Sergey Naryshkin

Sergey Yevgenyevich Naryshkin (Russian: Серге́й Евге́ньевич Нары́шкин; IPA: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej jɪˈvɡʲenʲɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈrɨʂkʲɪn]; born 27 October 1954) is a Russian official, politician and businessman who has been Chairman of the State Duma (2011 - 2016). Previously he was head of the Administration of the President of Russia from May 2008 to December 2011; he was also chairman of the Historical Truth Commission in May 2009 until it was dissolved in February 2012.

Sergei Ivanovich Naryshkin was born in Leningrad and graduated from Leningrad Institute of Mechanics with a degree in engineering in 1978. In the 1990s he also graduated from International Management Institute of Saint Petersburg with a degree in economics.

In 2015, Naryshkin's dissertation in economics was exposed as fraudulent in an investigation by Dissernet, with more than half of the text plagiarized from other publications.

In 1982 he was appointed Deputy Vice-Rector of Leningrad Polytechnical Institute.

In the 1980s he served in the Soviet Embassy in Brussels. Some sources suggested that while there he worked for KGB after he had been a fellow student of Vladimir Putin at a group of KGB Higher School.

From 1992 until 1995 he worked in the Committee for Economy and Finance of Saint Petersburg Mayor Office. After he left, he became the chief of the external investment department of Promstroybank—a position he would hold until 1997.

From 1997 until 1998, Naryshkin led the Investment Department of the Leningrad Oblast government.

From 1998 until 2004, he was the Chairman of the Committee for External Economic and International Relations of the government of Leningrad Oblast.

In early 2004 he was a deputy head of the economic department of the Russian presidential administration.

From March through September 2004, Naryshkin was a deputy chief of staff of the Russian government.

Since 2004 he has been a member of the board of directors of Sovkomflot and a deputy chairman of the board of directors of Rosneft.

Since August 31, 2004, Naryshkin has also been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Channel One of the Russian television.

Since September 13, 2004, he has been a Minister, Chief of Staff of the Government of Russia.

On February 15, 2007, President Vladimir Putin announced that Naryshkin had been appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for external economic activity, focusing on collaboration with the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In May 2008, Naryshkin was appointed chief of the Presidential Administration of Russia. In May 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev appointed him chairman of the Historical Truth Commission.

Since the rise of tensions between European Union and Russia in 2014 Naryshkin was perceived as one of the main coordinators of contacts with European far-right and far-left parties supporting Russian foreign policy in Europe.

In September 2016 Naryshkin was appointed as chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

Naryshkin was elected to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament in December 2011. When the Duma began meeting for its new term on 21 December 2011, Naryshkin was elected as Chairman of the State Duma; he received 238 votes in favor of his candidacy, while 88 deputies opposed him. On June 2012 Naryshkin signed a resolution on setting up a culture council under the State Duma speaker. The council is “a standing advisory body”. The tasks of the council are “the examination and drafting of initiatives on topical problems of legislative regulations in culture and associated industries, the development of recommendations on culture for the use in lawmaking”. On September 2, 2013, Naryshkin stated that there are no political prisoners in today's Russia.

Sergey Naryshkin – Chairman of the Board of Trustees The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

As a result of the 2014 Crimean crisis, the federal government of the United States under Barack Obama blacklisted Naryshkin and other close friends of the Russian president, including Sergei Ivanov and Gennadi Timchenko.