Valentina Matviyenko

Her Excellency Valentina Matviyenko
Валентина Матвиенко
Matviyenko in 2024
4th Chairwoman of the Federation Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 September 2011
Preceded by	Alexander Torshin (acting) Sergei Mironov
Russian Federation Senator from Saint Petersburg
Incumbent
Assumed office 31 August 2011
Preceded by	Vladimir Barkanov
3rd Governor of Saint Petersburg
In office 15 October 2003[1] – 22 August 2011
Preceded by	Alexander Beglov (acting) Vladimir Yakovlev
Succeeded by	Georgy Poltavchenko
2nd Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District
In office 11 March 2003 – 15 October 2003
President	Vladimir Putin
Preceded by	Victor Cherkesov
Succeeded by	Ilya Klebanov
Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Welfare
In office 24 September 1998 – 11 March 2003
Prime Minister	Yevgeny Primakov (1998–1999) Sergei Stepashin (1999) Vladimir Putin (1999–2000) Mikhail Kasyanov (2000–2003)
Preceded by	Portfolio established
Succeeded by	Portfolio abolished
Russian Ambassador to Greece (Hellenic Republic)
In office 1997–1998
President	Boris Yeltsin
Preceded by	Valery Nikolayenko
Succeeded by	Mikhail Bocharnikov
Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Malta
In office 1991–1994
President	Boris Yeltsin
Preceded by	Vladimir Plechko
Succeeded by	Yevgeny Mikhailov
Personal details
Born	Valentina Ivanovna Tyutina (1949-04-07) 7 April 1949 (age 75) Shepetivka, Kamianets-Podilskyi Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Citizenship	Russian
Political party	United Russia
Spouse	Vladimir Vasilyevich Matviyenko ​ ​ (died 2018)​
Children	Sergey Matviyenko (b. 1973)
Alma mater	Leningrad Institute of Chemistry and Pharmaceutics
Occupation	Politician Diplomat
Profession	Pharmacist
Signature
Valentina Matviyenko's voice recorded October 2004

Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko^[a] (née Tyutina;^[b] born 7 April 1949) is a Russian politician and diplomat serving as a Senator from Saint Petersburg and the Chairwoman of the Federation Council since 2011. Previously she was Governor of Saint Petersburg from 2003 to 2011.

Born in the Ukrainian SSR, Matviyenko began her political career in the 1980s in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), and was the First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District Communist Party of the city from 1984 to 1986.^[2] In the 1990s, Matviyenko served as the Russian Ambassador to Malta (1991–1995), and to Greece (1997–1998).^[2] From 1998 to 2003, Matviyenko was Deputy Prime Minister for Welfare, and briefly the Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District in 2003. By that time, Matviyenko was firmly allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an alliance which secured her a victory in the gubernatorial elections in Saint Petersburg, Putin's native city.

Matviyenko became the first female leader of Saint Petersburg.^[3] Since the start of Matviyenko's service as governor, a significant share of taxation money was transferred from the federal budget to the local budget, and along with the booming economy and improving investment climate the standard of living significantly increased in the city, making income levels much closer to Moscow, and far above most other Russian federal subjects. The profile of Saint Petersburg in Russian politics has risen, marked by the transfer of the Constitutional Court of Russia from Moscow in 2008. Matviyenko developed a large number of megaprojects in housing and infrastructure, such as the construction of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road, including the Big Obukhovsky Bridge (the only non-draw bridge over the Neva River in the city), completion of the Saint Petersburg Dam aimed to put an end to the infamous Saint Petersburg floods, launching Line 5 of Saint Petersburg Metro, and starting land reclamation in the Neva Bay for the new Marine Facade of the city (the largest European waterfront development project)^[4] containing the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg. Several major auto-producing companies were drawn to Saint Petersburg or its vicinity, including Toyota, General Motors, Nissan, Hyundai Motor, Suzuki, Magna International, Scania, and MAN SE (all having plants in the Shushary industrial zone), thus turning the city into an important center of automotive industry in Russia, specializing in foreign brands. Another development of Matviyenko's governorship was tourism; by 2010 the number of tourists in Saint Petersburg doubled and reached 5.2 million, which placed the city among the top five tourist centers in Europe.^[5][6]

Some actions and practices of Governor Matviyenko have drawn significant criticisms from the Saint Petersburg public, the media, and opposition groups. In particular, new construction in already heavily built-up areas and several building projects were deemed to conflict with the classical architecture of the city, where the entire centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some projects eventually were cancelled or modified, such as the controversial design of a 400-metre-tall Okhta Center skyscraper, planned to be built adjacent to the historical center of the city; however, after a public campaign and the personal involvement of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, it was relocated from Okhta to the Lakhta suburb. Another major point of criticism was Matviyenko's handling of the city's snow removal problems during the unusually cold and snowy winters of 2009–10 and 2010–11. On 22 August 2011, soon after completion of the Saint Petersburg Dam, Matviyenko resigned from office. As a member of the ruling United Russia Party, on 21 September 2011, Matviyenko was elected as Chairwoman of the Federation Council,^{[citation needed]} the country's third-highest elected office.

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