Valentina Matvienko is called the Russian Margaret Thatcher. The politician is proud of the comparison with the British Prime Minister. And not only because she is close to the highest government position - she occupies one of the leading positions in the hierarchy of the Russian power system. Valentina Ivanovna is respected for the same tough character and integrity in her work as the great British woman. At the same time, she is loved for her responsiveness and breadth of soul.
Childhood[]
Valentina Ivanovna was born on April 7, 1949 in the Ukrainian village of Shepetovka in the family of front-line soldier Ivan Yakovlevich and theater costume designer Antonina Kondratyevna Tyunin. Her nationality is half Ukrainian.
The father died when the girl was not yet seven years old. The mother, left with three daughters in her arms, of whom Valya was the youngest, began to have financial difficulties. But the woman did not lose heart, she managed to raise the girls and give them a good education.
After graduating from high school with a silver medal, Valentina entered the Cherkassy medical school without hesitation, because she wanted to help people. Having received a diploma with honors, she moved to Leningrad, where she became a student at the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Institute.
While studying in her second year, Matvienko found herself at the reporting and election conference of the Komsomol organization. Initially, she did not plan to be active, but at some point she was so tired of the formalism that she could not stand it and went to the podium. There, the girl noted that nothing was decided at the meetings, and the university did not have suitable conditions for organizing leisure time—no construction teams, no sports work.
The student’s performance left no one indifferent. Valentina was immediately promoted to the position of secretary of the Komsomol committee. At first she wanted to refuse, but after her candidacy was approved by a majority of votes, she was forced to give in and agree.
After graduation, Matvienko was assigned to graduate school. She did not intend to engage in politics, she dreamed of devoting herself to science. But the girl was forced by ultimatum to start working in the district Komsomol committee.
Gradually she fell into a rut and began to climb the career ladder. Thus, Valentina Ivanovna, the Academy of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee and advanced training courses for senior diplomatic officials at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appeared.
Carier start[]
Matvienko went through a thorny path from an ordinary member of the Communist Party to the secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the Komsomol. Already in her youth, she was valued for her straightforwardness; she always expressed her thoughts specifically and clearly indicated her position in a conversation with her interlocutor.
In 1986, at the age of 37, Valentina Ivanovna entered the world of big politics: she took the position of deputy chairman of the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council of People's Deputies, oversaw issues of culture and education, and a few years later became a people's deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and headed the committee for family protection , children and women.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the doors of diplomacy opened for Matvienko - she was appointed the first ambassador of the Russian Federation to Malta. Later, Igor Ivanov, who became Minister of Foreign Affairs, made the official director of the department for relations with regions. Then she worked for some time at the Greek Embassy.
The year 1998 marked the beginning of work in the Russian government for a female politician. Over the next five years, she served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, a position which during this time included Yevgeny Primakov, Sergei Stepashin, Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Kasyanov.
Through the efforts of Valentina Ivanovna, pension and salary arrears were paid off, and sick leave payments were increased. She was concerned about the welfare of the disabled, seeking additional funding.
Later, the official was appointed presidential plenipotentiary representative in the Northwestern Federal District. At the same time, she joined the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Colleagues praised Matvienko for her dedication to her work. She always took her responsibilities responsibly and demanded the same from her colleagues - she carefully checked reports and was strict with hacks. It is not surprising that her authority in the government continued to grow.
Governor of St. Petersburg[]
At the beginning of October 2003, the second round of elections for the post of governor of St. Petersburg ended. Valentina Ivanovna received 63% of the votes and was significantly ahead of her competitor Anna Markova. After taking office, the official, in her words, “forcefully pulled the city out of the horrors of the 90s.”
As governor, the female politician took up the restoration of the Northern capital. Under it, new high-rise buildings and shopping and entertainment centers were erected, and transport interchanges were modernized. But at the same time, some of the old buildings were demolished, which caused discontent among some city residents.
