Valentina Matviyenko

Valentina Matviyenko
Matviyenko at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 2007
Governor of Saint Petersburg
In office 15 October 2003 – 22 August 2011
Preceded by	Vladimir Yakovlev
Succeeded by	Georgy Poltavchenko (Acting)
Personal details
Born	Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko (1949-04-07) 7 April 1949 Shepetivka, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian
Political party	United Russia
Spouse	Vladimir Vasilyevich Matvienko
Children	Sergey Matviyenko (born 1973)
Alma mater	Leningrad Institute of Chemistry and Pharmaceutics

Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko (Russian: Валенти́на Ива́новна Матвие́нко, née Tyutina (Тю́тина) born 7 April 1949) is the top female politician in Russia, the former governor of Saint Petersburg and the current Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. Born in the Ukrainian SSR, in 1980s she started her political career in Saint Petersburg (than called Leningrad) and was the First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District of the city in 1984–1986. In 1990s she served as Russian ambassador to Malta (1991–1995) and Greece (1997–1998). Between 1998–2003 Matviyenko was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Welfare, and briefly the Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District in 2003. By that time she firmly allied herself with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which alliance secured her a victory in the governor elections in Saint Petersburg, Putin's native city.

Matviyenko became the first female leader of Saint Petersburg, as well as the first woman-governor in Russian history. Since the start of her governor service a significant share of taxation money was transferred from the federal budget to the local one, and along with the booming economy and improving investment climate this allowed to significantly improve the standard of living in the city, making income levels much closer to Moscow and high above most other Russian federal subjects. Matviyenko's governorship was marked by a large number of major construction projects in housing and infrastructure, such as building of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road including the Big Obukhovsky Bridge (the only non-draw bridge over the Neva River in the city), completion of the Saint Petersburg Dam aimed to put an end to ill-famous Saint Petersburg floods, launching Line 5 of Saint Petersburg Metro and starting onwashing territories in the Neva Bay for the new Marine Facade of the city (the largest European waterfront development project) containing the New Sea Passenger port.

Matviyenko managed to draw several major auto-producing companies to Saint Petersburg or its vicinity, including Toyota, General Motors, Nissan, Hyundai Motor, Suzuki, Magna International, Scania and MAN SE (all having plants in Shushary industrial zone, either opened or under construction), thus turning the city into an important center of automotive industry in Russia, specializing on foreign brands. Another development of her governorship was tourism: by 2010 the number of tourists in Saint Petersburg doubled and reached 5.2 million, which placed the city among the top 5 tourist centers in Europe.

Some actions and practices of governor Matviyenko draw significant criticism from Saint Petersburg public, media and opposition groups. In particular, those were the new construction in already heavily built-up areas and a number of building projects deemed to contradict the classical architecture of the city where the entire centre is UNESCO World Heritage site. Some of such projects eventually were cancelled or modified, like the controversial design of a 400-metre tall Okhta Center skyscraper, planned to be built adjacent to the historical center of the city, but after a public campaign and the personal involvement of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev relocated to Lakhta suburb. Another major point of criticism was Matviyenko's handling of the cleaning of the city from snow during the unusually cold and snowy winters of 2009–2010 and 2010–2011.

On August 22nd 2011, soon after competion of the Saint Petersburg Dam, Matviyenko resigned from office. As a member of United Russia party, on 21st September 2011 she was elected the Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, the highest political position ever attained by a woman in Russia since the time of Empress Catherine the Great.

Early life

Valentina Tyutina was born in Shepetivka in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast of Western Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. In 1972 she graduated from Leningrad Institute of Chemistry and Pharmaceutics, where she met her husband, Vladimir Vasiyevich Matvienko. She held held various leadership positions within the Komsomol organization until 1984.

Political career

In 1985 she graduated from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Academy and became a party official in Leningrad's municipal government. In 1984 – 1986 she was the First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District Committee of the Party.

Matviyenko was elected as a people's deputy to the Supreme Soviet and headed the committee on women, family and children affairs.

Between 1991 and 1998 Matviyenko served in the diplomatic service and held several diplomatic positions including posts of Russian ambassador to Malta (1991–1995) and Greece (1997–1998).

On September 24, 1998, Matviyenko was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Welfare and occupied this position until 2003.

In June 1999 she worked on the Board of Directors of the ORT TV channel.

