Valentina Matviyenko

Who is Valentina Matviyenko?

Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko, is the highest-ranking female politician in Russia, the former governor of Saint Petersburg and the current Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. Born in the Ukrainian SSR, Matviyenko started her political career in the 1980s in Saint Petersburg and was the First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeysky District CPSU of the city from 1984 to 1986. In the 1990s she served as Russian ambassador to Malta and Greece. Between 1998–2003 Matviyenko was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Welfare, and briefly the Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District in 2003. By that time she firmly allied herself with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an alliance which secured her a victory in the governor elections in Saint Petersburg, Putin's native city.

Matviyenko became the first female leader of Saint Petersburg, as well as the first woman governor in Russian history. Since the start of her service as governor a significant share of taxation money was transferred from the federal budget to the local one, 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.