Nikolay Dmitrievich Kovalyov (russian: Николай Дмитриевич Ковалёв; 6 August 1949 – 5 April 2019) was a Russian politician and

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

, where he chaired the Duma's Veterans' Committee. Kovalyov was the Director of the FSB from July 1996 to July 1998, when he was succeeded by

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

Biography

Nikolay Kovalyov joined the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

in 1974. He was appointed General of the Army in 1997. In 1999 he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

a deputy to the

of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He said in 1996: "There has never been such a number of spies arrested by us since the time when German agents were sent in during the years of World War II." He also publicly speculated that Boris Berezovsky might be involved in the death of

Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised i ...

. During the Bronze Soldier Controversy in 2007, Kovalyov led a "fact finding mission" to

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, where the authorities were relocating a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

memorial, including a two meter tall bronze soldier in a Soviet uniform. Before leaving Moscow, Kovalyov asked Estonia's government to step down. The two-day visit by the Russian fact finding delegatíon, originally set up to defuse a diplomatic dispute over the Bronze Soldier statue, only appeared to have escalated the feud, with the Estonian foreign minister and other Government officials refusing to meet with Kovalyov's delegation.

Honours and awards

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

; **3rd (20 April 2006) for outstanding contribution to law-making and long-term diligent work **4th class * Order of Military MeritУмер депутат Госдумы Николай Ковалёв
//

TASS The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...

* Medal for Merits in perpetuating the memory of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland (Russian Ministry of Defence, 2008) for his great personal contribution to the commemoration of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland, the establishment of names of the dead and the fate of missing servicemen, displaying high moral and business qualities, diligence and intelligent initiative, to assist in the task of perpetuating the memory of the fallen defenders of the Fatherland * Diploma of the Russian Federation President (9 January 2010) for services in legislative activities and the development of Russian parliamentarism

References

External links

Official web page at the Russian State Duma

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovalyov, Nikolay 1949 births KGB officers 2019 deaths Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (Russia) United Russia politicians 21st-century Russian politicians Directors of the Federal Security Service Burials at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery Generals of the army (Russia) Third convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Fourth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Fifth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Sixth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Seventh convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)