On November 20, 1999, she was involved in a life-threatening car accident.

On February 3, 2000 she was nominated for the presidency, but refused to contest. On February 29, 2000, she announced that she was considering running in the St. Petersburg governor elections to be held on May 14, and on March 10 announced that she was indeed launching her campaign. However, on April 4 she claimed that Vladimir Putin had asked her to withdraw from the elections, and did so on April 5.

On March 11, 2003 she left the Deputy PM position and was appointed presidential envoy to the Northwestern Federal District by Vladimir Putin.

Governor of Saint Petersburg

Election

On June 24, 2003, after Saint Petersburg governor Vladimir Yakovlev resigned ahead of schedule, she announced that she was ready to run for governor. Her nomination was supported by the United Russia political party. Putin controversially publicly supported her candidacy on September 2 in a meeting that was broadcast by two state-owned TV stations, an act that was seen by some as giving her unfair advantage. Previously, at the end of June, the new management of local channel St. Petersburg Television shut down a range of analytical programmes on local politics. The channel's new boss had formerly worked at pro-Kremlin television channel Rossiya.

In the first round of elections held on September 21, 2003, Matviyenko came first with 48.61% of the vote, followed by Anna Markova, a former member of Yakovlev's staff, with 15.89%. 10.97 percent of the electorate voted against all nine nominees. Turnout was low at just 29%. This was blamed by some on the fact that voters felt Matviyenko was being forced on them whatever their wishes. On October 5, 2003 Matviyenko won the second round with 63 percent (vs. 24% for Anna Markova) and was elected governor of Saint Petersburg, head of the Saint Petersburg City Administration.

On August 22, 2011 she was elected into the Regional Council of Saint Petersburg under allegations of fraud by the opposition. President Dmitry Medvedev had already backed her for the post of Speaker of the Federal Assembly or Upper House of the Russian Federation. Her election qualifies her for that post. Matviyenko subsequently resigned from her Governorship and Georgy Poltavchenko was appointed as acting governor in her place.

Policies

She pledged her support for the idea of transferring some part of the capital's functions from Moscow to Saint Petersburg.

She also supported the construction project of the Gazprom City business center including a 300 meter skyscraper holding the headquarters of some of Gazprom's subsidiaries on the right bank of the Neva River in front of the historic Smolny Cathedral, despite current regulations forbidding construction buildings of more than 42 (48 with expert approval) meters (see Gazprom City).

Renomination by Putin

In 2005 a new Russian federal law came into force whereby governors are proposed by the President of Russia and approved or disapproved by regional legislative assemblies rather than elected by direct popular vote. On December 6, 2006, one year before her term as elected governor would expire, Matviyenko asked Vladimir Putin to nominate her for approval according to the new legislation, and he agreed. She was approved by the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly on December 22, 2006.

On March 3, 2007, scores of participants of the Dissenters' March demonstrated in the city's main avenue, Nevsky Prospekt, calling for Matviyenko's dismissal. She in turn accused them of stirring up trouble ahead of elections to the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly scheduled for March 11, of criticising the city's perceived dynamic development and for allegedly receiving financial support from dubious sources. On April 15, 2007, the Dissenters' March took place in Saint Petersburg for the second time.

Assassination attempt

On May 19, 2007, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation announced that on May 16 it had detained several members of an undisclosed youth religious group allegedly preparing an assassination attempt on Matviyenko’s life using hand grenades and plastic explosive. On May 23 FSB Director Nikolay Patrushev announced that the prevented attempt had been scheduled for June.

Family

Matviyenko has one son, Sergei Matviyenko (b. 1973). In May 2003 Sergei was appointed Vice-President of Saint Petersburg Bank. Later he also became Vice-President and First Vice-President (2005) of Vneshtorgbank. On April 30, 2004 he married Zara Mgoyan (b. 1983), a Russian pop singer of Armenian and Kurdish origin, but they divorced a year later.

Allegations of corruption

Allegations have been raised that Matvienko's family, through the Saint Petersburg Bank, was complicit in the seizure of assets of Russian businessman Vitaly Arkhangelsky, who is seeking political asylum in France.

See also

• Saint Petersburg City Administration

External links

• Official Portal of the City Government: The Governor of St. Petersburg – Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko – in English
• Short biography in English