Hazret Medzhidovich Sovmen ( ady, Шъэумэн Хьазрэт Меджидэ ыкъор ; russian: link=no, Хазре́т Меджи́дович Совмен; born 1 May 1937) was the second

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Republic of Adygea The Republic of Adygea (; russian: Республика Адыгея, Respublika Adygeya, p=ɐdɨˈɡʲejə; ady, Адыгэ Республик, ''Adıgə Respublik''), also known as the Adyghe Republic, is a republic of Russia. It is situated ...

, Russia, having succeeded

Aslan Dzharimov Aslan Aliyevich Dzharimov ( ady, Джарымэ Аслъан Алые ыкъор ; russian: Аслан Алиевич Джаримов) is a Russian politician who served as the President of the Adyghe Republic from 1992 to 2002. Education He g ...

at the post. Sovmen is a university professor from

Maykop Maykop (russian: Майкоп, p=mɐjˈkop Help:IPA/Russian, mɐj'kop); ady, Мыекъуапэ, Mıéquapə ) is the capital city of the Republic of Adygea in Russia, located on the right bank of the Belaya River (Kuban), Belaya River (a tribut ...

. Before becoming President, Hazret Sovmen had been a successful businessman (with links to Russian entrepreneurs in Siberia), having started off as a bulldozer driver in a gold mine in Chukotka. He is the founder of ''

Polyus Gold PJSC Polyus (russian: ПАО "Полюс") is a Russian gold mining company. It is the largest gold producer in Russia and one of the top 10 gold mining companies globally by output (2.84 million ounces of gold production in 2019). It is headquar ...

'', Russia's leading gold-mining company.http://www.polyusgold.com/eng/community/history/polyus/founder/ Via Polyusgold Official Website

Early life

Sovmen was born in the ''

aul An aul (; ce, oil; russian: аул) is a type of fortified village or town found throughout the Caucasus mountains and Soviet Central Asia, Central Asia. The word itself is of Turkic origin and simply means ''village'' in many Turkic language ...

'' of Afipsip in

Takhtamukaysky District Takhtamukaysky District (russian: Тахтамука́йский райо́н; ady, Тэхъутэмыкъуае къедзыгъо) is an administrativeLaw #171 and a municipalLaw #220 district (raion), one of the list of administrative and muni ...

Adyghe Autonomous Oblast Adyghe Autonomous Oblast (russian: Адыге́йская автоно́мная о́бласть) was an autonomous oblast within Krasnodar Krai, Soviet Union. It existed from 1922 to 1991. Cherkess (Adyghe) Autonomous Oblast was es ...

in the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He did his military service in the

Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

and graduated from the

Saint Petersburg Mining Institute Saint Petersburg Mining University (russian: Санкт-Петербургский горный университет), is Russia's oldest technical university, and one of the oldest technical colleges in Europe. It was founded on October 21, ...

. He started working at a gold mine in Chukotka in 1961 and also worked on mines in the Krasnoyarsk Krai and Magadan Oblast. He became manager of the Polyus Mine in 1981. During his time as president, he was the only regional head without any spouse.

Political career

Sovmen was elected to the office of President on 13 January 2002 by direct suffrage. He was faced with the challenges of leading one of a Russia's poorest republics, officially declared bankrupt by the

Government of Russia The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...

. Sovmen was involved in political activities with the ''Slavic people Union'', Adygeya's principal opposition party. Russian president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

is believed to have supported Sovmen. In 1997, Russian President

Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...

awarded him with the

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

3rd class. On 13 January 2007 he was succeeded as Adygean President by Aslan Tkhakushinov. He is a member of the

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...

party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sovmen, Hazret 1937 births Circassian people of Russia Living people Heads of the Republic of Adygea People from Takhtamukaysky District Saint Petersburg Mining University alumni Soviet miners