Mishustin was nominated for prime minister on Wednesday after Dmitry Medvedev, the outgoing premier, announced a surprise resignation, which he said was necessary to let Mr Putin see through the constitutional changes that he floated several hours earlier.

Mr Putin’s proposals, which focus on cutting the president’s powers, were widely seen as an indication that after 20 years in power he still intends to stay in charge but in a different job.

Before the vote, Mr Mishustin said in a speech in parliament that he would focus on cutting red tape and improving living standards during his tenure.

“People should begin to feel tangible changes for the better right now,” he said.

Russian media and the opposition raised questions about Mr Mishustin’s wealth shortly before he was confirmed.

Investigative website Proyekt quoted property records showing that Mr Mishustin bought an upscale property in an exclusive Moscow suburb worth hundreds of millions of rubles when he was a deputy tax minister without an income to match it.

Separately, anti-corruption campaigner and opposition leader Alexei Navalny quoted public records, saying that Mr Mishustin’s wife declared a total of 800 million rubles (£9.9 million) in income from an unnamed source in the past nine years.

“If you wanted to become the second most important person in the country… can you be so kind and tell us what kind of business has been bringing in millions for your family?” Mr Navalny wrote on his blog.

A government spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. 

Former Duma lawmaker and businessman Ilya Ponomarev who has known Mr Mishustin for more than 15 years dismissed the allegations, telling The Telegraph that the future prime minister would be able to afford that property as he made at least several million dollars from his IT projects in the 1990s.

“I’d be surprised if he was involved in some corruption dealings - he’s not the type,” he said.

Mr Mishushin, who trained as an engineer, is a relatively obscure bureaucrat who has been lauded for sweeping reforms at the Federal Tax Service which he had been leading since 2010.

Herman Gref, CEO of Russia’s largest lender Sberbank, in televised comments on Thursday hailed the former tax chief as a “pioneer of digital technology” and credited him for creating an “innovative platform” for tax collection that would be the envy of the most progressive nations.

Under Mr Mishustin, Russia’s tax service, once one of the most corrupt bodies in the country, underwent a swift transformation by getting rid of the red tape for which it had become notorious.

Dmitry Marinichev, Russia’s internet ombudsman who has known Mr Mishustin for more than 10 years, described him as a talented engineer and a “fast-paced person who speaks fast and always moves forward.”

“As a prime minister, he will be efficient, focused on a digital economy,” he told the Telegraph, adding that the former taxman reminds him of Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs.

Mr Ponomarev, the former Duma deputy, described Mr Mishustin as a “progressive bureaucrat in the best sense of the word.”

“He has a good head on his shoulders,” Mr Ponomarev said of Mr Mishustin, adding that the former tax official is likely to view his new job as a “business task, not a political one.

Mr Ponomarev, a scathing critic of Mr Putin, said he wishes Mr Mishustin well but conceded that “it will be tough to achieve results as long as Vladimir Putin is in power.”