Prominent Russians: Sergey Naryshkin

Image from www.izak.ru

Sergey Naryshkin is a politician and a businessman. He has been the head of the Russian Presidential Administration since May 2008. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Management of Channel One, the Russian federal TV channel and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rosneft Oil Company, Russia's extraction and refinement giant.

Sergey Naryshkin was born on 27 October 1954 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). Some researchers believe he is a descendant of the noble Naryshkin family who had relations with the Russian Imperial Family. Others affirm that Sergey Naryshkin has no connection to the famous historical family. Naryshkin himself has never commented on it.

Image from www.film.ru

In 1978 Naryshkin graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Mechanics. His major was engineering. Later he attended the St. Petersburg International Management Institute. In 1982 Naryshkin became Deputy Vice Rector of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. He was responsible for the international scientific relations and foreign economic relations of the institute. Naryshkin spent some time in Belgium serving at the Soviet Embassy. According to some sources, Sergey Naryshkin worked for the KGB and had studied at a KGB school together with Vladimir Putin, the future President of the Russian Federation.

In 1992-1995 Sergey Naryshkin headed the economic growth department of the City of Saint Petersburg. Later he became the chairman of the city’s Committee of Economics and Finance. His career as a businessman was also successful. In 1995-1997 Naryshkin was the chief of the external investment department of Promstroybank, one of the largest banks in Saint Petersburg. In 1997 he headed the investment department of Leningrad Region (Leningrad Oblast) government. In 1998 he was appointed Chairman of the External Economic and International Relations Committee of the Leningrad Region, and remained as such until 2004.

AFP Photo / Junko Kimura

In 2004 Naryshkin was invited to take a position in the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. He accepted the invitation and became the Deputy Chairman of the Economic Department. Soon he was promoted to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian government and on 13 September 2004, by the President’s order, Sergey Naryshkin was appointed Chief of Staff of the Russian government. Naryshkin was responsible for administrative reform and state industry policy. He was then appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for external economic activity by Russian President Vladimir Putin. On 12 September 2007 when the Russian government, headed by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov was forced to resign, Sergey Naryshkin was temporarily appointed Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. On 14 September 2007 Viktor Zubkov became the head of the government, and Naryshkin returned to his former position in the new ministry. In May 2008 Sergey Naryshkin became Chief of the Presidential Administration of Russia.

Sergey Naryshkin is married and has two children. An enthusiastic sportsman, in 2006 he became President of the All-Russian Swimming Federation. He is a passionate theatergoer and jazz-lover. Naryshkin has been honored with important state awards. He was a member of the Russian-French Economic and Trade Council and speaks English and French.

Written by Alyona Kipreyeva for RT