Kremlin’s new ideology architect — Aleksandr Kharichev

Aleksandr Dmitrievich Kharichev was born on February 8, 1966, in Kostroma in the family of a hereditary military man. His father, Dmitry Aleksandrovich Kharichev, served in the 10th Guards Missile Division and rose to the rank of colonel. Grandfather, Aleksandr Nikanorovich Kharichev, a military commander, and order bearer, after WWII, led a regiment in the Baltic Military District, and later taught at the first Leningrad school named after K.E. Voroshilov. Grandfather’s cousin – Ivan Evstigneevich Kharichev, lieutenant general, in the 70-80s headed the Space Intelligence Center of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the USSR Armed Forces.

Aleksandr Kharichev’s uncle, Igor Aleksandrovich Kharichev, is a well-known writer and publicist. During the cadency of Boris Yeltsin as a president, he worked in the Presidential Administration as an assistant to the head of the Administration, Sergei Filatov. Since 1996 serves as a Director of the Center for Applied Electoral Technologies.

After leaving school, Aleksandr Kharichev entered the Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Protection (now an integral part of the Military Academy of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection named after Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko) and was going to continue the family tradition of becoming an officer. Upon graduation, he was offered to stay on as a teacher at the school.

During 1987–1994 Aleksandr served in the Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defense. Later, during 1987-1989 he was a platoon commander, and in 1989-1992 served as the secretary of the committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol) of the battalion, and chairman of the Council of Komsomol schools organisations. During 1992-1994 he was a senior assistant to the head of the school for public relations. In 1995 Aleksandr graduated from the Faculty of Psychology of St. Petersburg State University. During 1994-1996 he worked as a psychologist at the Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defense.

In 1996, 30-year-old Aleksandr Kharichev married 22-year-old Elena Yuryevna Klimentyeva. Elena’s father is Colonel, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Yuri Aleksandrovich Klimentyev, author of more than 300 scientific papers and 20 copyright certificates and patents for inventions in the field of toxic substances and their effects on living organisms. By that time, he headed one of the military research centres of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in Moscow (military unit 64518 at Moscow, 2nd Baumanskaya street, building 1-v, Lefortovo district). This centre closely cooperated with the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (PO Box No. 74), which develops chemically active substances. It was these institutions, located nearby, that produced the well-known nerve agent Novichok. After the wedding, in 1996, Major Kharichev was moved to military unit 64518 and, thanks to the efforts of his father-in-law, was appointed head of the group of the moral and psychological support department. Interestingly, Kharichev began work in military unit 64518 a year after the leave of the developer of Novichok, Dr Wil Mirzayanov, from Russia.

In 2001, Colonel Klimentyev introduces his son-in-law to the former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Kiriyenko. Kiriyenko was not only the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District, but also headed the state commission for chemical disarmament. Klimentyev recommended Kharichev for the post of secretary of the commission (he himself acted as a consultant to Kiriyenko).

In the same 2001, Kiriyenko takes Kharichev to Nizhniy Novgorod – to the Volga Federal District, which the ex-premier run on behalf of Vladimir Putin. Kharichev headed a number of areas in the apparatus of the authorized representative of the president in the Volga district. So in 2001-2004, Kharichev was an adviser to the administrative department of the office of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District. During 2004-2005 he headed the department for domestic policy in the Office of the Commissioner.

After Kiriyenko left for a new position in November 2005, he decided to maintain partial influence on the federal district, placing his henchmen in important positions, allowing him to control the successor. So, under the new plenipotentiary representative of the President Aleksandr Konovalov, by order of the head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Medvedev No. 1628 dated December 30, 2005, Kharichev was appointed assistant to the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District.

But soon Kharichev was transferred to Moscow, to Staraya Square. In March 2006, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Domestic Policy Oleg Govorun. Kharichev worked in this position until May 2009.

