Likhachev Aleksey Evgenyevich (born December 23, 1962, Arzamas-75, now Sarov) is the director general of the state atomic energy corporation Rosatom, a Doctor of Economic Sciences, and an honorary citizen of Nizhny Novgorod. He studied and began his career in Gorky: engineer at an instrument-making research institute, Komsomol functionary, manager of an insurance company. In the 1990s and 2000s he was a deputy of the city Council of People's Deputies, of the City Duma of Nizhny Novgorod, and of the State Duma over two convocations, and headed the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Union of Right Forces. From 2007 he worked at the Ministry of Economic Development, and since October 5, 2016 he has headed Rosatom [1][2][3][4].

Arzamas-75 and Radiophysics

He was born on December 23, 1962 in Arzamas-75, the name under which the closed city then appeared in postal addresses; it also bore other names: Kremlyov, Arzamas-16, Moscow-300, and since 1991 it has been called Sarov [2].

In 1985 he graduated from the Faculty of Radiophysics of Gorky State University named after N. I. Lobachevsky (Lobachevsky University) and joined the Gorky Research Instrument-Making Institute as an engineer. It was the country's largest enterprise for the design and production of radio-electronic measuring equipment [1][2][3].

His second degree was from the Faculty of Economics of Nizhny Novgorod University, in 1998. He became a Candidate and then a Doctor of Economic Sciences; his scholarly work is devoted to foreign economic policy and economic diplomacy, and to state regulation and support of foreign trade [2][3].

Komsomol and Aval

In 1987 he left industry for Komsomol work: he was elected secretary of the Komsomol committee at the instrument-making institute. From 1988 he served on the city and regional Komsomol committees; according to the biography published by Rosatom, at the Gorky city committee he was second secretary, first secretary, and then secretary, and remained there until 1992 [2][3]. In those same years Sergey Kirienko worked at the Komsomol regional committee — an acquaintance that, a quarter of a century later, resulted in Kirienko taking over his affairs in the nuclear industry [2][4].

After the Komsomol was dissolved in 1992, Likhachev became manager of Aval, a Nizhny Novgorod social and industrial insurance company, and held that post until 2000 [2][3].

City Soviet, City Duma, Adviser to the Governor

In 1990, in a contested election, he was elected a deputy of the City Soviet of People's Deputies: he served as chairman of the commission on youth affairs, physical culture and sports and was a member of the presidium of the city soviet; the term of that convocation ended in 1993 [1].

In 1997 the residents of Nizhny Novgorod elected him a deputy of the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma, where he joined the commission on the budget and tax policy and served until 2000 [1].

At the same time, from 1997, he was adviser to the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region (Ivan Sklyarov) on insurance and investment: by some accounts until 2000, by others until 2001. From 1998 he chaired the board of the Foundation for Combating the Spread of Drugs among Youth and Adolescents [1].

State Duma: the SPS list and the Kstovo District

In the State Duma elections of December 1999, Likhachev ran on the Union of Right Forces (SPS) list, and he received his deputy's mandate in June 2000; he served in the State Duma for two convocations, the III and IV, first as a member and then as deputy chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship, and Tourism [1][4].

In 2000 he became co-chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the SPS and the authorized representative for conducting Vladimir Putin's presidential election campaign in Nizhny Novgorod Region [4]. Before that, from 1999, he had headed the political council of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the New Force movement, and in October 2001 he was elected chairman of the political council of the regional branch of the SPS. In May 2001 he had told Nizhny Novgorod journalists about the results of the congress at which the party adopted a new charter and elected Boris Nemtsov chairman of the political council [9].

In December 2003, Likhachev won the election in the Kstovo single-member district No. 121 — one of the few districts in the country where an SPS candidate won. The district was largely rural, and in an analytical review by the INDEM Foundation his success was attributed to the support of Sergey Kiriyenko, the presidential plenipotentiary representative in the Volga Federal District, and of the district administrations; upon starting work in the new Duma, the deputy joined the United Russia faction [12].

On January 23, 2004, the State Duma confirmed him as deputy chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship, and Tourism — that year, five deputies from Nizhny Novgorod Region at once received posts as deputy committee chairmen [11]. A day later, on January 24, the SPS congress brought Likhachev, who remained the leader of the party's Nizhny Novgorod branch, onto its federal political council: a member of the United Russia faction was at the same time part of the leadership of the right-wing party [10].

