From 1976 to 1981, he was a student of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union.

From 1987 to 1990, he was a researcher, and the deputy director of the Institute of Economic and International Problems of Ocean Development of the Far Eastern Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

[1] As a young liberal economist, he came up with a "Greater Vladivostok" blueprint for the development of the region, which failed due to lack of funds and political support.

In 1995, Kuznetsov unsuccessfully ran for the State Duma on the federal list from the Beer Lovers Party.

In 2013, he headed the Public Expert Council for attracting investments to the Primorsky Krai[6] From 2015 to 2016, he taught political science at FEFU.