Igor Schegolev, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation: Biography, Private Life

Igor Olegovich Schegolev, an assistant to the president of the Russian Federation, a professional journalist, a member of the Putin team, is attracting public interest because of his information closeness. In the media, he speaks solely "on business", rarely appears at social events and never talks about his family. Let's talk about how Igor Schegolev came to the Kremlin, how his career and personal life developed.

early years

Igor O. Shchegolev was born on November 10, 1951 in the Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa. He categorically does not want to talk about his childhood and his parents. Journalists suggest that nothing remarkable happened at this time with the future minister of the Russian Federation. Since childhood, Igor was a very "decent" child, who did not cause any special trouble for parents.

Education

Igor Schegolev studied in the most ordinary secondary school in Vinnytsia. But I studied very well. Since childhood, he has shown clearly humanitarian inclinations and a great ability for languages. Despite his excellent schooling, Shchegolev was not a "botanist". He grew very contact and active, engaged in sports and already from adolescence was aimed at a career. After school, he easily entered the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages. M. Thorez. He is fluent in English, French and German.

For two years of study at the institute Shchegolev showed himself as a very diligent and promising student. This was the reason that in 1984, as part of an international student exchange program , he went to study at Leipzig University. K. Marx. Such programs were taken exclusively by trustworthy and excellent students. In 1988 Igor successfully completed his studies at two universities, he defended two theses and received the qualification of a German philologist. During his studies in Leipzig, according to journalists, Shchegolev crossed with Vladimir Putin, who headed the House of Soviet-German Friendship and served in the state security organs. Informed sources say that it was then that Putin "enlisted" a promising international specialist.

ITAR-TASS

His career Igor Shchegolev began as an editor in the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union. He worked in the editorial offices of the countries of America. In 1992, ITAR-TASS was established on the basis of this news agency. In it, Schegolev works as an editor, and then as a senior editor of the general editorial office for Europe. Over the years, he showed himself not only as a good professional, but also demonstrated his security. This allowed him in 1993 to become his own correspondent of ITAR-TASS in the Parisian edition. During this period Shchegolev actively writes, his materials are published in such publications as the newspapers Trud, Izvestia, Krasnaya Zvezda, Segodnya, Sovetnik and Anomaly. Notable were his publications about a conference on addressing the problems of violence against women in the world, the first world championship in judo, a review of the memories of French President F. Mitterrand. By this time Schegolev had become a recognized expert on European affairs.

In 1997, Schegoleva's foreign business trip was over. He returned to Moscow, where he began to work as the head of the European sector in the editorial office of ITAR-TASS, then the journalist moved to the post of deputy editor-in-chief of the agency's news service. At this time, Schegolev became a member of the so-called club of Kremlin journalists, he covered the activities and foreign visits of President BN. Yeltsin.

Foreign Intelligence

The future assistant of the President became an employee of the State Security Committee already in the years of his work in ITAR-TASS. In those days it was the service in the foreign intelligence agencies that was almost an indispensable condition for a successful career. Without such cooperation it was almost impossible to go on a long foreign business trip, especially to the prestigious Parisian editorial office. Schegolev himself never confirmed or denied his work in foreign intelligence. He has no military rank and, according to the assumptions of journalists, was a freelance KGB officer.

Career in government

In 1998, Igor Schegolev, whose biography makes an unexpected turn, moves to work in the government of the Russian Federation, he becomes deputy head of the government information department. This castling pointed out that his professional qualities and merits were appreciated by management. In addition, experts say that this transfer signaled the presence of Shchegolev good connections, because it's simply impossible to get into the government.

Within 3 months Schegolev became press secretary of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. Igor Olegovich says that before this appointment he was not very familiar with Yevgeny Maksimovich, they only crossed several times on foreign trips. Subsequently, Shchegolev became friends with Primakov, and they maintained good relations after their joint work was completed.

After another 2 months, Schegolev was appointed to the post of head of the government information department. It was very rapid promotion. A year later, however, Schegolev was removed from this post, but he did not go down and became an adviser to the new Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin.

In 2000, he became the head of the press service of the Presidential Administration, and a year later - the head of the protocol of the head of state. He organized events with the participation of the head of state, and also "hedged" the presidential press service. Over the years of work in the Government and the Presidential Administration, Schegolev has established good relations, many colleagues comment on him very positively.

Minister Schegolev

In May 2008, after the victory in the election of Dmitry Medvedev, completely unexpected for the general public, Igor Schegolev was appointed to the post of Minister of Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation. The bewilderment in the ranks of political scientists and the expert community was caused by the fact that the new minister had practically no experience of working in telecommunications. This gap was filled with assistant ministers, who became Alexander Provotorov and Konstantin Malofeev, well-known characters in the communications market.

As the merit of Schegolev at the ministerial post called the completion of the transition of domestic television to digital broadcasting, the creation of a unified regulator of telecommunications and the media, as well as the launch of the practical use of e-government and state services website. Also, the minister was an active supporter of the introduction of various tools for control and supervision over the Internet, he was the initiators of the development of a mechanism for surveillance and censorship of the Internet media. Schegolev was repeatedly accused of lobbying the interests of various business structures, but no one could imagine any proof of this.

After in 2012, V.V. Putin returned to the presidency, Schegolev lost his place in the new Cabinet.

Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation

In May 2012, President Vladimir Putin issued an order stating that Igor Shchegolev was appointed as an assistant to the head of state. In this position, he is engaged in the preparation of Putin's speeches, the organization of his meetings. Shchegolev also works as the editor-in-chief of the magazine Sovetnik, acting as an expert on European countries in the comments for the media.

Personal life

While still a minister, Igor Schegolev, whose personal life is covered with a thick veil of secrecy, has repeatedly expressed the view that it is necessary to tighten up the legislation with regard to punishments for the invasion of the private life of citizens. He never talks about his family and the details of the private sphere. Journalists know that Schegolev is married. His wife, Schegoleva Rimma Viktorovna, since 1998 works as an assistant professor of the German language department at the Academy of Foreign Trade. She has repeatedly held foreign internships in Germany. Like her husband, she is a specialist in German languages and a great admirer of this culture and country. About whether Shchegolevs have four children, nothing is known.

Interesting Facts

Igor Schegolev, whose family is the most closed topic, is a supporter of the idea of criminal responsibility for paparazzi investigations in the sphere of personal life. Schegolev showed himself as a tough enough leader, he is an active conductor of the concept of "Safe Internet" and stands for toughening the responsibility for the quality of information in electronic publications.