President’s Advisor on Abkhazia & South Ossetia

NAME: VLADISLAV YURIYEVICH SURKOV

BORN: 21 September, 1964 in Solntsevo, Lipetsk region, or 1962 in Shali, Chechen-Ingush Republic.

EDUCATION: *Mr Surkov studied at both the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys and the Institute of Culture (theatre), but did not graduate from either.  *He later graduated from the International University, with a master’s degree in economics.

CAREER: *Mr Surkov served in the Soviet Army (GRU?) from 1983 to 1985.  *Starting in mid-80s-early 90s, Surkov ran a number of private organisations and enterprises.  *Between 1991-1996, he held senior positions at the Menatep Credit and Financial Enterprises Association, later called Menatep Bank.  *In 1996-1997 Surkov was a deputy head, then head of public relations at closed joint-stock company Rosprom, and the first deputy council chairman of Commercial Innovation Bank Alfa Bank.  *Between 1998 and 1999, he served as a first deputy general director, director for public relations of Public Russian Television (ORT).  *In 1999, he was appointed an aide to the Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office.  *In August 1999 he was made Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office.  *In March 2004 he was given additional responsibility of aide to the President.  *Mr Surkov held the post of member of the board of oil products pipeline operator, Transnefteprodukt from August 2004 to February 2006. *Chairman, Russian Commission on NGOs since April 2009. *Appointed to a bilateral committee overseeing US-Russian relations in July 2009, responsible for civil society.  *Mr Surkov stepped down from his position as President’s Deputy Chief of Staff in May 2013.  *He was appointed Aide to the President with responsibility for Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 20 September 2013.

MISCELLANEOUS: *Born Aslambek Andarbekovich Dudayev, later changed to Vladislav after his parents’ divorce. *Mr Surkov speaks English fluently. *Mr Surkov’s 1^st wife, Yulia Vishnevskaya, is a collector of dolls and founder of Russia’s largest doll museum, as well as being the sister of the wife of Anatoly Chubais. *They had one son, Artyom. *Mr Surkov remarried Natalia Dubovitskaya, a secretary at “Menatep” in 2004. *They have two children. *His hobbies include playing the guitar, writing music and short stories. *Mr Surkov’s favourite Deep Purple song is “Lazy”. *He is the current “Gray Cardinal”. *He is responsible for the ideology of the United Russia Party. *Mr Surkov is the founder of the pro-Putin youth movement, Nashi. *He met the oligarch Mikhail Fridman at the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys. *Mr Surkov claims to be ½ Chechen, and ½ Jewish. *Author of Kremlin’s “Chechenisation” policy. *Mr Surkov is believed to be personally responsible for R Kadyrov, and Kadyrov claims that Surkov calms him down when he is upset. *Writes songs for band “Agata Kristi”. *Possibly writes novels as GA Zotov.  *Rumoured to be related by marriage to Vasily Yakemenko, head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, and former leader of Nashi.