In March 2009 there was a scandal. On March 28, 2009, a citizen of Georgian nationality broke the side glass of a GLK 350 4Matic (license plate U622OA199) and stole a bag and two expensive phones worth $1.5 thousand each in front of Kharichev’s wife Elena. The bag contained important documents relating to the activities of the Presidential Administration. The arriving police recorded the robbery of Elena Yuryevna Kharicheva, born in 1974, designer of Kharicheva PE (she was engaged in the design of elite apartments and mansions). However, the investigation showed that in addition to the specified car, Elena also owned an expensive Porsche. Her husband had a collection of Mercedes cars and an Audi Q7 (license plate C112PO777). It is also interesting that before Kharichev joined the Administration, his wife’s earnings were estimated at 17 thousand rubles a month, but soon her income increased to 12 million a year. An internal investigation into the facts of corruption began, and in May 2009 Kharichev resigned from the Administration.

Also, Kharichev was blamed for faults during the March 1, 2009 elections. The Kommersant newspaper wrote: “He wrote a letter of resignation at the request of the leadership – the head of the internal policy department Oleg Govorun and the first deputy head of the Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov – on Monday, immediately after calculating the results of the elections in nine regional legislative assemblies and several dozen municipalities. According to sources, the Kremlin was dissatisfied with the results of the elections. Even though Edinaya Rossiya managed to achieve a majority in almost all regional parliaments, the party was unable to attract voters to the polling stations in sufficient numbers, the turnout was lower than predicted, and part of the electorate of the party in power ignored the elections. So, for example, according to internal polls of the party in the Vladimir region, the results were predicted based on a turnout of more than 40%, while in reality, it was just over 30%. In addition, Edinaya Rossiya suffered several setbacks in the municipal elections: the Communists were ahead of them in the elections to the Tver city council, and the parties got an almost equal number of votes in the Bryansk city council. The nominee of Edinaya Rossiya lost the mayor campaign in Smolensk; in Tomsk, Murmansk and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky they were expecting a tough fight in the second round. Irritation was caused by the fact that internal opinion polls, exit polls and election commissions did not coincide. It was announced that in some regions Edinaya Rossiya had to interrupt exit polls, as they turned out to be excessively inflated compared to sociology.

An important point: Kharichev was also charged with the fact that he did not always observe subordination and communicated with the head of the Administration, Sergei Naryshkin, “over the head” of his immediate leadership – Oleg Govorun and his patron, Vladislav Surkov.

At the request of Sergey Kiriyenko, in May 2009, Kharichev was appointed Executive Director for Strategy and Development of the Russian Communal Systems Company (operates heat, electricity, water supply and sanitation in several regions of the Russian Federation). Part of the Renova group of companies belongs to Viktor Vekselberg. In 2012-2013 Kharichev also served on the boards of directors of the energy companies TRK and IDGC of Siberia.

From November 2013 to January 2017 served as the Head of the Department for Work with the Regions, Advisor to the General Director of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom. Until October 5, 2016, the state corporation was headed by Sergey Kiriyenko, then Aleksey Likhachev.

In January 2017 Kharichev returned to work in the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and took the post of Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration for Domestic Policy Andrei Yarin. According to media reports, Alexander Kharichev oversaw the preparations for the election of the Russian head of state in March 2018.

On June 22, 2018, the head of state Vladimir Putin appointed Aleksandr Kharichev as the head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for ensuring the activities of the State Council by his decree.

The establishment of the State Council was one of Vladimir Putin’s first administrative reforms as president of Russia. In March 2000, he was elected head of state, and on May 17 he announced a new procedure for the formation of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament. In the 1990s, this body included elected governors and heads of regional legislative assemblies, who quite often blocked the initiatives of the government and the head of state – now they could only send their representatives to Moscow.

The State Council of Russia in a new capacity formed on September 1, 2000, following the Presidential decree. It approved the regulation of the State Council of Russia. Under the regulation, the State Council is an advisory body that promotes the exercise of the powers of the head of state on issues of ensuring the coordinated functioning and interaction of state authorities. In its activities, the State Council is guided by the Constitution, federal constitutional laws, federal laws, decrees and orders of the President.

The first meeting took place on November 22, 2000. Opening the meeting, Putin said that the State Council should become a strategic political body, and this is the significant difference between this structure and other state bodies.

In his Speech to the Federal Assembly on January 15, 2020, Putin proposed, among other amendments, to consolidate the status of the State Council in the Constitution. The constitutional amendments of 2020 included a separate presidential authority to form the State Council of the Russian Federation “in order to ensure the coordinated functioning and interaction of state authorities, determine the main directions of the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian Federation and priority areas for the socio-economic development of the state.”

