Leonid Mikhailovich Volkov (, ; born 10 November 1980) is a Russian politician who served as the chief of staff for opposition figure

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (, ; 4 June 197616 February 2024) was a Russian Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposition leader, anti-corruption in Russia, corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Found ...

's campaign for the 2018 presidential election. He was also the chairman of the

Anti-Corruption Foundation The Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF or FBK; ; ) is a non-profit organization established in 2011 by the Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The FBK published investigations into alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian government official ...

until 2023. From 1 March 2009 to September 2013, he served as a deputy of the

Yekaterinburg City Duma The Yekaterinburg City Duma () is the city duma of Yekaterinburg, Russia. A total of 36 deputies are elected for five-year terms. History Yekaterinburg's city duma was originally established in 1785 as part of Catherine II's reforms on local go ...

. He also served as the chairman of the Central Election Committee created for elections to the

Russian Opposition Coordination Council The Coordination Council of the Russian opposition was a non-governmental political and civic body that existed in 2012—2013. Elections to the council were held on 20—22 October 2012. The Coordination Council of the first convocation was ele ...

, and was the head of the campaign office of Alexei Navalny's campaign in the

2013 Moscow mayoral election The 2013 Moscow mayoral election was held on September 8, 2013, as part of the regional elections, at the same time as the elections in Moscow Oblast and other Oblasts were held. Elections were held after Mayor Sergey Sobyanin had announced his ...

. He is one of the founders of the

Russia of the Future Russia of the Future (, ), originally known as the People's Alliance () and formerly called the Progress Party (), is a banned opposition political party in Russia founded on 15 December 2012 by Leonid Volkov and later refounded on 19 May 2018 ...

party, originally known as the People's Alliance. He was a former chairman of the Sverdlovsk branch and a member of the Federal Political Council of the

People's Freedom Party People's Freedom Party may mean one of the following: * People's Freedom Party (Russia) * People's Freedom Party "For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption" * Constitutional Democratic Party, also called the People's Freedom Party * Constit ...

, and a member of the federal political council of the UDM Solidarnost. He was a captain of the Russia-Ural team at the 10th

International Young Physicists' Tournament The International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT), sometimes referred to as the "Physics World Cup", is a scientific competition between teams of secondary school students. It mimics, as close as possible, the real-world scientific research ...

(IYPT) in 1997, a participant in the 2001 World Programming Championship, in which he took 14th place (bronze medals) as part of the

Ural State University The Ural State University (, , often shortened to USU, УрГУ) is a public university located in the city of Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian Federation. Founded in 1920, it was an exclusive educational establishment made of several in ...

team.

Biography

Leonid Volkov was born on 10 November 1980 in Sverdlovsk (present-day Yekaterinburg) in the

Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. His father is Mikhail Vladimirovich Volkov, professor, Chief Researcher of the Laboratory of Combinatorial Algebra, Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics,

Ural Federal University Ural Federal University, named after the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, (Уральский федеральный университет имени первого Президента России Б.Н. Ельцина, ''Uralʹski� ...

. His mother is Susanna Borisovna Volkova (Kupchik), Senior Lecturer of the Department of New Information Technologies in Education,

Ural State Pedagogical University Ural State Pedagogical University () is a public university located in Yekaterinburg, Russia. It was founded in 1930. History "To open the Urals Industrial and Pedagogical Institute in Sverdlovsk for the training of teaching personnel for schoo ...

. Volkov is Jewish; on official documents, however, his ethnicity is shown as Russian. On March 1, 2009, he was elected as a deputy of the

in the electoral district No. 10 of the Kirovsky district (self-nomination). He became a member of the permanent parliamentary commission on urban economy, urban planning and land use and of the permanent deputy commission on local government, cultural and information policy. In 2013, he moved with his family from Yekaterinburg to

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. He returned to Russia at the end of 2014. Since 2020, Volkov has been living and working in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, the capital of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. On 4 October 2022, his book ''Putinland'' was published.

Political activities

Since 2009, he has been a member of the

Solidarnost United Democratic Movement "Solidarnost" (; ''Obyedinonnoye demokraticheskoye dvizheniye «Solidarnost»'', ''ODD "Solidarnost"''), abbreviated ODD "Solidarnost" (Russian for "Solidarity", named after the Polish Solidarność), is a Russian lib ...

movement. On April 10, 2010, he organized a rally against the construction of a temple on in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

— the event gathered more than 3,500 participants and became the largest protest action in the city since

perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...

. On October 24, 2010, he was one of the organizers of the rally in support of . He is a member of the central election committee of the

and was one of the leaders of Navalny's 2013 mayoral campaign for

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. He was formerly a member of the political council of the

. From December 2016, Volkov was chief of staff to Alexei Navalny's 2018 presidential campaign. On 9 March 2023, Volkov stepped down as the chairman of the board of the

after he had admitted to signing a letter on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Foundation in October which asked the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

for sanctions on

Mikhail Fridman Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; ; ; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli tycoon and Russian oligarchs, oligarch. He is one of the co-founders of Alfa Group, Alfa-Group, a multinational Rus ...

to be dropped without consulting his associates. He was replaced with Maria Pevchikh.

Attack

On 12 March 2024,

Meduza ''Meduza'' (Russian: Медуза, named after the Greek goddess Medusa) is a Russian- and English-language independent news website, headquartered in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 2014 by a group of former employees of the then-independent ...

reported that Volkov was attacked by a person with a hammer outside his house in

. According to Navalny press secretary

Kira Yarmysh Kira Aleksandrovna Yarmysh (, ; born October 11, 1989) is a Russian public figure and writer. She is the former press secretary and assistant of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the author of the 2020 novel . Biography K ...

, tear gas was sprayed in Volkov's eyes and he was beaten repeatedly with a hammer. The politician and lawyer

Ivan Zhdanov Ivan Yurievich Zhdanov (; born 17 August 1988) is a Russian politician and lawyer. He was the director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and is a member of the Central Council of the Russia of the Future political party. Biography Ivan ...

told the media that Volkov survived the attack, which is being investigated as political terror. In his first interview following the attack, Volkov stated that he would "never give up" his struggle against Putin. Lithuanian authorities said they suspected Russian special services of responsibility. In September 2024, associates of Navalny said they had obtained evidence that

Leonid Nevzlin Leonid Borisovich Nevzlin (; ; born 21 September 1959) is a Russian-born Israeli businessman, investor, philanthropist, and Russian oligarch. Nevzlin occupied various high-ranking positions at Group Menatep and its subsidiary, the Yukos Oil ...

, a Russian-Israeli billionaire and former co-owner of

Yukos OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Bank Menatep during the controversial "loans for shares" auctions of ...

, had ordered the attack and failed to pay $250,000 to those he hired to carry it out. Nevzlin denied the accusations, suggesting that it was "concocted in Moscow". That same month, a Russian lawyer and former

Gazprom-Media Gazprom-Media () is a Russian media holding company established in January 1998 as a subsidiary of Gazprom Media Holdings. It and its parent company are subsidiaries of Gazprom, a large Russian oil and gas company founded in 1989. The group owns ...

director accused of helping organise the attack was arrested in Poland.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volkov, Leonid 1980 births Living people Politicians from Yekaterinburg People's Freedom Party politicians Russian male bloggers Russian bloggers Russian anti-corruption activists Russian whistleblowers Russian Internet celebrities Russian prisoners and detainees Anti-Corruption Foundation Ural State University alumni Alexei Navalny Jewish Russian politicians Jewish bloggers People listed in Russia as foreign agents Russian victims of crime Russian expatriates in Lithuania