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Valery Rashkin | |
|---|---|
| Валерий Рашкин | |
 Rashkin in 2014 | |
| Member of theState Duma (Party List Seat) | |
| In office 29 December 2003 – 25 May 2022 | |
| Succeeded by | Anastasia Udaltsova |
| Member of the State Duma forSaratov Oblast | |
| In office 18 January 2000 – 29 December 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Boris Gromov |
| Succeeded by | Vladislav Tretiak |
| Constituency | Saratov (No. 158) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1955-03-14)14 March 1955 (age 70) |
| Political party | CPRF |
| Spouse | Natalya Petrovna Rashkina |
| Children |
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| Occupation | mechanical engineer |
Valery Fyodorovich Rashkin (Russian:Вале́рий Фёдорович Ра́шкин; born 14 March 1955) is a Russian politician who was a deputy for theCommunist Party in theState Duma in 2000–2022.[1][2][3][4] From March 2003 to April 2021, he was a member of the Presidium of the party's Central Committee.[5]
Valery Rashkin was born on 14 March 1955 in the village of Zhilino, Nemansky District,Kaliningrad Oblast, in a large family ofcollective farmers. In 1977, he received a diploma in mechanical engineering at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering and Instrumentation of theSaratov Polytechnic Institute and was sent to work at the local production association "Corpus". Rashkin worked in there for 17 years, having proceeded from a process engineer to the head of the technological bureau and the chief dispatcher.[6]
Valery Rashkin joined theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union in 1983. From 1988 to 1990, he was the secretary of the party committee in the Corpus production association, where he worked. He did not leave the party, and after the collapse of the USSR he moved to theCommunist Party of the Russian Federation. From 1993 to 2011, Rashkin was the first secretary of theSaratov Regional Committee of the Communist Party.
In 1990, he was elected to theSaratov City Council of People's Deputies. In 1993, Rashkin was included in the Communist Party federal list in theelections to the1st State Duma, but dropped out of it before the registration of candidates. In the elections to the 1stSaratov Oblast Duma in 1994, he headed the list of the local electoral bloc "For Democracy."[7] He was elected one of the two deputy chairmen of the Duma.[6]
In December 1999, Rashkin was on the CPRF's list in theelections to the3rd State Duma, listed second in the Volga-Caspian regional group. He also ran inSaratov constituency. Rashkin received 31.66% of the vote, having more than doubled the result of his closest rivalVyacheslav Maltsev with 14.78%.[8]
In January 2000, Rashkin was nominated for theGovernor of Saratov Oblast. His campaign was accompanied by allegations of links to organized crime, untimely campaigning and voter bribery. Rashkin himself and the Communist Party representatives accused theincumbent governor and his administration in initiating the "campaign of slander". Rashkin was not on the ballot, since the regional election commission declared invalid 3,000 signatures in support of his candidacy, about 25% of its total number.[7] In 2003 Rashkin was elected to the4th State Duma by CPRF party list. In Saratov constituency he was defeated by former ice hockey playerVladislav Tretiak.[9]
In the summer of 2010, after the dissolution of the bureau of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party, he was appointed head of the Organizing Committee for convening a conference of the Moscow City Committee. On 18 December 2010 he was elected first secretary of the Moscow City Committee. In 2013 Rashkin became deputy chairman of the party's Central Committee.[7] In the6th State Duma (2011–16) he was deputy chairman of the committee for nationalities. In 2016 helost the election inLyublino constituency to TV presenterPyotr Tolstoy. After passing by party list he continued his work in the committee for nationalities of the7th State Duma.