His Duma specialization was foreign economic affairs: he was a member of the Russian delegation at the WTO accession negotiations, a participant in the Russia–European Union Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, and a member of the commission on economic policy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Russia and Belarus; he headed the working group on issues of state regulation of foreign economic activity and the expert council on the legal regulation and protection of intellectual property [1][4].

Elected and Party Positions
YearsPositionDetails
1990—1993Deputy of the City Council of People's Deputies of Nizhny NovgorodChairman of the Commission on Youth Affairs, Physical Culture, and Sports; member of the presidium [1]
1997—2000Deputy of the City Duma of Nizhny NovgorodMember of the Commission on Budget and Tax Policy [1]
from 1997Adviser to the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod RegionInsurance and investment issues [1]
2000—2003Deputy of the State Duma, 3rd convocationMandate from the Union of Right Forces (SPS) list, from June 2000 [1][4]
2003—2007Deputy of the State Duma, 4th convocationKstovsky single-member district No. 121, United Russia faction [11][12]
2004—2007Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Economic Policy, Entrepreneurship, and TourismConfirmed on January 23, 2004 [11]
2000sHead of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Union of Right ForcesFrom January 2004, member of the party's federal political council [4][10]

Ministry of Economic Development

In 2007–2008, Likhachev was an adviser to Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina; in 2008–2010 he headed the consolidated department for the analysis and regulation of foreign economic activity at the ministry, where he worked on bringing legislation into line with WTO norms and on reforming trade missions [2][3][4].

In July 2010 he became deputy minister and Russia's chief WTO negotiator, responsible for trade negotiations, and in February 2015 he became first deputy minister of economic development [2][3][4].

The Nizhny Novgorod aspect of this work is noted in the City Duma's decision on honorary citizenship: on the deputy minister's initiatives, the city's enterprises received systematic support in foreign economic activity, cooperation, workforce training, and tourism, and he himself took part in the formation of the employers' association "Nizhny Novgorod Association of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs" [1].

On October 5, 2016, by Government Order No. 2077-r, Likhachev was relieved of his post as first deputy minister of economic development "in connection with a transfer to other work" [5].

Rosatom

On the same day, October 5, 2016, the president signed a decree appointing him director general of the state corporation Rosatom and adding him to its supervisory board. Likhachev replaced Sergey Kirienko, who had left for the presidential administration; until then, his ties to the nuclear industry had been his birthplace in a closed city and a brief stint at a defense research institute in Gorky [4].

It is a great honor for me to head an industry with which my family's history is inseparably bound

— Alexey Likhachev at a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, October 11, 2016 [6]

Scale and Results

By 2026, the Rosatom group included about 600 enterprises that supplied a fifth of the country's electricity needs [7].

According to the results for 2025, which Likhachev reported to the head of government in January 2026, the state defense order was fulfilled 100 percent, electricity generation exceeded the planned target by 2.5 billion kWh, the corporation's consolidated investment program reached 1.66 trillion rubles, and the average salary exceeded 150,000 rubles. Over the five-year period, revenue in the open segment grew by more than a factor of 2.6, and foreign revenue by a factor of 2.2 [7].

On January 10, 2025, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury added him to its sanctions list under the RUSSIA-EO14024 program [16].

Rosatom and Nizhny Novgorod Region

His first major visit to his home region in his new post took place on March 16–17, 2017: a corporation delegation visited three Nizhny Novgorod nuclear enterprises — OKBM Afrikantov, which bears the name of its designer Igor Afrikantov, the engineering company ASE (Atomstroyexport), and the Yu. E. Sedakov Research Institute of Measuring Systems. The meeting at OKBM was devoted to the BN-800 and BN-1200 fast sodium reactors, and the plant newspaper ran the headline "Head of Rosatom Returns to Nizhny" [13].

On his initiative and with the support of Governor Gleb Nikitin, two consortia of nuclear industry suppliers took shape in the Region: one for thermomechanical equipment, led by OKBM Afrikantov, and one for automated control systems, led by the nuclear center in Sarov and its branch, the Sedakov Research Institute of Measuring Systems [1].

In December 2017, under the national labor productivity project, specialists of the Rosatom production system took on the first ten Nizhny Novgorod enterprises; by the time Likhachev was awarded the title of honorary citizen, the program included 225 enterprises of the Region, and the national leaders in efficiency growth were Uzola, Provento, Krasny Yakor, Krasnoye Sormovo, and the Automobile and Mechanical Plant [1].

A separate Nizhny Novgorod strand is Sarov. There, on the president's instruction, a National Center for Physics and Mathematics is being created, and its educational part is a branch of Moscow State University, "MSU Sarov"; Likhachev sits on the center's development council as a deputy co-chair [15]. He reported to the president on the launch of the Sarov branch in August 2021 [8].

