Vyacheslav Volodin | |
|---|---|
| Вячеслав Володин | |
.jpg) Volodin in 2024 | |
| Chairman of the State Duma | |
| Assumed office 5 October 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Sergey Naryshkin |
| Member of theState Duma forSaratov Oblast | |
| Assumed office 12 October 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Olga Alimova |
| Constituency | Saratov (No. 163) |
| In office 29 December 2003 – 24 December 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Nikolay Sukhoy |
| Succeeded by | Constituencies abolished |
| Constituency | Balakovo (No. 156) |
| Member of the State Duma (Party List Seat) | |
| In office 5 October 2016 – 12 October 2021 | |
| In office 24 December 2007 – 21 December 2011 | |
| In office 18 January 2000 – 29 December 2003 | |
| First Deputy Chief of Staff of thePresidential Administration of Russia | |
| In office 27 December 2011 – 5 October 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Vladislav Surkov |
| Succeeded by | Sergey Kiriyenko |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Russia — Head of the Government Executive Office | |
| In office 21 October 2010 – 27 December 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Sergey Sobyanin |
| Succeeded by | Anton Vaino |
| Parliamentary leader ofFatherland – All Russia | |
| In office 2001–2003 | |
| Preceded by | Yevgeny Primakov |
| Succeeded by | Boris Gryzlov (asParliamentary leader ofUnited Russia) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1964-02-04)4 February 1964 (age 61) Alekseyevka, Saratov Oblast, Soviet Union |
| Political party | United Russia |
| Other political affiliations | Fatherland – All Russia |
| Alma mater | Saratov State Agrarian University Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Website | www (former) |
Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin (Russian:Вячеслав Викторович Володин,IPA:[vʲɪtɕɪsˈlafˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕvɐˈlodʲin]; born 4 February 1964) is a Russian politician who serves as the 10thChairman of the State Duma since 2016. He is a former aide to PresidentVladimir Putin.
The former Secretary-General of theUnited Russia party, he was a deputy in theState Duma from 1999 until 2011 and from 2016 to present day. From 2010 until 2012, he wasDeputy Prime Minister of Russia. He is also a former first deputyChief of Staff of thePresidential Administration of Russia.[1] He has the federal state civilian service rank of1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.[2] Volodin engineered Putin'sconservative turn in his third term and is considered part ofhis inner circle.[3][4][5]
Volodin was born 4 February 1964 in the village ofAlekseyevka [Wikidata],Khvalynsky District,Saratov Oblast, in a large family. His father was the captain of the river fleet; he died at the age of 51 in 1969. After the death of his father, he was brought up by his stepfather.[6][7] His sister is an employee of a consulting firm, and his brother is a military pensioner. All of them, according to Volodin himself, live in the Saratov Oblast. His mother graduated from theSaratov Pedagogical College [Wikidata]. After completing her studies, she refused a job assignment to Leningrad and remained in her native region, because she did not want to leave her elderly mother alone. She worked as aprimary school teacher in a rural school.[6][8][9]
Volodin graduated inmechanical engineering from the faculty of organization and technology of theSaratov State Agrarian University in 1986, and then obtained aDoctor of Law from theRussian Academy of State Service [Wikidata] under thePresident of the Russian Federation in 1995. He obtained aPhD in law from theSt. Petersburg University of the Russian Interior Ministry [Wikidata] in 1996 with a thesis titledA Russian Constituent Entity: Problems of Power, Law-making and Administration (Russian:Субъект Российской Федерации: проблемы власти, законотворчества и управления,romanized: Subyekt Rossiyskoy Federatsii: problemy vlasti, zakonotvorchestva i upravleniya,lit. 'Subject of the Russian Federation: problems of power, lawmaking and governance').[10][11] He worked as a lecturer and assistant professor while he studied in Petersburg.[12]
Since 2 August 2009 through the cooperative "Sosny" (Russian:ДНП «Сосны»), Volodin is a business partner ofSergey Neverov (Russian:Сергей Неверов), who was the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma and United Russia,Igor Rudensky (Russian:Игорь Руденский), who was a member of the Presidium of the General Council of United Russia,Sergei Prikhodko, who was a Deputy Prime Minister,Konstantin Kosachev (Russian:Константин Косачев), who was the head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs at that time, Yu.V. Pervova (Russian:Ю.В. Первова) andNikolay Ashlapov (Russian:Николай Аншлапов), who was later the Head of the Federal Agency for Special Construction. "Sosny" purchased land from the Nadezhda Ivanovna Makeeva associated Bolshoy Gorod LLC (Russian:ООО «Большой Город»). Makeeva's husband is the chairman of the board of NMC "Itera" Vladimir Pavlovich Makeev (Russian:НГК «Итера» Владимир Павлович Макеев) who is a close associate of the president ofIteraIgor Makarov.[13]
Uncovered byAnonymous International and made public in June 2014, Volodin is a strong supporter of the interests ofYevgeny Prigozhin and thetrolls at theInternet Research Agency.[14]
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In 1990, he was elected as a member of theSaratov City Duma. Since 1992, Volodin was the Deputy of the Head of Administration ofSaratov, since 1994 deputy chairman of theSaratov Oblast Duma and in 1996 he was appointed to the Vice Governor of the Saratov region.[12]
In theRussian legislative election in 1999, he was a candidate of thepolitical blocFatherland – All Russia. After being elected Volodin became deputy chairman of the thirdState Duma, and from September 2001 he was the head of theFatherland – All Russia.[12]
In 2003, he ran for a seat inthe fourth State Duma and was elected as a Deputy from theBalakovo constituency,Saratov Oblast. In the fourth State Duma he was deputy chairman again and appointed first deputy head of the fraction of the ruling partyUnited Russia which has been founded in 2001. Since 2005 he was the party's Secretary-General of its Council Presidium.[12]
In 2007, he waselected to the Russian State Duma in its fifth session. Until October 2010, he was once moreChairman of the State Duma.
