Vladimir Shumeiko is a well-known domestic politician and statesman. He was one of the closest associates of the first President of Russia, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin. In the period from 1994 to 1996, he headed the Federation Council.
Biography of the politician
Vladimir Shumeiko was born in Rostov-on-Don in 1945. His father was a soldier, and his ancestors came from the Don Cossacks. The hero of our article graduated from high school in Krasnodar, her number was 47. Then he was educated at the Polytechnic Institute of the same city as an electrical engineer. He was awarded a diploma of successful completion of the university in 1972. It is worth noting that after that he continued to engage in scientific research, becoming a candidate of technical sciences and a doctor of economic sciences. Received the title of professor.
Vladimir Shumeiko's career began at the plant of electrical measuring instruments. He worked as a fitter. Then he served in the army as part of the Soviet group of forces in the German Democratic Republic, and was demobilized in 1970.
In 1970 he entered the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Electrical Measuring Instruments as an engineer. Over time, he became a senior, then a leading engineer, headed a laboratory, and headed a department of a scientific research institute. In 1981, he received a Ph. D. in Engineering.
In 1985, Vladimir Shumeiko became the chief designer of the project, and then the general director of a large production association called the Krasnodar Plant of Measuring Instruments. In the same year, he was elected to the Council of People's Deputies of Krasnodar from Pervomaisky District.
Political career
Since then, the political career of Vladimir Filippovich Shumeiko began. In 1990, he served as deputy chairman of the committee of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, dealing with issues of property and economic reforms. Over time, he heads the commission on the natural and cultural heritage of the peoples of the RSFSR.
In May 1991, he became a confidant of Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin in the presidential elections in the RSFSR. In the future, he moves up the career ladder: he leads the commission for legislative support of presidential decrees, becomes deputy chairman of the Supreme Council for granting foreign partners the rights to develop oil fields in Sakhalin, and leads the anti-crisis commission. In those years, Vladimir Filippovich Shumeiko, whose biography is given in this article, is considered one of the key supporters and associates of President Boris Yeltsin.
In June 1992, the hero of our article occupies the chair of the Deputy Prime Minister already in the structure of the Russian Federation. For several weeks in 1993 he was in charge of the Ministry of Press and Information.
In the Federation Council
Vladimir Shumeiko, whose biography you are now reading, at the very beginning of 1994, took over as chairman of the Federation Council. This position has just been established, so the hero of our article was the first to take this post. Only in January 1996, Yegor Stroev replaced him.
At the head of the Supreme House of the Federal Assembly, he showed himself as a supporter of exceptionally radical reforms. He was an ardent supporter of Gaidar, many regional leaders opposed his candidacy, their resistance could be overcome with great difficulty. Having become the speaker of the Federation Council, he repeatedly sharply criticized the work of the State Duma, reproaching it for conservatism.
Shumeyko at the end of 1995 outlined a new area of his activity. He officially announced the creation of a new political movement, called "Russian reforms - a new course." In 1998 the movement was transformed into a party. In 1996 he defended his doctoral dissertation in economics.
Since 1997, Shumeiko has gone into business structures. First, he heads the Ugra corporation, and then the Rus stock exchange corporation. In April 1998, he was elected chairman of the board of directors of the Evikhon company, which is developing the Salym oil field inKhanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. The Russian company is working together with Shell, a major global giant in this industry.
At the same time, Shumeiko makes attempts to return to politics, but to no avail. In 1999, he put forward his candidacy for the Legislative Assembly of the Evenk Autonomous Okrug. But as a result, the district court deprived him of registration, revealing a number of violations.
Since April 2007, he has been the head of the Kaliningrad Region representative office in Moscow.
Political stance
It is noteworthy that when nominated at the Congress of People's Deputies, Shumeiko often took fundamentally opposite positions - from radical to centrist. At the same time, in 1990, he joined the democratic group "Communists of Russia", which came as a surprise to many.
