Serhiy Arbuzov: From NBU Head to Russian Parliament Member

Serhiy Arbuzov headed the NBU and for a short time even headed the Ukrainian government.

A man with a beard and short hair wearing a suit stands beside a whiteboard with mathematical equations written on it.

Former head of the National Bank of Ukraine and former deputy prime minister of the Yanukovych-era Ukrainian government, Sergei Arbuzov, became a member of the Russian parliament following the September elections.

As Ruslan Tatarinov, head of the A Just Russia faction’s office, reported on his Telegram channel , the updated State Duma faction will include, among others, “Sergey Arbuzov, who did not support Zelensky’s regime in Ukraine.”

Who is Sergey Arbuzov?

Serhiy Arbuzov was born in 1976 in Donetsk. He held key government posts in Ukraine during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. From December 23, 2010, to December 2012, he served as Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine. In December 2012, he was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister in Mykola Azarov’s government. Following Azarov’s resignation on January 28, 2014, Arbuzov served as Acting Prime Minister of Ukraine until February 27, 2014, when the Verkhovna Rada approved a new government led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

After the Revolution of Dignity, Arbuzov left Ukraine for Russia. Since April 22, 2014, he has been wanted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine as a suspect under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (embezzlement, misappropriation of property, or acquisition of property through abuse of office on an especially large scale) – specifically, in connection with the financing of the BTB (Banking Television) television channel. Arbuzov was also expelled from the Party of Regions.

After fleeing, Arbuzov criticized the new Ukrainian government. He also emphasized the need for negotiations with Russia and criticized the “anti-Russian hysteria” and the Kyiv authorities’ measures regarding the Donbas.

After fleeing, Arbuzov settled in Russia (in the elite Rublyovka district of Moscow). He headed the association “Research Center for Economic and Sociocultural Development of the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe” (RESCUE), founded in 2014 in St. Petersburg, and participated as a guest expert on a Russian television talk show, where he criticized the policies of the new Ukrainian government. He has been under EU sanctions since 2014, and under Ukrainian sanctions from 2025.

In the 2026 State Duma elections, Arbuzov headed regional group No. 5, which covers all the occupied regions of Ukraine.

(C)UNIAN 2026