Vasily Yakemenko

Vasily Grigoryevich Yakemenko (Russian: Василий Григорьевич Якеменко, born 1971 in Lyubertsy, Moscow Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Russian politician, creator and leader of several pro-government youth groups.

Vasily Yakemenko, leader of Nashi

Career

From 1989 to 1991, Yakemenko served in the Soviet Armed Forces. He then studied at the economics department of Moscow State University. In the 1990s he was financial director of various construction companies before joining the presidential administration in 2000.[1]

Youth activities

In May 2000, he founded the movement Walking Together (Russian: Идущие вместе, Idushie vmyestye), which became well known for its struggle against Vladimir Sorokin's books and the band Leningrad. In 2005 he became the leader of Nashi (Russian: Наши), a new pro-Putin youth movement.

On October 8, 2007, new Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov appointed Yakemenko chairman of the newly created Rosmolodyozh (State Committee for Youth[2] or Federal Youth Agency).[3] An insider at the NTV channel has said that its Director General Vladimir Kulistikov routinely bans negative stories about Yakemenko and Rosmolodyozh.[3]

Mario's incident

In October 2011 socialite, journalist and TV personality, Ksenia Sobchak, spotted Yakemenko at Mario's – one of Moscow's top restaurants. She had a videocamera with her and began asking him for an interview.[4] When he turned her down, Sobchak said: "Look at this restaurant, this menu – Bellini champagne for 1,300 rubles a glass, fresh oysters for 500 rubles each. I mean, it’s not surprising for me to be here, I’m a socialite, but you! It’s everything for the party with you, everything for Nashi." After the encounter, Sobchak posted the video on the internet and it "went viral".[3] Sobchak also pointed out that Yakemenko had said in 2009 that intended to eat less and stay fit: "A person who eats more than he needs robs the country and robs [Vladimir] Putin".[4]

Personal life

Yakemenko is married and has two children.[1]

References
  1. Василий Григорьевич Якеменко, Russia Profile, retrieved 15/12/2011
  2. Burnell, Peter J.; Youngs, Richard (2009-09-30). New challenges to democratization. Taylor / Francis. pp. 127–. ISBN 978-0-415-46741-4. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  3. I am Putin's propaganda, Open Democracy, retrieved 15/12/2011
  4. Splurge scandal at restaurant Archived 2012-01-06 at the Wayback Machine, The Moscow News, retrieved 15/12/2011
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