In the fall of 1991, he officially joined a faction called the "Industrial Union", and soon in parallel became a member of another faction, which called itself the "Radical Democrats". Moreover, both of these political movements had many contradictions in their programs, stood on different positions on many issues, but Shumeiko proved the diversity and breadth of his political views not for the first time.
In May 1992, the hero of our article becomes one of the leaders of the "Reform" deputy group, which supports President Boris Yeltsin, without having an official status and uniting deputies from several different factions. They are all united by the fact that they support politics,conducted by the government and the head of state, but at the same time by any means seek to avoid the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies. However, when Shumeiko was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister, this happened in June 1992, he was not officially a member of any of the factions of the Russian parliament.
It is also known that in December 1991, as a member of the Supreme Council, he voted for the ratification of the Bialowieza agreement, which officially approved the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Financial scandal
Political scandals in the 90s did not bypass the figure of Shumeiko. In May 1993, Alexander Rutskoi, who at that time served as vice president, accused the hero of our article of financial fraud. According to Rutskoy, Shumeiko covered up his dark deeds by building a plant for the production of baby food, which was carried out in the Moscow region.
Shumeyko did not make him wait long for an adequate response, accusing Rutskoy himself of corruption. An investigation began, which accused Shumeiko of having sent 15 million US dollars to the Telamon commercial structure on his direct orders from Rosagrokhim (being a state-owned company). If we believe the conclusion made by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as a result, the fate of 9.5 million dollars of this amount remained unknown. Valentin Stepanov, who at that time held the post of Prosecutor General, officially announced that there weresigns of malfeasance. In the summer of 1993, the Supreme Council approved the initiation of a criminal case against Shumeiko. The approval of the Supreme Court was required, since the hero of our article had the status of a former MP.
Resignation
As a result, Russian President Boris Yeltsin intervened in the conflict. He removed Shumeiko and Rutskoy from the positions they held at that time. Yeltsin took this step even though there was no option in the constitution to fire the vice president.
At the same time, Shumeiko actually continued to fulfill his duties, since Yeltsin trusted him, but wanted to calm down the opposition, whose leader Rutskoi was considered to be. For those who understood the undercover political games, it was obvious that the decree was directed exclusively against the vice president.
After the October coup
After the October 1993 coup, Shumeiko received the post of Minister of Information and Press. In this position, he was marked by a decree that banned all nationalist media. As noted in the decree, it was the activities of these newspapers that became one of the reasons for the bloodshed and riots that occurred in the capital. True, he did not remain in the ministerial chair for long. Already in December 1993, Shumeiko was elected to the Federation Council. He represented the Kaliningrad region. In 2010 he received the Order of Merit for the Region.
Big statements
Like his followers, who were speakers of the Federation Council (Stroev and Mironov), Shumeiko ledInterparliamentary Assembly of the CIS countries. In his post, he was noted for a number of loud and resonant statements. For example, he advocated the signing of the Bishkek Protocol, which called for a ceasefire and a truce in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Career after SF
The "Reform - New Deal" movement he then created had unclear prospects and program. At the same time, the hero of our article did not receive any more significant post in government structures.
At the same time, his name periodically continued to appear in scandals. In 2005, he was interrogated in the case of the sale of the Sosnovka-3 state dacha to businessman Mikhail Fridman.
Recent years
Now Vladimir Filippovich Shumeiko has retired from active work. He is 73 years old and rarely appears in public. At the same time, many continue to wonder where Vladimir Filippovich Shumeiko now lives.
What the ex-politician does recently became known after an interview with radio station "VERA". In particular, everyone found out where he is now. Vladimir Shumeiko lives at the Sosnovka-1 state dacha in the Moscow Region. At the same time, when asked by journalists what he is doing now, the hero of our article admitted that he devotes all his free time to his grandchildren. That's where Vladimir Filippovich Shumeiko is now. His wife's name is Galina. Shumeiko has two daughters and three grandchildren.
