Vladislav Surkov
Vladislav Yuryevich Surkov (Russian: Владислав Юрьевич Сурков; born 21 September 1962[1] or 1964[2]) is a Russian politician and businessman. He was First Deputy Chief of the Russian Presidential Administration from 1999 to 2011, during which time he was often viewed as the main ideologist of the Kremlin who proposed and implemented the concept of sovereign democracy in Russia. From December 2011 until May 2013, Surkov served as the Russian Federation's Deputy Prime Minister.[3][4] After his resignation, Surkov returned to the Presidential Executive Office and became a personal adviser of Vladimir Putin on relationships with Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Ukraine.[5] He was removed from this duty by presidential order in February 2020.[6]
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Yuryevich and the family name is Surkov.
Vladislav Surkov
21 September 1962/64
(age 59 or 61)
Russian SFSR, Soviet Union[a]
-
Yulia Vishnevskaya(m. 1987; div. 1996)
-
Natalya Dubovitskaya(m. 2004)
4
He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.[7]
Surkov is perceived by many to be a key figure with much power and influence in the administration of Vladimir Putin.[8][9][10] According to The Moscow Times, this perception is not dependent on the official title Surkov might hold at any one time in the Putin government.[11] BBC documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis credits Surkov's blend of theater and politics with keeping Putin, and Putin's chosen successors, in power since 2000.[12]
Journalists in Russia and abroad have speculated that Surkov writes under the pseudonym Nathan Dubovitsky, although the Kremlin denies it.[13][14][15][16]
Early years[edit]
According to Surkov's official biography and birth certificate, he was born 21 September 1964 in Solntsevo, Lipetsk Oblast, Russian SFSR.[17][18][19] As per other statements, he was born in 1962 in Shali, Checheno-Ingush ASSR.[20][1] His birth name is sometimes reported to be Aslambek Dudayev.[21][22] His parents, the ethnic Russian Zinaida Antonovna Surkova (born 1935) and the ethnic Chechen Yuriy ("Andarbek") Danil'bekovich Dudayev (1942–2014), were school teachers in Duba-yurt, Checheno-Ingush ASSR.[20][23]
Following the separation of his parents, his mother moved to Lipetsk and he was baptized into Eastern Orthodox Christianity.[24] In an interview published in June 2005 in the German magazine Der Spiegel, Surkov stated that his father was ethnic Chechen and that he spent the first five years of his life in Chechnya,[25] in Duba-yurt and Grozny.[10][26] Surkov has claimed to be a relative of Dzhokhar Dudayev, the first president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.[27]
From 1982 to 1983, Surkov attended MISiS, but did not graduate from it. From 1983 to 1985, Surkov served in a Soviet artillery regiment in Hungary, according to his official biography.[28] However, former defence minister Sergei Ivanov stated in a 2006 TV interview that Surkov served in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) during the same time period.[29]
After his military training, Surkov was accepted to Moscow Institute of Culture for a five-year program in theater direction, but spent only three years there.[30] Surkov graduated from Moscow International University with a master's degree in economics in the late 1990s.[30]
Business career (1988–1998)[edit]
In the late 1980s, when the government lifted the ban against private businesses, Surkov started out in business. In 1987, he became head of the advertising department of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's businesses. From 1991 to April 1996, he held key managerial positions in advertising and PR departments of Khodorkovsky's Bank Menatep. From March 1996 to February 1997, he was at Rosprom, and since February 1997 with Mikhail Fridman's Alfa-Bank.[30][31] At Alfa-Bank, he worked closely with Oleg Markovich Govorun (Russian: Олег Маркович Говорун; born 15 January 1969 Bratsk, USSR).[32][33]
In September 2004, Surkov was elected president of the board of directors of the oil products transportation company Transnefteproduct, but was instructed by Russia's prime minister Mikhail Fradkov to give up the position in February 2006.[34]
Return to private life (2020–present)[edit]
House arrest report, 2022[edit]
In April 2022, amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Surkov was reported to be under house arrest, on the grounds of embezzlement of funds intended for the Donbas separatist region of Ukraine.[95]
Personal life[edit]
Surkov has married twice. His first marriage, to Yulia Petrovna Vishnevskaya (Russian: Юлия Петровна Вишневская, née Lukoyanova, Лукоянова) in 1987, ended in divorce in 1996.[120] In his second marriage, Surkov married Natalya Dubovitskaya (Russian: Наталия Дубовицкая), his secretary when he was an executive at the Menatep bank, in a civil ceremony in 2004.[120][121]
Surkov has four children: Artyom (Russian: Артём; born 1987), the biological child of Yulia he adopted during his first marriage;[121] and Roman (Russian: Роман; born 2001), Maria (Russian: Мария; born 2003), and Timur (Russian: Тимур; born 2010), biological children of himself and Natalya.[121]
Surkov has composed songs[10] and written texts for the Russian rock-musician Vadim Samoylov, ex-member of the band Agata Kristi (Russian: Агата Кристи). He speaks English and is fond of poets of the Beat Generation such as Allen Ginsberg.[8]