The opposition periodical Meduza wrote: “We don’t know for sure, but definitely there are reasons to doubt it. Putin often stresses that Russia’s political norms do not differ from other developed countries. In a recent interview given to the Austrian TV channel ORF, he stated again that, while remaining in power for 18 years, he had never violated a letter of law and had not been a president for more than two consecutive terms. On the other hand, Putin has someone to look up to. In the spring of 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping, for the first time since the days of Mao Zedong, received the right to be re-elected for an unlimited number of terms, that is, to become the life ruler of the country. China is a significant example for the Russian authorities. Constitutional reform has been going on in Kazakhstan for many years, and this is one of the most stable political regimes in the post-Soviet space … Putin can focus on the Chinese and Kazakh experience – and become the head of the Russian State Council for life and the informal head of state.

In connection with the appointment of Kharichev, the opposition Omsk press wrote: “In recent days, many have congratulated Alexander Kharichev on his promotion, and Sergei Kiriyenko on another personnel victory. Although, if you look at it, the resourceful Kiriyenko may soon lose control over the regions, the federal agenda and the Internet thanks to the main one at the moment, the “Sorcerer of All Rus'” Alexander Kharichev, who fools the “master” under the guise of regional sociology. It’s no secret that Kharichev through various funds and organizations ANO EISI, CG “Polylog”, Gazprom, Rosatom, and Rosneft receives huge sums for the acquisition of political scientists, journalists, and experts. These “specialists” are preparing sociology for Kharichev, who, in turn, presents it to the gullible Kiriyenko in a favourable light for himself. People who are far from patriotism and who are not statesmen work for Kharichev. These are people admitted to the holy of holies: the secrets of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. They are not employees of the administration, freely moving around the Administration and working in its offices. We can assume that all this leapfrog with “pseudo-leaks” comes exclusively from Kharichev and his “partners”, who set themselves the goal of quarrelling with the respected mastodons Kiriyenko-Volodin-Gromov, and all to remain and strengthen in the AP, taking away key areas activities. Legalized in the AP, accustomed to idly eat up the funds Golushko Elena, Kuznetsov Gleb, Fedulkina Anna. By the way, Kharichev is a great friend of Andrey Golushko, in whose interests Siberia is bending over and preparing a governor’s position in the Omsk region and a business site in Novosibirsk. Golushko’s daughter – Elena is an EISI expert and adviser to Kharichev. 

She works in the Presidential Administration. And like her parents and sister, apparently, she also has a residence permit in France. In fact, our entire national sociology is entrusted to everyone except the state itself. In our opinion, this is why the events in Kemerovo, Omsk, etc. are taking place. In the internal policy directorate, Kharichev is like a bull in a china shop – he is cramped. He has the opportunity to speculate on the name of Sergey Vladilenovych in front of the deputies and Yarin himself. What kind of internal policy will we have if the Count Alessandro di Cagliostro of our days with his “experts” and “specialists” has pivoted Old Square into his business corner for the dull cut of budgetary and non-budgetary funds behind the back of Sergei Vladilenovich, who still trusts him?”

However, some experts believe that this publication was requested by a person close to the old enemy of Kharichev and Kiriyenko – Surkov.

Indeed, Kharichev gathered a number of political technologists and sociologists around him. They began to serve the authorities and the presidential administration actively. This group includes Oleg Matveychev, head of the Petersburg Politics Foundation Mikhail Vinogradov, director general of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications Dmitry Orlov, president of the Minchenko consulting communications holding Yevgeny Minchenko, director general of the Polylog PR agency Oleg Karpilov, political technologists Dmitry Gusev, Grigory Kazankov and Andrei Bogdanov, President of the Russian Association of Political Consultants Alexei Kurtov, Director of the Department for Cooperation with the Regions of Rosatom Andrei Polosin, Head of the Expert Council of the Expert Institute for Social Research Gleb Kuznetsov.

One of the Telegram channels posted: “Many fell into this circle from Rosatom or structures associated with it. In terms of the budget, significant regular resources, including from state corporations, are received by Polylog (Karpilov) and IESI (Kuznetsov), but they act only as managers of the movement of funds, the real owner of the money is Kharichev. 

