Konstantin Fyodorovich Zatulin (russian: Константин Фёдорович Затулин, born on 7 September 1958, in

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

, Adjarian ASSR,

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

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 ...

) is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

politician, first deputy chairman of the committee 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 house ...

for the

CIS Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

and relations with Russian nationals abroad. He represents the Sochi constituency.

Biography

Zatulin graduated from the History Department of

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

in 1981, specializing in the history of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

. In 1987-1990 he worked in the Central Committee of the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

. In the 1993 election Zatulin was elected deputy in the

, where he assumed the position of the chairman of the Committee for the Commonwealth of Independent States and relations with Russian nationals abroad. In the next 1995 election Zatulin lost his mandate. Since the 1990s Zatulin has been considered by the press as a champion of hard-line imperialist policies towards the former constituent republics of the

. Due to his comments on the status of

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

during 1996–2007, he was ''

persona non-grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...

'' in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. Since the early 1990s Zatulin has been a close associate of Moscow mayor

Yury Luzhkov Yury Mikhailovich Luzhkov ( rus, Ю́рий Миха́йлович Лужко́в, p=ˈjʉrʲɪj mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ lʊˈʂkof; 21 September 1936 – 10 December 2019) was a Russian politician who served as mayor of Moscow from 1992 to 2010 ...

, and in 1998 became a co-founder of Luzhkov's

Fatherland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...

Block. The block eventually merged with the All Russia block into

Fatherland – All Russia Fatherland – All Russia (russian: Отечество – Вся Россия; ОВР; ''Otečestvo – Vsä Rossija'', ''OVR'') was a political bloc that existed in Russia from 1998 to 2002. It was formed from the movement Fatherland, chaire ...

, which in 2001 united with the Unity Party into

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 ...

. Zatulin assumed an important position within the leadership of that party, and with the 2003 election became a member of the State Duma once again and became first deputy chairman of the Committee for the Commonwealth of Independent States and relations with Russian nationals abroad. In October 2006 Zatulin said about the unrecognized

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 ...

breakaway republics of

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

and

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...

: "Recognition of the so-called unrecognized states is not far off. Unrecognized republics have all attributes of state system and stable democratic system." In December 2007 Zatulin accused the

Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches, and one of ...

of "

proselytism Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...

" against the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

with the supposed aim of annexing these territories into

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. He was reelected to the State Duma in the 2007 election. On 6 June 2006, Konstantin Zatulin and

Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) f ...

were banned from entering Ukraine (were declared ''personae non-gratae'') based on the Ukrainian law concerning foreigners' status, "foreigners are prohibited to enter the country if they violated Ukrainian legislation during their previous stay." The Ukrainian government accused Zatulin of trying to invoke ethnic violence and work against territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state. In July–August 2008 he was considered ''persona non-grata'' in Ukraine once again. In September 2008, shortly after the Georgian breakaway

Republic of Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

was recognized as independent by Russia, Abkhazian president

Sergei Bagapsh Sergei Uasyl-ipa Bagapsh, ka, სერგეი ბაგაფში, russian: Сергей Васильевич Багапш, translit=Sergey Vasilyevich Bagapsh (4 March 1949 – 29 May 2011) was an Abkhaz politician who served as th ...

awarded Zatulin

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

. In 2016 Ukraine's Prosecutor General published wiretaps of telephone calls between

Sergey Glazyev Sergey Yurievich Glazyev (russian: Серге́й Юрьевич Глазьев) (born January 1, 1961, in Zaporozhye, Ukrainian SSR, USSR) is a Russian politician and economist, member of the National Financial Council of the Bank of Russia, ...

and various people in Ukraine and Russia involved in funding and organizing pro-Russian clashes (later referenced to as "Glazyev tapes"), including Zatulin, who confirmed that the intercepts were genuine, just "taken out of context". In 2021 Zatulin said in an interview that "Ukraine is an enemy of the Russian Federation and we should do everything possible to ensure such Ukraine ceases its existence". In 19 June 2022, Zatulin considered Kazakh president Tokayev’s statements in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum were incorrect and threatened with measures “like with Ukraine.” On 13 September 2022, in reaction to the

September 2022 Armenia–Azerbaijan clashes On 12 September 2022, a series of clashes erupted between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border, marking a major escalation in the current border crisis between Armenia–Azerbaijan and resulting in nearly 300 d ...

, Zatulin blamed

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

for taking advantage of Russia's

invasion of Ukraine The territory of present-day Ukraine has been Invasion, invaded or Military occupation, occupied a number of times throughout History of Ukraine, its history. List See also *List of invasions *List of wars involving Ukraine References

...

to present a new ultimatum to

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

, also implying

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

involvement in Azerbaijan's actions—also stating that Russia must pacify Azerbaijan. On 25 October 2022, Zatulin was informed by Armenian authorities that his visit to the country "would be considered undesirable", in reaction to his statements regarding

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zatulin, Konstantin United Russia politicians 21st-century Russian politicians Living people 1958 births Party of Russian Unity and Accord politicians People of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Pro-Russian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine People from Batumi First 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) Seventh convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Eighth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)