On 21 October 2010, he was appointed DeputyPrime Minister underDmitry Medvedev. as well as—after the dismissal ofSergey Sobyanin in connection with his approval to theMayor of Moscow—Chief of Staff of thePresidential Executive Office.
Following themass protests against the outcomes of the 2011 Russian legislative election organized by several persons, includingAlexei Navalny, who used Facebook, Twitter, and LiveJournal blogs to organize the events, Volodin, who was Deputy Prime Minister at the time and later became First Deputy Chief of Staff of thePresidential Administration of Russia and was responsible for domestic policy, was tasked with countering these efforts and began to rein in the internet usingPrisma (Russian:«Призма») which "actively tracks the social media activities that result in increased social tension, disorderly conduct, protest sentiments and extremist" by monitoring in real time the protesters discussions on blogs and social networks and performs social media tracking which later led to the establishment of theInternet Research Agency.[15][16] ThePrisma terminals were installed in about fifty offices including the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Moscow mayor's office, the office of State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, etc.[17][18][19][20][21]
Despite the fact that Volodin actively supports Vladimir Putin (for example, he says that "no Putin, no Russia"),[22] many experts talk about his presidential ambitions. So in 2012, one of his friends in an interview withReuters said that considers Volodin the future President, as "he has a desire to fly high". Another close to Volodin man said: "an ordinary person in the afternoon thinking about plans for the evening. Volodin does not think about plans for the evening—he has a plan for life. When he was Vice Mayor of Saratov, he already said to friends that he would become President of Russia."[23] In addition, in 2015, the clericVsevolod Chaplin, commenting on the article in theIzvestia about the personal life of a number of political figures of Russia, also spoke about the presidential ambitions of Volodin.[24]
On 28 April 2014, following theCrimean status referendum, theU.S. Treasury put Volodin on theSpecially Designated Nationals List (SDN), alist of individuals sanctioned as "members of the Russian leadership's inner circle."[25][26][27][28][29] The sanctions freeze any assets he holds in the US[28] and ban him from entering the United States.[30]
On 12 May 2014, Volodin was added to the European Union sanctions list due to his role in theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.[31] He is barred from entering countries in the EU, and his assets in the EU have been frozen. He was sanctioned by theUnited Kingdom government the same year.[32]
For the first time, rumors that Volodin could become the new Chairman of the State Duma after the2016 legislative election were circulated before the election. However, this information was not yet confirmed.[34]
After the2016 legislative election, the previous Chairman of the State DumaSergey Naryshkin was appointed Director of theForeign Intelligence Service. On 23 September 2016,PresidentVladimir Putin proposed to the United Russia to nominate Volodin as Naryshkin's successor. The majority leaderVladimir Vasilyev endorsed Volodin's candidacy,[35][36] alongside the faction of theLiberal Democratic Party andA Just Russia. On 5 October, Volodin was elected Chairman of the State Duma, with 404 votes. His only rival was thecommunistDmitry Novikov, who received 40 votes.[37]
In 2021, Volodin was again nominated to the chairmanship of the8th State Duma.[38] His candidacy was again endorsed by the Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia — For Truth.[39][40] Novikov from the Communist Party was again the sole opponent running against Volodin.[41] On 12 October, Volodin was re-elected Chairman of the State Duma with a majority of 360 votes.[42]
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In October 2016, he was among the three most influential politicians in Russia (after presidentsVladimir Putin andDmitry Medvedev) by rating of the Center for Political Technologies.[43] According to a survey conducted by the expert-analytical center ofRANEPA, the level of recognition of Vyacheslav Volodin is at a high level. 83% of respondents know that he holds the post of Chairman of the State Duma. In addition, 78% of Russians have a positive or neutral view of Volodin's activities as Chairman of the State Duma.[44][45]
On 24 November 2016, he was elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of theCollective Security Treaty Organization and on 26 December 2016 he was elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of theUnion State.[46][47]
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As Chairman, Volodin actively began to deal with the discipline of deputies. At first he forbade deputies to vote by proxy for other deputies. In this connection, the deputies have to attend the meetings in person. Fines for missing meetings without a valid reason were also introduced.[48]
