Andrejs Mamikins

Andrejs Mamikins (Russian: Андрей Владимирович Мамыкин, Andrey Vladimirovich Mamykin; born 11 March 1976) is a Latvian Russian politician, journalist and a Member of the European Parliament.

Andrejs Mamikins
Member of the European Parliament for Latvia
Assumed office
1 July 2014
Personal details
Born (1976-03-11) 11 March 1976
Leningrad, Soviet Union
Political partyLatvian Russian Union (2018-present)
Harmony (?-2018)
Spouse(s)Natalija Mamikina
Alma materUniversity of Latvia
ProfessionJournalist

Early life and career

Mamikins was born in Leningrad then in the Russian SFSR, and moved to Riga, Latvian SSR with his parents shortly after birth.[1]

Prior to his election, Mamikins was a journalist working for several Latvian Russian-language newspapers, radio stations and television channels. He presented programs on Viasat's TV5 Latvia and on REN TV's Baltic Channel. He studied Russian language and literature and is a graduate of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Latvia. In 2010 he completed a master's degree in philology from the same institution.

Member of the European Parliament

Mamikins was elected to the European Parliament at the 2014 European Parliament election for the Harmony party.[2] Although he was placed 4th on the Harmony list (Boris Tsilevitch was placed 1st), he was preferenced first on the list by Latvian voters and took the party's single seat in the Parliament. He sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group.

Mamikins worked on the delegation for relations with Belarus, as well as a substitute member on the delegation for relations with EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.[3]

He has since been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In this capacity, he served as the parliament's rapporteur on the Association Agreement between the EU and Georgia.

In December 2017, according to the ranking website MEPRanking.eu, Mamikins was ranked as the 4th most effective Latvian MEP (out of 8) and 365th most effective member of the European Parliament (out of 751).[4]

In 2018 Mamikins left the Harmony party after disagreements with Nils Ušakovs[5] and joined the Latvian Russian Union. He was nominated as that party's candidate for Prime Minister in the 2018 national election.[6]

In 2020 Mamikins, alongside his party members Tatjana Ždanoka and Miroslav Mitrofanov, was included in the European Platform for Democratic Elections database of "biased observers" for backing disputed and rigged elections in Russia and occupied Ukraine[7]

Controversy

In mid-2014 Mamikins filed his declaration of financial interests in the European Parliament in Russian, which was promptly refused on the grounds that Russian is not an official language of the European Union. Mamikins publicized the incident on social media, making waves in Latvian Russian community.[8]

In November 2016 the Baltic Centre for Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica reported that Mamikins and another Latvian MEP Iveta Grigule were circumventing the 2014 ban of hiring close relatives as assistants, with Mamikins employing Grigule's daughter Anete and Grigule employing Mamikins' wife Natalija. All four of them declined to comment, whether it was as a result of a mutual agreement.[9]

In December 2016 Mamikins met with President of Syria Bashar al-Assad and parliamentary speaker Hadiey Abbas and visited a Russian airbase at Hyeymim alongside with five other MEPs and representatives of Russian Federation's Federal Council of the Federal Assembly. The visit was condemned by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs[10] and Security Police head Normunds Mežviets.[11][12][13]

References
  1. "Latvians, love us, you'll have a harder time with Arabs" (in Latvian). Diena. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  2. "European Parliament is elected. What next?". Baltic News Network. May 27, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014. Social democratic party Harmony has received 13.04% of votes. Journalist Andrei Mamikin will represent this party in the European Parliament;
  3. "MEPs join international delegations". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. July 14, 2014. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
  4. Collier, Mike (December 8, 2017). "Latvia's top MEPs are ..." Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  5. "MEP about Riga Mayor's desires: maybe all three of his wives should be given jobs?". Baltic News Network. May 28, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  6. "Ždanoka may get shot at Saeima elections after all". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. July 18, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  7. "Five Latvian politicians named as 'politically biased election observers'". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  8. Gardner, Andrew (December 18, 2014). "Latvian citizens caught in the EU-Russia crossfire". Politico. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  9. "MEPs can't hire relatives? Ask the Latvians how to get around the rules". Re:Baltica. February 8, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  10. "Latvian MEP visits Assad and Russian airbase in Syria". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. December 30, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  11. "MEP's visit to Syria organized by Russia, say interior police". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. March 14, 2017. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  12. "Security Police does not approve of Latvian MEPs' visit to Syria". Baltic News Network. March 14, 2017. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  13. "Security Police: MEP Mamikins' visit to Syria meet Russia's geopolitical interests". The Baltic Times. March 14, 2017. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
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