Marina Salye

Who was Marina Salye?

Marina Yevgenyevna Salye was a Russian geologist and politician, former deputy of the legislative assembly of Leningrad. She was also a people's deputy in the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR until September 1993, when the congress was dissolved. Salye was one of the leaders of the radical pro-reform group called Radical Democrats.

In 1992 Marina Salye headed a special commission in St.Petersburg, which found that on the basis of documents signed by Vladimir Putin, then chairman of the city's Foreign Relations Committee, and his deputy, the city had exported rare earth metals, oil products and other raw materials for over 100 million dollars. These were barter contracts. In return, the city, where there were food shortages, should have received deliveries of foodstuffs. But the foodstuffs never materialised.

Marina Salye criticised Putin in the mass media until 2000, when he was elected president. Then she moved to a remote village and did not speak with journalists 10 years.

In March 2010 she gave an interview to Radio Liberty. Over the time she had written memoirs and completed a large portion of them.