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On 6 March 2019, Vyacheslav Volodin, during a meeting of the State Duma, interrupted the report of the Minister of Economic DevelopmentMaxim Oreshkin and did not allow him to finish his speech. Volodin accused him of being unprepared and offered to report again in a month (usually such reports pass only once a year). According to some deputies, this case is the first in the entire post-Soviet history of Russia.[49][50][51]
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On 6 April 2019, Volodin proposed amendments to theConstitution allowing the State Duma to participate more actively in the formation of thegovernment. According to him, the State Duma should at least participate in consultations when appointing members of the government (currently, the participation of the State Duma in the formation of the government is limited only by the fact that it must give consent to the President to appoint the Prime Minister). Volodin said that the participation of the State Duma in the formation of the government "would be consistent with the principles of proper balance of power" and "would provide a higher level of responsibility" in the work of Ministers.[52] In July 2019, Volodin again called for the introduction of appropriate amendments to the Constitution in his article in theParliamentary Newspaper.[53] Later, Volodin's proposal was supported by the leaders of all opposition parliamentary parties.[54][55][56] In January 2020, Putin proposed introducing such amendments during hisAddress to the Federal Assembly.[57]
In November 2019, Volodin said that due toUkrainian nationalism and an alleged oppression of ethnic minorities, there was a chance that someregions may separate fromUkraine.[58][59]
On 28 January 2022, Volodin promised that "Russia will not go to war against Ukraine."[60] On 18 February 2022, he demanded that the West apologize for its "disinformation" about the Kremlin's allegedplans to invade Ukraine.[60]
On 24 February 2022, Volodin said that "the purpose" of theRussian invasion of Ukraine is "to protect people living in Ukraine".[61] He wrote on his Telegram that "demilitarizing Ukraine" is the "only path that will allow us to prevent war in Europe. Our only chance to stop the fighting and the humanitarian catastrophe."[33] According toMeduza, he was one of the first Russian politicians to publicly support the invasion.[33] He has denounced Russians whooppose the war as "traitors".[33] On 11 March 2022, he stated that "[Ukrainian] citizens are expendable for Washington and Brussels: the war to the last Ukrainian takes hundreds of lives every day. The Kyiv regime leads Ukraine to its complete disappearance."[60] On 5 April 2022, Volodin claimed thatthe massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha was a staged "provocation" by the West and Ukraine "aimed at discrediting Russia".[62]
On 6 July 2022, Volodin warned that Russia could demand back the US state ofAlaska, which wassold by Russia to the United States in 1867, if the United States continued toseize Russian assets abroad.[63][64]
Russian citizens critical of the2022 Russian mobilization have used social media and other electronic means (e.g.Twitter) to enquire en masse Russia's top officials and deputies, who supported war with Ukraine and mobilization, whether they themselves or their sons would go to the front. Most of them refused to answer or made excuses why it was not possible for them to go to war in Ukraine. Volodin said that the State Duma will support deputies who want to enlist in the army and go to Ukraine.[65]
In September 2022, Volodin met in Moscow with Chinese politicianLi Zhanshu, who was then aCCP Politburo Standing Committee member and was considered one of the closest confidants ofCCP general secretaryXi Jinping.[66]
On 22 September 2022, in order to justify the military mobilization to the Russian public, he claimed that "not only armed Nazi formations, but also NATO forces are fighting against our soldiers and officers" in Ukraine.[60] Volodin has controversially claimed that Ukraine "has lost the ability to exist as a state", "is occupied by NATO" and "has become a colony of the US".[67]
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To downplay theinternational sanctions against Russia, Volodin stated that "Western sanctions are leading to the establishment of another group of eight nations—China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Iran and Turkey—that is 24.4% ahead of the old group of developed countries in terms of GDP and purchasing power parity."[60]
On 22 November 2022, he met with Cuban PresidentMiguel Díaz-Canel. During the meeting, Volodin calledCuba "a symbol of the struggle of independence".[68]
In January 2023, Volodin called the anti-warRussians in exile "scoundrels" and demanded the confiscation of their properties in Russia.[69] He repeatedly called Russians who left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine as "traitors".[60]