On August 22, 2025, he accompanied the president on a trip to Sarov: at the site of the nuclear center — the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics — the head of the corporation gave explanations beside models of the science centers of the closed cities [17].

On April 30, 2026, Likhachev and his colleagues came to his own alma mater — Lobachevsky University, where a strategic session on cooperation between the corporation and the university was held. Rector Oleg Trofimov recalled at the time that the head of Rosatom had graduated from the Faculty of Radiophysics of Gorky State University in 1985 [14].

We signed a memorandum with 16 leading partner universities and institutes across the country and put together five educational programs for the first series, for the first master's students, and the first 50 young people will already take direct part in the training starting September 1 of this year

— Alexey Likhachev, to the President, on the Moscow State University branch in Sarov, August 4, 2021 [8]

Since 2011, the university has been part of the consortium of our flagship universities. The university is also a participant in the National Quantum Laboratory, which was created under the auspices of Rosatom

— Alexey Likhachev at Lobachevsky University, April 30, 2026 [14]

Title and awards

The title "Honorary Citizen of the City of Nizhny Novgorod" was conferred on him by decision of the City Duma of June 28, 2023, No. 117 [1].

  • Orders of Friendship, of Honor, "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th class, and of Saint Seraphim of Sarov 2nd class [1]
  • Medals "For Contribution to the Creation of the Eurasian Economic Union" 1st class, "For Contribution to Strengthening the Defense of the Russian Federation," "For Merit to the Republic of Karelia," and "Federation Council: 25 Years" [1][2]
  • Rosatom commemorative medals "70 Years of the Russian Nuclear Industry" and "In Memory of the 800th Anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod" [1]
  • Certificate of Honor of the President of the Russian Federation, and the gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation announced twice [1]

Links

Sources

  1. gordumannov.ru — City Duma of Nizhny Novgorod — "Honorary Citizens" section — Likhachev Aleksey Evgenyevich (archive)
  2. biblioatom.ru — "History of Rosatom" — reference project of the Rosatom State Corporation — Likhachev Aleksey Evgenyevich / Personalities (archive)
  3. sovetrosatom.ru — Public Council of the Rosatom State Corporation — council membership — Likhachev Aleksey Evgenyevich (archive)
  4. Kommersant (Volga Region) — business newspaper, issue of October 5, 2016 — Sergey Kiriyenko's Isotope. Aleksey Likhachev Becomes the New Head of Rosatom (archive)
  5. government.ru — Government of Russia — document bank — On A. E. Likhachev. Order of October 5, 2016, No. 2077-r (archive)
  6. government.ru — Government of Russia — transcript of October 11, 2016 — Dmitry Medvedev's Meeting with Aleksey Likhachev, Director General of the Rosatom State Corporation (archive)
  7. government.ru — Government of Russia — transcript of January 21, 2026 (archive)
  8. kremlin.ru — President of Russia — transcript of August 4, 2021 — Meeting with Aleksey Likhachev, Head of the Rosatom State Corporation (archive)
  9. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Nizhny Novgorod Telegraph Agency, May 28, 2001 — Aleksey Likhachev: "The SPS Is the First Russian Party with Regional Branches Abroad" (archive)
  10. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Nizhny Novgorod Telegraph Agency, January 26, 2004 — United Russia Faction Member Aleksey Likhachev Joins the Federal Political Council of the Union of Right Forces Party (archive)
  11. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Nizhny Novgorod Telegraph Agency, January 26, 2004 — Nizhny Novgorod Deputies in the State Duma: Distribution of Posts and Benefits for the Region
  12. indem.ru — INDEM Foundation — analytical review of the Duma elections — Results of the Elections of Deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation on December 7, 2003 (archive)
  13. rosatommd.ru — "Vestnik AEM" — newspaper of Rosatom's machine-building division, No. 3 (56), March 2017 — The Head of Rosatom Returned to Nizhny
  14. unn.ru — Lobachevsky University — Director General of the Rosatom State Corporation and Colleagues Visit UNN (archive)
  15. ncphm.ru — National Center for Physics and Mathematics (Sarov) — official website — About the Center. Council for the Development of the NCPM (archive)
  16. ofac.treasury.gov — Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury — Russia-related Designations, January 10, 2025
  17. kremlin.ru — President of Russia — release of August 22, 2025 — Visit to the Russian Federal Nuclear Center (archive)