In theelections to the8th State Duma, CPRF nominated Valery Rashkin inBabushkinsky constituency of Moscow. His main rival was theUnited Russia candidate, TV presenterTimofey Bazhenov. On 15 September 2021Alexei Navalny's team included Rashkin in the list of candidates, supported by theSmart Voting campaign. As five years before, Rashkin lost the constituency to pro-government candidate,[10] but he entered the new Duma on the party list. Rashkin was one of the organizers ofprotests against electoral fraud, having held the first rally onPushkin Square in Moscow on the night of 20 September.[11]
From 1999 to 2019, as a deputy of the State Duma, Valery Rashkin co-authored 197 legislative initiatives and amendments to draft federal laws.[12] In October 2014 he submitted a bill prohibiting government officials and their family members from owning property abroad.[13]
The phrase "Rashkin's list" was repeatedly used by Rashkin himself and the media meaning lists of parliamentarians and officials who were accused by him of corruption and violation of the law. In November 2006, at a meeting of the State Duma, Rashkin accusedUnited Russia of corruption, referring to the fact that most of the officials prosecuted for it were members of that party. After a complaint from United Russia deputies, the Duma Ethics Commission asked Rashkin to provide evidence. He planned to refer to the list of 297 prosecuted MPs and heads of municipalities, which he received from theProsecutor General's Office in June 2006. The ethics commission found no indication of party affiliation in the cases; it considered Rashkin's statements inadmissible and deprived him of the right of speech during the Duma meetings for the next month. In January 2007, Rashkin presented a new list, which included 107 convicts and suspects. In a commentary toNovaya Gazeta, the head of the Duma Ethics Commission Gennady Raikov noted that out of 297 persons listed, only 78 were prosecuted for crimes that could be classified as corruption, 61 people were convicted, but all of them werenon-partisan.[14]
Euromaidan and the ensuing political crisis in Ukraine were regarded by Rashkin as the fascists' rise to power, caused by poverty, unemployment and corruption. He called on the Russian authorities to apply sanctions to the new Ukrainian leadership.[15] In March 2014, Rashkin supported theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.[16] The politician also called for the use of Russian special services to kill Ukrainian nationalistsOleksandr Muzychko andDmytro Yarosh.[17] In February 2015, Rashkin was included on the list of persons whom the European Union considers responsible for destabilizing thesituation in Eastern Ukraine.[18]
Rashkin was sanctioned by theUnited Kingdom government in 2015 in relation to theRusso-Ukrainian War.[19]
In December 2009, theProsecutor General's Office sent an official warning to Rashkin following his controversial statements about the current government (on theOctober Revolution anniversary rally in Saratov Rashkin said that "blood must wash away this shame they have imposed on us [after 1991]"). His words were condemned by Communist party leaderGennady Zyuganov and Saratov regional branch of the CPRF.[20] Then-secretary ofUnited Russia's general councilVyacheslav Volodin, who was mentioned in Rashkin's speech, asked the court to oblige Rashkin to pay 5 million rubles in compensation for moral damage.Leninsky district court of Saratov reduced the amount of compensation to one million, which Rashkin paid with 60 kilograms of low-value coins.[21]
In November 2012, Rashkin provoked a scandal, posting onTwitter about his wish to use Russian presidentVladimir Putin as a target in a shooting tournament among State Duma members. After receiving harsh criticism, Rashkin said that he meant a photo of the president, that his post was a joke, that beating mannequins with politicians' portraits is a Japanese tradition.[22]
In January 2016,Novaya Gazeta published the research of the academic degrees of the6th State Duma members, made byDissernet community. Rashkin'sdoctoraldissertation was classified as a "phantom" one, since neither the original nor its abstract were found in theRSL orNLR.[23] Three years later Rashkin said that the degree was actually awarded by a public organization called the "Academy of Social Sciences".[24]
In April 2016, member of the State Duma fromLDPRMikhail Degtyaryov accused top Moscow communists Valery Rashkin, Vladimir Rodin andAndrey Klychkov of espionage and high treason, citing a report byRussia-1 TV channel, which claimed that the CPRF city committee cooperated withAlexei Navalny.[25][26]
In October 2021, Valery Rashkin was accused of illegal hunting. According to the Committee for Hunting and Fishery ofSaratov Oblast, on the night of 29 October, a cut elk carcass and cutting tools were found in the trunk of Rashkin's car inLysogorsky District.[27] Rashkin said that the "almost cut" elk was found by him in the forest. He called the incident a provocation by the authorities.[28] CPRF's press secretaryAlexander Yushchenko noted that Rashkin had never been fond of hunting and said that the Communist Party considers this event "another attack" on the MP.[29] The article 258 of theRussian Criminal Code provides imprisonment for up to two years. Since Rashkin hasparliamentary immunity, law enforcement agencies were able to take the case to court and bring charges only if the State Duma authorized the prosecution.[30] State Duma authorized it on 25 November 2021.[31] On 22 April 2022, Rashkin was convicted by theKalininsky District, Saratov Oblast court of illegal hunting and given a 3-yearsuspended sentence with a 2-yearprobation.[32]
Valery Rashkin is married to Natalya Petrovna Rashkina (born 1952), who works as a psychologist in a kindergarten.[7] The couple has two sons: Vladimir (born 1979) and Andrey (born 1982). Both are graduates of theSaratov State Technical University. Andrey Rashkin works as the head of the information security department ofRussia Today.[7] Beyond politics, Rashkin is a master of mountaineering and has earned several sports awards, reflecting his active involvement in athletics.[33]
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