In 2017, there was even an attempt to create a special fund that would deal with local elections. Kharichev was supposed to supervise this fund.

In 2019, immediately after his appointment, Aleksandr Kharichev gathered political technologists and summed up the results of the 2019 election campaigns (it was at this meeting that the elections to the Moscow City Duma were described as “failed”). Sergey Kiriyenko liked the format of the meeting, and after 2 weeks, Kharichev gathered for a conversation already the heads of the regions (mainly those in charge of the election of vice-governors), in which elections were expected in

. The main directive of the meetings: when defining policy, it is necessary to focus not on lobbyists from the State Duma and Edinaya Rossiya (mainly Vyacheslav Volodin and Andrei Turchak), but on figures agreed with Sergei Kiriyenko’s domestic political bloc.

In 2020 Kharichev was responsible for the awareness-raising campaign about the fight against coronavirus and controlled the mood of citizens related to security measures and the reaction to government actions. “The trend associated with the pandemic: that society has accumulated fatigue from fear, restrictions and the fact that we do not understand what will happen tomorrow. This is one of the main trends of today. We believed that we defeated the pandemic in the spring, and now we don’t believe that it won’t happen in the fall,” Kharichev stated in the summer of 2021.

One of the Telegram channels in September 2020 noted: “Aleksandr Dmitrievich Kharichev always knew how to shift the responsibility for failures and problems to others. And act at the last moment in the role of “saviour”. It seems that the time allotted to him for the realization of this talent was not enough at all.

At the same time, Kharichev is lobbying for appointments – mostly people close to him.

So in November 2020, Kharichev lobbied Vyacheslav Gladkov for the post of acting governor of the Belgorod region. Gladkov is familiar with Kharichev from their joint work at Rosatom. Since 2009, Gladkov headed a closed city Zarechny, one of the main cities where Rosatom has a presence in the Volga region, and in 2013, in the state corporation Kharichev headed the Office for cooperation with regions. Earlier, Kharichev lobbied Gladkov for the post of “vice-governor” of Sevastopol (under Dmitry Ovsyannikov).

It was Kharichev who secured the appointment of Dmitry Trapeznikov, nicknamed “Signor Tomato”, the former head of the self-proclaimed “DPR”, as the acting mayor of Elista (the capital of Kalmykia) as interim mayor. The head of Kalmykia, Batu Khasikov, is a personal friend of Kharichev. One of the sources reported: “Khasikov, when he was engaged in martial arts, had a whole club that was engaged in organising ultimate fighting, and Kharichev’s mother-in-law was the chief accountant in this project.” Kharichev’s wife Elena worked for some time in the Yellow, black and white project, which is headed by Khasikov’s close friend Sangadzhi Tarbaev (former captain of the a comedy show KVN team “RUDN”).

In autumn of 2020, it became known that Kharichev in his post would be one of the four curators of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation scheduled for September 19, 2021. The main technological burden of the elections was supposed to fall on the shoulders of Alexander Kharichev and the head of the Presidential Administration’s department for domestic policy Andrei Yarin. In addition to them, the curatorship of the electoral process was also entrusted to the head of the Department for Public Projects, Novikov, and the head of the Department for the Development of Information and Communication Technologies and Communications Infrastructure, Matveeva. Boris Rapoport, a political strategist close to Kharichev, was appointed first deputy head of the headquarters of the Edinaya Rossiya party (some experts argued that it was the Kharichev-Rapoport tandem that was responsible for compiling the lists of candidates from the “establishment-backed party”).

The media (mainly, again, along the line of Surkov) constantly threw in the information that there was a serious conflict between Kharichev and Yarin. Although most experts refuted this information: both Yarin and Kharichev are “functional people”, whose subjectivity is determined solely by the scope of their competence, and the bonuses that they can receive for good work do not allow their areas of interest to intersect: if Edinaya Rossiya succeed, Yarin dreams of heading the Russian Railways, and Kharichev is dreaming of taking the place of the head of the Office of the Presidential Administration for Domestic Policy. So there is no room for conflict.

