Gennadiy Grigoryevich Onishchenko (russian: Геннадий Григорьевич Онищенко, born 20 November 1950) is a Russian government official who was the
Chief Sanitary Inspector of Russia from 1996 to 2013.
Early life
Gennady Onishchenko was born on 20 November 1950 in Changyr-Tash village, modern
Kyrgyzstan. In 1973 he graduated from the
M. Gorky Donetsk State Medical Institute. He is a Candidate Master of Sports in weightlifting.
From 1973 to 1987 he worked in the Ministry of Railways of the USSR as a doctor-epidemiologist. In 1982 he became the chief sanitary doctor of the
Moscow metro, in 1983 — the head of the central sanitary and epidemiological station of the Ministry of Railways. In 1988 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Quarantine Infections of the USSR Ministry of Health. Onishchenko participated in the liquidation of the
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
.
In the fall of 1995, during the
, Onishchenko was kidnapped on the way from
Mozdok to
Grozny, and was held captive by
Chechen separatists
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (; ce, Нохчийн Республик Ичкери, Nóxçiyn Respublik Içkeri; russian: Чеченская Республика Ичкерия; abbreviated as "ChRI" or "CRI") was a ''de facto'' state that ...
.
From 1993 to 2002 he was a member of the Constructive-Ecological Movement of Russia "Kedr", transformed into the
Russian Ecological Party "The Greens"
)
, colours = Green Teal
, website partygreen.ru
The Russian Ecological Party "The Greens" (REP "The Greens"; russian: Российская экологическая партия «Зелёные», Rossiyskaya ekologicheskaya partiya «Zelo ...
in 2002.
On June 24, 2009,
Eduard Kokoity granted Onishchenko honorary citizenship of
South Ossetia.
Chief Sanitary Inspector
From 1996 to 2013 Onishchenko was the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Russia and ex officio First Deputy Minister of Health. Since 2004 he was the head of newly established
Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection (Rospotrebnadzor).
During Onishchenko's 17-year-long tenure his department made numerous radical and controversial actions:
*In March 2006, Rospotrebnadzor
completely banned the import of Georgian and Moldovan wines to Russia, motivating this step with the non-compliance of a significant part of them with sanitary standards. The
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
government recognized the presence of a large mass of counterfeits on the Georgian wine market and initiated criminal cases against the management of a number of wineries. According to a
VCIOM poll, 71% of the Russians supported the restrictions imposed by Onishchenko.
*Since June 2009, Rospotrebnadzor has banned the import of almost 500 types of dairy products from
Belarus, and then another 800 due to the fact that Belarusian producers did not re-register documents in accordance with Russian technical regulations for milk. The Belarusian delegation did not attend the
CSTO summit in Moscow on June 15, explaining their move by "economic discrimination" from one of the CSTO countries.
*In October 2012, speaking on the draft of a new anti-smoking legislation, Onishchenko said: "If our
Duma would not accept the law that was introduced, I will raise the issue of its dissolution. As a voter, I have the right to say so." In response, member of the Duma from
United Russia Andrey Makarov suggested "sending Mr. Onishchenko for a psychiatric examination."
*In July 2013, the head of Rospotrebnadzor announced a ban on the Ukrainian
Roshen
Roshen Confectionery Corporation ( uk, Кондитерська корпорація «Роше́н», Kondyterska korporatsiya "Roshen") is a Ukrainian confectionery manufacturing group. It operates facilities in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, ...
confectionery products to Russia. On July 29, Onishchenko said that the agency's suspicions were "justified", that the Roshen's products "did not correspond to the declared parameters", and there was also a complaint about the quality and safety of the goods.
On 22 October 2013, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia
Olga Golodets
Olga Golodets (Russian: Ольга Юрьевна Голодец; born 1 June 1962) is Russian politician and economist who served as a deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2020. She was the most senior woman in the Russian government.
Early life ...
, commenting on rumors about Onishchenko's resignation, said: "Gennady Onishchenko's term as head of Rospotrebnadzor has expired, so he is leaving this post. Deputy Head of Rospotrebnadzor
Anna Popova
Anna Yuryevna Popova (russian: Анна Юрьевна Попова; born October 18, 1960, Rostov-on-Don, RSFSR, USSR) is a Russian physician and public health official. She is serving as head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer ...
will be appointed the new head of the department." Later that day, Onishchenko refused to confirm information about his resignation, calling Golodets "a strange person" who "does not belong to the number of decision-makers." On the evening of October 23, Gennady Onishchenko was officially dismissed from his post as head of Rospotrebnadzor and appointed assistant to the
Prime Minister of Russia
The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the nominal head of government of Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 fo ...
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
. The reason for the resignation of Onishchenko, according to one of the government officials, was the "problem of controlling him."
Member of parliament
On 22 May 2016, Onishchenko won
United Russia's primaries in Tushino constituency No. 206 in Moscow. Two days later, the prime minister Dmitry Medvedev removed the reprimand imposed on Onishchenko in February "for violating the requirements of article 18 of the Law on the state civil service." When submitting the declaration, Onishchenko did not mention the residential building in
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...
.
On 18 September 2016 he was elected member of the
7th State Duma
The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the 7th convocation (russian: Государственная Дума Федерального Собрания Российской Федерации седьмого созы ...
He became first deputy Chairman of the Committee on Education and Science in the new Duma convocation.
In July 2017, Onishchenko proposed to ban
fidget spinners in Russia. In April 2018 he became one of the initiators of the bill "On measures of counteraction on unfriendly actions of the USA and (or) other foreign states" in the article 2 of which it was proposed to ban or restrict the import of drugs produced in the United States or other foreign countries.
The project law was criticized by a number of public organizations, the
Federation Council committee on social policy and State Duma committee on foreign affairs.
Personal life
Onishchenko has three children, one daughter and two sons.
References
External links
Biography (in Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onishchenko, Gennadiy
1950 births
Living people
1st class Active State Councillors of the Russian Federation
Academicians of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences
Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia)
Recipients of the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" I class
State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates
Russian public health doctors
United Russia politicians
Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
Seventh convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)
21st-century Russian politicians
Soviet public health doctors