Pavel Grudinin

Grudinin was born in Moscow, to Nikolai Konstantinovich Grudinin and Serafima Zinovievna Grudinina (née Pishchik), both agricultural workers who met while studying at the Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. In 1961 they were sent to the Leninsky District, Moscow Oblast to work at the Lenin Sovkhoz.[5][6] According to Grudinin, his sister, grandmother and son, his aunts, uncles and cousins all worked in the same sovkhoz on different levels, and their "dynasty spent over 250 years in total working" there.[7]

His paternal grandparents were from the Vologda Governorate. His father was born in the Gryazovetsky District and grew up in Vologda.[7] His maternal grandfather was Jewish, from the Volgograd Oblast, who moved to Leningrad and married an ethnic Russian woman; he served as a tank commander during the Great Patriotic War and was declared missing in action in 1944.[8] Grudinin identifies himself as Russian.[9] He belongs to Russian Orthodoxy, but criticizes current ROC for "interference in temporal affairs".[10][11]

After graduating from school in 1977 he entered the Moscow State Agroengineering University as a mechanical engineer, and graduated in 1982.[12] After graduating he began working at the Lenin State Farm (sovkhoz), where many members of his family had already been employed. From 1982 to 1989 he worked there as head of the mechanical workshop, from 1990 to 1995 as deputy director. In 1995 he became the general director of newly formed privately held company ZAO Lenin State Farm, where he also got the blocking shareholding.[13][14]

Since 1997, he was elected three times as a deputy of the Moscow Oblast Duma, where he successfully worked until 2011. In 2001 he graduated from the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, majoring in jurisprudence.

In 2017, he was elected Municipal Deputy of the settlement city Vidnoye. On 9 October 2017, Grudinin was elected Speaker of the Council of Deputies. On 14 February 2019, the Council of Deputies removed Pavel Grudinin from the post of Speaker.[15] And on 26 February, the Council of Deputies dismissed Grudinin from a position of the Deputy.[16]

On 14 March 2019, the Communist party decided to give Pavel Grudinin the seat in the State Duma of Zhores Alferov, who died on 1 March 2019.[17] However, on 21 March, the CEC refused Grudinin because of uncovered foreign accounts. This decision caused a negative reaction from the Communist party.[18] On 23 March, communists protests took place across the country, one of the goals of which was to support Grudinin.[19]

2018 presidential campaign

Main articles: Pavel Grudinin 2018 presidential campaign and 2018 Russian presidential election

2018 Presidential campaign logo

On 23 December 2017, at the XVII Congress of the Communist Party, Pavel Grudinin was nominated as presidential candidate.[20] It was also announced that his campaign headquarters will be headed by Gennady Zyuganov.[21]

Grudinin's nomination was criticized by many left-wing politicians, in particular, Sergey Mironov, Maxim Suraykin, Boris Kagarlitsky and others.[22][23][24] The main reasons for criticism is that Grudinin is a businessman, that he is representative of the "bourgeois class" which Communism is ideologically opposed to, and that Pavel Grudinin previously was a member of United Russia party. In addition, criticism of Grudinin intensified when he was revealed to have uncovered foreign bank accounts.[25][26]

During his campaign, Grudinin visited a total of 11 federal subjects, in addition to his home Moscow Oblast. On all trips, he met with voters, gave press conferences and visited various businesses.

Pavel Grudinin gave an interview to the Russian vlogger Yury Dud. During an interview, Grudinin made a bet that if he did not receive at least 15% of the vote during the presidential election, he would shave off his moustache. Otherwise, Dud would have had to shave his head. Grudinin indeed failed to achieve his goal and published a video clip that showed the beard-shaving process.[27]

At the Grudinin won 11.8% of the vote, and lost election.

Grudinin was married and has two adult sons.[30][31]

On 16 July 2018 Pavel Grudinin divorced his wife Irina through the court. The reason for the divorce was adultery of Grudinin, long concealed from his wife's relationship on the side and kept a second family. In addition to the official family, Grudinin was in a relationship with Ksenia Kutyukhina, who bore him two more daughters in 2012 and 2014.[32]

He was awarded the medal In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow, Thanks to the President of the Russian Federation, an honorary diploma of the State Duma. He has the title of Honored Worker of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

• Pavel Grudinin presidential campaign website
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• Кандидат в президенты Павел Грудинин
• Павел Грудинин (биография)