Vedomosti wrote about Kharichev as the main ideologist and chief technologist of the 2021 elections. However, this is not quite true. Kharichev was engaged (practically monopoly) in the distribution of political strategists among regional headquarters, but no more. As the curator of the campaign from the Presidential Administration, he was also a member of a kind of “board of directors” of the campaign, which, in addition to him, also included Sergey Kiriyenko, Andrey Turchak, Andrey Yarin, Deputy Head of the Government Staff Alexander Gribov, Acting Deputy Secretary of the General Council Vladimir Vasilyev, Deputy Secretary of the General Council Sergei Perminov, as well as coordinator of the expert council of the party Konstantin Kostin. Another employee of the presidential administration, the assistant of the internal policy department, Alexey Semenov have been also involved as a person responsible for relations with the regions.

In July 2021, Kharichev, through Kommersant, “leaked” information that Edinaya Rossiya agreed to the upcoming elections for 250 mandates (before that, it was about 300). On the other hand, a new faction of 18-19 deputies should appear in the chamber, with which Edinaya Rossiya will establish a coalition on the most important issues (such as the New People party, which they are very actively trying to get into the Duma – despite the party’s lack of real ratings. It is believed that New People is a project of Kharichev, who is trying to prove the need for a liberal project to be present in the Duma – otherwise, Edinaya Rossiya will have to deal with serious pressure from the communists. There is a variety of signals to the establishment-backed party that it’s hard to know who to listen to.

Kharichev continues to be in Kiriyenko’s team and is not seen as an independent figure. Meduza noted: “Andrey Yarin is a million per cent loyal to Kiriyenko, he is a real old-school servant who reports to his boss. If he says to shoot himself, then Yarin will shoot himself. But in the same way, Andrey will be loyal to the new patron. But Kharichev is still closer and more understandable for Kiriyenko.”

Interestingly, synchronously with the statements of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu about the need to transfer the capital of the Russian Federation to Siberia, Kharichev also made a statement that Novosibirsk could become the capital of Russia shortly – Kharichev said this on July 8, 2021, in Sochi, speaking at the III Forum of young political scientists of Russia “Digoria”.

On January 24, 2022, a strategic session of the Edinaya Rossiya party called “Party 2026” was held. This event was held behind closed doors for journalists, and the main topic of discussion was the results of the parliamentary elections, as well as preparations for the presidential elections in 2024 and the parliamentary campaign in 2026. Sergei Kiriyenko attended the session online, but in his address he expressed several issues. In the opinion of the curator of the Kremlin’s domestic political bloc, they were incomplete despite he described the last elections as successful (Edinaya Rossiya retained a constitutional majority in the State Duma, having 324 out of 450 mandates). One of the main questions concerned the formation of an agitation and mobilization network, which did not show the desired result. According to available information, the leadership of the Edinaya Rossiya party is faced with the task of forming such a network, which would include at least 30 million people. Kiriyenko also focused on the need to develop a presence in social networks and use such tools more actively.

As a result of the closed strategic session, it became clear that despite the many problems faced by the vertical of Sergei Kiriyenko during the elections, he does not plan to make any replacements and leaves the supervision of this direction to Kharichev and Yarin.

After the outbreak of hostilities in the territory of Ukraine and the occupation of part of the territories in the southeastern regions by the Russian occupation forces, the Kremlin started talking about holding referendums on the accession of these territories to Russia. At the same time, they began to discuss the possibility of creating a new federal district within the Russian Federation. At the end of September, such “referendums” were held, and a few days later Putin signed a decree on the entry of the so-called “DNR” and “LNR”, as well as the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions into Russia. Actually, they decided to wait with the new federal district, although sending Dmitry Rogozin, who is considered one of the main contenders for the leadership of such a district, to the Donbas.

Earlier it became known that Sergiy Kiriyenko became the new curator of the occupied territories of Donbas and the South of Ukraine, actually replacing Dmitry Kozak in this post. Together with Kiriyenko, representatives of his team, including Kharichev and Yarin, took up the issue of Ukrainian territories. At what, apparently, it is Kharichev who is trying to take over the main initiative.