On 22 January 2023, Volodin threatened the use ofnuclear weapons and claimed that Europe and the United States were leading the world into "global catastrophe" by providingmilitary aid to Ukraine.[70]
On 19–20 March 2023, the State Duma hosted the Second "Russia-Africa" International Parliamentary Conference and Volodin met with more than 40 parliamentary delegations from mostAfrican countries. In a meeting with African representatives, he claimed that Washington and Brussels seek to take control of Russian and African natural resources and continue theircolonial policies, saying that "They take all measures, including violent and terrorist, for their own benefit."[71][72] He held bilateral meetings with the Speaker of the National Assembly ofSouth Africa,Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.[73]
On 3 May 2023, Volodin called the allegeddrone attack on theKremlin a "terrorist attack" on Russia and compared the Ukrainian government to terrorist organizations such asal-Qaeda and theIslamic State, saying that "The Nazi Kyiv regime must be recognised as a terrorist organisation."[74] He demanded the use of "weapons capable of stopping and destroying the Kyiv terrorist regime".[75]
On 18 May 2023, Volodin claimed that the "special military operation" in Ukraine "was inevitable." According to Volodin, "If it had not been started, the war that would have broken literally the following day or in a few days, would have dragged the world into a tragedy. That tragedy was prevented." He accused NATO, the United States and the European Union of "waging war in Ukraine" and claimed that "NATO assumed control over Ukraine, brought its mercenaries there both to power and to the battlefield."[76]
On 3 June 2023, Volodin represented Russia at theinauguration ceremony of re-elected Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan.[77]
On 19 June 2023, Volodin misrepresented Czech PresidentPetr Pavel's remarks that Russians living in the West should be "monitored" and put undersurveillance, and warned that Russians living abroad would be sent toconcentration camps.[78]
Volodin expressed support for Putin during theWagner Group rebellion.[79]
In October 2023, Volodin said that Russians who "desire the victory of the murderous Nazi Kyiv regime" should be sent to the far-eastern region ofMagadan, known for its Stalin-eraGulag camps, and forced to work in the mines.[80] In November 2023, he wrote on his Telegram channel thatRussians who left the country after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and are now returning "should understand that no one here is waiting for them with open arms" because they "committed treason against Russia".[81]
On 22 November 2023, he met with Chinese PresidentXi Jinping in Beijing. Volodin said that Russia and China are "not only strategic partners, but also strategic friends." They talked about deepening cooperation in the field of international platforms such as theShanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), theBRICS group, theBelt and Road Initiative (BRI) and theEurasian Economic Union (EAEU).[82]
On 16 February 2024, Volodin blamed "Washington", "Brussels" and various critics of the Kremlin in Western "unfriendly countries" for thedeath of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.[83]
On 6 July 2025Communist Party of the Russian Federation congress adopted a resolution calling the 1956 report "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" made byNikita Khrushchev erroneous.[84] Volodin praised this decision, saying that the report "formed negative attitude" towardsStalin who "did all to win theGreat Patriotic War and to build the state".[85]
Volodin has claimed that death penalty is a fair punishment for representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, referring to them as a ‘neo-Nazi regime’ and ‘fascists’.[86]
On 20 April 2017, at the meeting of the organizing committee for the Victory Day, which was held by President Vladimir Putin, the head of the Organization of Veterans of the War in AfghanistanAndrey Chepurnoy [ru] spoke. He criticized SenatorFrants Klintsevich, Chairman of the Russian Union of Veterans of Afghanistan. He spoke about the letter of Klintsevich, in which he indicates Volodin as the next President. Commenting on this speech, Putin said that "the successor to the President is determined only by the Russian people in the democratic elections—and no one else".[87] Later Klintsevich denied the words of Chepurnoy and called it slander. At the same time, one of the members of the Moscow organization "Safe Capital" said that Klintsevich really mentioned the presidential ambitions of Volodin. "At one of the meetings in 2016 with our organization Klintsevich said that it is necessary to support Volodin in all his endeavors, because he, according to Klintsevich, will be the next President of Russia". According to political scientistStanislav Belkovsky, Volodin has presidential ambitions, but he is not going to be President "instead of Putin", and will agree to become president only if Putin offers him.[88]
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chairman of the State Duma 2016–present | Incumbent |