In 2006, Matvienko submitted an application for early resignation, but the head of state Vladimir Putin rejected it and reappointed her governor of St. Petersburg. During this period, Valentina Ivanovna paid attention to the area of social payments. She achieved the provision of a second pension for former blockade survivors and initiated the introduction of additional payments for pensioners earning below the subsistence level.
Speaker of the Federation Council[]
In June 2011, the then-current head of Bashkortostan, Rustem Khamitov, proposed the candidacy of Valentina Ivanovna for the post of chairman of the Federation Council. The then-current president, Dmitry Medvedev, supported the initiative; Matvienko resigned as governor of her own free will.
Georgy Poltavchenko, who took the place of the head of the Northern capital, appointed his predecessor as the representative of St. Petersburg in the Federation Council. Literally two weeks later, Valentina Ivanovna was unanimously elected to the post of Chairman of the Federation Council - out of 140 senators, only 1 abstained.
Being a workaholic by nature, Valentina Ivanovna again enthusiastically took up her work, striving to improve the lives of Russian citizens. Her personal example and habit of always setting the highest standards for herself turned out to be infectious to her colleagues, which allowed them to achieve success in every area of their activity.
Under Matvienko, the “Accessible Environment”, “Panic Button” and “Children of Russia” programs were launched; she protected clinics and hospitals from indiscriminate privatization. Valentina Ivanovna co-authored a bill on tax benefits for patrons of the arts and set the Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva the task of reducing the number of unnecessary reports from teachers.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the official came under international sanctions. She reacted calmly to this and declared her readiness not to travel outside her native country. In 2015, the politician decided to relax at the resort of Kislovodsk, but even there she could not sit without work - she criticized the mismanagement of local authorities.
Subsequently, Matvienko continued to work in the Federation Council. She focused her efforts on reforming the Federal Penitentiary Service to improve conditions for prisoners. And the bill “On Collectors” she prepared provided for limiting the actions of collectors towards debtors and prohibiting the use of physical violence against them.
In January 2020, Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly, which contained a number of initiatives, including changes to the Constitution. Valentina Ivanovna especially noted in the president’s speech the part concerning the ban on dual citizenship for government officials. According to her, honest civil servants “have no use for an alternate airfield.” Those who don’t think so can go into business.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Matvienko’s work became more difficult, but at such a difficult time for the state, she did not leave the Federation Council, despite rumors of a transfer to a position with less responsibility. In addition to fulfilling the tasks that arose with the advent of COVID-19, the politician did not forget to take care of the social sphere.
As the current Chairman of the Federation Council, Valentina Ivanovna is now busy with a number of important tasks. In her work, the official strives to maintain contact with Russian citizens. At the beginning of 2022, she mastered the VKontakte platform, where she promised to continue sharing news and photos.
Among her first posts, she published a statement about the need to support small and medium-sized businesses in connection with the current economic situation in the country. Matvienko called for refraining from both scheduled and unscheduled checks against entrepreneurs.
Later, in an interview with Chinese journalists, the politician answered a question about the possibility of a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin to discuss issues related to Ukraine. Valentina Ivanovna noted that the meeting will take place only if preliminary agreements are developed between the countries. However, it was not possible to reach a dialogue.
In September, the Russian President announced partial mobilization in Russia. Matvienko, commenting on the decree, said that the current benefits for participants in the special operation will also apply to those who were subject to partial mobilization.
At the G20 summit of parliaments in Indonesia in October, Valentina Ivanovna called on Russia and Ukraine to sit down at the negotiating table, “to understand each other, to find agreements.”
Valentina Matvienko now[]
In November 2023, Valentina Ivanovna gave a speech as part of the educational marathon of the Knowledge Society. The politician noted the restored defense capability of the country, as well as the correctness of the president’s choice to move away from a unipolar world. In her speech, Matvienko said that the head of state had no choice but to launch a war in Ukraine.
Of the official's entire speech, her proposal to create a Ministry of Happiness received the most publicity. According to her, absolutely all legislative initiatives will be discussed in this department from the point of view of the question of how certain laws will make the population happier.
By the way, this was not the first time Valentina Ivanovna voiced this idea. Previously, she spoke about the need to create an agency that would control the quality of social services.