Before the liberation of the right-bank part of the Kherson Oblast from the Russian occupation troops, the creation of the federal district was supervised by Boris Rapoport, Deputy Head of the Administration Department for the Affairs of the State Council (headed by Kharivev), who had previously dealt with the Donbas. In 2014 he served as Deputy Head of the Department for Social-economic cooperation with the CIS countries. At that time, the self-proclaimed “DNR” and “LNR” were supervised by Vladislav Surkov (in the position of the presidential aide) from the Kremlin. Together with Surkov, Rapoport worked in the mid-2000s. Then Surkov was the deputy head of the Presidential Administration, and Rapoport was the deputy head of the Kremlin’s regional policy department. Now, the future of the new federal district, apparently, remains up in the air.

At the same time, Sergei Kiriyenko, who has repeatedly visited the occupied regions of Ukraine recently, in the preparation and holding of “referendums” made a clear bet on Oleksandr Kharichev, who achieved the necessary goals and demonstrated a result that satisfied Kiriyenko.

Firstly, Aleksandr Kharichev published a scientific paper “Perception of the basic values, factors and structures of the socio-historical development of Russia (based on research and testing)”.

The abstract of the article indicates that it analyzes the results of a study of the emotional-figurative vision of the fundamental factors and structures that influence the current state of the worldview of Russian society, acting as stabilizing, unifying and motivating social vectors. The results make it possible to increase the effectiveness of the development of national strategies in the field of the formation of a civil society based on a shared understanding of the fundamental constructive values ​​that are most consonant with the personal worldview of a particular citizen.

There is also a prospect of creating a full-fledged integral “national code” formed from intuitive archetypes and images that enhance the traditional strengths of Russian society, which can be described as a hierarchical system of interrelated images and meanings. The study was conducted by the method of group discussions from March 4 to May 20, 2022.

Relying upon the results of the discussions, the researchers formed a five-level “pentabasis”: a person-family-society-state-country. Value dominants were created for each level. For the country it is patriotism, for the state it is “trust in the institutions of power”, for the family it is the people of Russia, for society it is consent, for the individual it is created. “The thesis was voiced that European society is individualistic, and we have the main value: family + family with friends, which leads to the emergence of the thesis “family as a level”. Value dominant: the people of the Russian Federation are a family of families. Stimulating the birth rate and the concept of a “big family,” the article says.

As a result of the discussions, the following concepts were proposed.

Metaphors of the image of the future of Russia. “The state is a novel” (written collectively by citizen writers, and it has alternative endings), “the Russian future is the second part of Dead Souls, burned by Gogol”, and “the state is the Firebird”.

Concepts of the modern state. “Motherland with a laser sword” (a source of pride for the Russian spirit and a guide to the future), “a state of friendly service.”

Messianic concepts of the state of the future. “Russia as a prophet country” (opposes the Grand Inquisitor), “Russia is the world’s guardian, the “guardian of good”.

Idealistic concepts of the state of the future. “Wonderful City” (inclusiveness, coexistence, acceptance of others as equals, “not to be confused with the term “tolerance” in any way”), “The Pie” (harmoniously combines different things).

Mechanistic concepts of the state of the future. “Kaleidoscope” (a multifaceted future), “a medium-sized magnet state” (creates a field for a certain community).

The participants of the study concluded that a person in the “Russia of the Future” is “proud of his country, influential and in demand, financially secure, free within the framework of certain hostel rules.” According to the authors, ideas about self-realization in the Russian Federation are very different from those common in the Western world. “Self-realization or destiny in the Russian case implies that the individual contributes to the development of the country. The stage of capitalization of the destination is optional, ”the authors write.

It is worth noting that, in addition to Kharichev, the co-authors of the article were Andrey Shutov, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University, Andrey Polosin, Doctor of Political Science, Head of the Department for Cooperation with the Regions at Rosatom, and Ekaterina Sokolova, Deputy Executive Director for Strategy and Forecasting of the Expert Institute for Social Research. That is, this study should be considered as an attempt to develop (with possible further implementation) a new development strategy for the Russian Federation.

This article should be viewed as an ideological claim by the “Kiriyenko group” to dominate the ideological plane in Putin’s inner circle. In fact, we are dealing with an attempt to get a new “national idea” (the former ones, formed by a group led by V. Surkov, turned out to be non-working).

Aleksandr is married and has two children.