Boris Vyacheslavovich Gryzlov (also spelled Grizlov; russian: Борис Вячеславович Грызлов, ; born December 15, 1950), is a Russian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

. He was

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 2001 to 2003 and

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper hous ...

(the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of parliament) from 2003 to 2011. Boris Gryzlov is a close ally of

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 ...

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 ...

Early career

Gryzlov was born in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, ...

but was raised in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

(now Saint Petersburg). He graduated from the Leningrad Electrical Institute of Communications in 1973 and worked as a

radio engineer Broadcast engineering is the field of electrical engineering, and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology, which deals with radio and television broadcasting. Audio engineering and RF engineering are also essential par ...

. From 1977 to 1996, he worked his way up from being an engineer to division director in the Elektronpribor plant. He was not a public figure before 1999. In October 1999, he became head of the St Petersburg regional branch of

Sergey Shoygu Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, ; tyv, Сергей Күжүгет оглу Шойгу, translit=Sergey Kyzhyget oglu Shoygu, . (russian: Сергей Кужугетович Шойгу; born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician who has served as ...

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a ...

party, and in December 1999, he was elected to the State Duma running on the Unity party ticket. In January 2000, he was elected chairman of the Unity faction in the Duma.

Interior Minister

In March 2001, he was appointed to the post of chief of Russian police and became

. In this position, Gryzlov proclaimed that the fight against

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

were his priorities. Gryzlov supported the Kremlin's policies in

Chechnya Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...

and won the reputation of being a trusted and loyal supporter of the president. In August 2001, Boris Gryzlov claimed that up to 100 industrial enterprises in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, including the

Petersburg Fuel Company The Petersburg Fuel Company (PTK, in Russian: Петербургская топливная компания, ПТК) is an open joint-stock company of Saint Petersburg, Russia, founded in September 1994, after a fuel supply crisis had hit the ci ...

, a leading gasoline retailing operator in the city, as well as the four main sea ports of Northwestern Russia, Saint Petersburg,

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near ...

and Murmansk, were controlled by the Tambov Gang. In May 2002, he sent a commission to St. Petersburg to investigate corruption allegations in the city's gasoline market. The investigation was initiated after the Faeton Gasoline Company, the second leading fuel retailing company in the city, had complained to both Gryzlov and the Prosecutor General's Office in April that the Saint Petersburg City Administration had given preferential treatment to the

Parliament speaker

Within a year, he returned to

party politics A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, and in November 2002, became the head 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 ...

, a centrist pro-Putin group what emerged from Unity and several other pro-government movements that joined it. In December 2003, Boris Gryzlov was elected as speaker of the Duma. In November 2009, Gryzlov defined United Russia's ideology as "Russian conservatism"characterizing such conservatism as "an ideology of stability and development, constant creative renovation of society without stagnation and revolutions." Gryzlov resigned from the office of Parliament speaker on 14 December 2011, amongst accusations of polling fraud orchestrated by the United Russia party in the 2011 Russian Duma elections.

Diplomat

From December 2015, Gryzlov has been representative of Russia in the

Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine (also known as the Trilateral Contact Group for the peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine) is a group of representatives from Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and the Organization for Secur ...

. On 14 January 2022, president Vladimir Putin appointed Gryzlov as Russian ambassador to the Republic of Belarus. On February 3, Belarusian president Lukashenko received credentials of the new ambassador of Russia.

Memorable quotes

Following the 2007 Parliamentary elections, Gryzlov responded to criticism of electoral violations saying: ''They in no way put in doubt the final result. The fact that these violations have been registered shows that we have a transparent ballot.'' Following the 2009 regional parliamentary elections, Gryzlov stated in response to criticism of electoral violations: ''Corruption and legal nihilism, inherent to Russian mentality, should not be shifted onto "United Russia" party''. Representatives of the nationalist

Movement Against Illegal Immigration The Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI; russian: Движение против нелегальной иммиграции; ДПНИ; ''Dvizheniye protiv nelegalnoy immigratsii'', ''DPNI'') was a Russian far-right, nationalist and racist o ...

responded by telling the press that they were offended by such comments. The

nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

attempted to file charges against Gryzlov for belittling the

Russian people , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

under the same article used to prosecute nationalists for incitement to inter-ethnic violence, but these allegations were rejected by the prosecutor general. He has also voiced significant support for the controversial Russian inventor

Viktor Petrik Viktor Ivanovich Petrik (russian: Виктор Иванович Петрик; born 1946) is a Russian businessman. He claims to have made a number of scientific breakthroughs which he markets through his company Goldformula. His supporters have c ...

, even co-signing together with Petrik a number of patent applications. After the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

commission claimed that Petrik was a fraud, Gryzlov denounced the panel as

obscurantism In philosophy, the terms obscurantism and obscurationism describe the anti-intellectual practices of deliberately presenting information in an abstruse and imprecise manner that limits further inquiry and understanding of a subject. There are two ...

.White, Gregory L.
"Russian Inventor Has Friends In Kremlin, but Skeptics Outside It"
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', March 5, 2010.

References

External links

Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gryzlov, Boris 1950 births Living people Politicians from Saint Petersburg Interior ministers of Russia Engineers from Saint Petersburg United Russia politicians 21st-century Russian politicians Chairmen of the State Duma Third convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Fourth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Fifth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Russian Federation) Ambassadors of Russia to Belarus Russian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions