Mikhail Alexandrovich Men (; born 12 November 1960) is a Russian statesman and public figure, entrepreneur, musician, composer, producer. Deputy Chairman of th
Culture Committeeof the
State Duma of the Russian Federation
The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993.
The Duma headquarters are located in central Mos ...
(1995–2000). Deputy Governor of the Moscow Oblast (1999–2002), Deputy Mayor of
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 ...
(2002–2005), Head of Administration (Governor) of the
Ivanovo Oblast
Ivanovo Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It had a population of 927,828 as of the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census.
Its three largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, cities are Ivanovo (the administrat ...
(2005–2013),
Minister of Construction Industry, Housing and Utilities Sector (1 November 2013 — 18 May 2018), Auditor of the
Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation (20 June 2018 — 2 June 2021),
Full State Councilor of the Russian Federation, 1st class, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences.
Biography
He was born in the family of a priest and theologian Father
Alexander Men (1935–1990). Mother — Natalia Fyodorovna Grigorenko (1933–2021).
During his school years, he played the main role in the film "Deniskin's Stories" based on the stories of
Viktor Dragunsky.
While at school, he graduated from a music school in the direction of classical guitar. He performed as a member of
VIA
Via or VIA may refer to the following:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Via'' (Volumes album), 2011
* Via (Thalia Zedek album), 2013
* VIA (music), Soviet and Russian term for a music collective
Businesses and organisations
* Via Foundation, a Cz ...
"Shkolniye Gody", where he composed music himself and performed as a singer and bass guitarist.
Education
In 1978, immediately after graduating from high school, he entered the
Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas
The Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas () is a public university in Moscow, Russia. The university was founded in 1930 and is named after the geologist Ivan Gubkin. The university is colloquially known as Kerosinka (), meaning 'keros ...
, but he did not finish his studies there. Later, he underwent professional retraining at this university by the program "Economics and Management at oil and gas enterprises".
* 1980—1982 — service in the armed forces (units of
Pacific Fleet's Dalvoenmorstroy in the cities of
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
(
Primorsky Krai
Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
) and
Sovetskaya Gavan
Sovetskaya Gavan () is a town in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, and a port on the Strait of Tartary which connects the Sea of Okhotsk in the north with the Sea of Japan in the south. Population:
It was previously known as Imperatorskaya Gavan (Им ...
(
Khabarovsk Krai
Khabarovsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is located in the Russian Far East and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. The administrative centre of the krai is the types of ...
). He was an
Honors student
An honors student or honor student is a student recognized for achieving high grades or high marks in their coursework at school.
United States
In the United States, honors students may refer to:
# Students recognized for their academic achieve ...
of military construction. During Men's military service he specialized "Tower crane operator". After his dismissal, he entered and graduated from the directing department of the
Moscow State Art and Cultural University. Later, he also graduated from th
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administrationwith honor Diploma in
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
.
* In 2001, he Mikhail Men defended his
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
thesis for the degree of Candidate of Philosophical Sciences in theme "Value orientations of personality in the context of the mutual influence of religion and other phenomena of spiritual culture"
The beginning of labor, social, political and creative activities
From 1983 to 1991, he worked in cultural institutions in
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 ...
and
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...
. In parallel with this work, Mikhail Men launched a number of musical projects. In 1986 together with the guitarist Alexey Tumanov they created the rock band
Most. Mikhail Men co-wrote most of the songs, also he recorded vocals and played bass guitar on the band's first album. Later he created the project "Morskoy Patrul" with the famous musician, participant of
VIA
Via or VIA may refer to the following:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Via'' (Volumes album), 2011
* Via (Thalia Zedek album), 2013
* VIA (music), Soviet and Russian term for a music collective
Businesses and organisations
* Via Foundation, a Cz ...
"Nadezhda", Yuri Stozharov.
In the early 90's, having assembled the old line-up
VIA
Via or VIA may refer to the following:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Via'' (Volumes album), 2011
* Via (Thalia Zedek album), 2013
* VIA (music), Soviet and Russian term for a music collective
Businesses and organisations
* Via Foundation, a Cz ...
"Shkolniye Gody", he released old songs of the group as a separate album. Together with the famous songwriter Alexander Yelin, they produce the rock band "Primadonna", which won Grand Prix at the All-Union Music Competition "Miss Rock-88".
In 1990–1993, Mikhail Men was a chairman of the Board of the humanitarian and charitable organization "
Alexander Men Foundation". He studied at special courses at the VIPKLESPROM Liedership Training Center on the basics of foreign economic activities, engaged in entrepreneurial activities.
In 1993 Mikhail Men was elected as a deputy of the
Moscow Oblast Duma
The Moscow Oblast Duma () is the regional parliament of Moscow Oblast, a federal subject of Russia.
It consists of 50 deputies that, since 2011, are elected under a mixed-member proportional system, with 25 members elected in party lists and ...
from
Sergiyevo-Posadsky District. He worked until 1995 as a member of the Committee on
Local Self-Government. He was trained by course "The political and economic system of the USA" at Center for Inter-Parliament Cooperation (
Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
,
USA
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
).
State activities
Deputy of the State Duma
In 1995 he was elected as a deputy of
State Duma
The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...
of the second convocation in 104th electoral district (received 18.24% of the votes). Men was a Deputy Chairman of the Culture Committee by
Stanislav Govorukhin
Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin (; 29 March 1936 – 14 June 2018) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russians, Russian film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and politician. He was named People's Artist of Russia in 2006. His movies often fe ...
, member of the deputy group "
Yabloko
The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko; rus, Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко», Rossiyskaya obyedinyonnaya demokraticheskaya partiya "Yabloko" ...
".
Vice-Governor of Moscow Oblast
In September 1999, he was included in federal list of electoral association"Yabloko" at No.3 in
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...
in regional part of the list for participation in elections to the
3rd State Duma
The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the 3rd convocation () is a former convocation of the legislative branch of the State Duma, lower house of the Russian Parliament, elected on 19 December 1999. The 3rd convocation ...
.
Later, in November 1999, Men was registered as a candidate for the post of vice-governor of
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...
, paired with a candidate of governor
Boris Gromov
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov (; born 7 November 1943) is a Russian politician and former military officer. He was the Governor of Moscow Oblast between January 2000 and May 2012. Deployed thrice to fight in the Soviet–Afghan War, Gromov was t ...
.
On 19 December 1999,
Gromov and Men took second place and advanced to the second round together with
Gennady Seleznev and
Vladimir Kashin.
On 9 January 2000, in the second round of elections, Boris Gromov and Mikhail Men were elected to the posts of governor and vice-governor of
Moscow Oblast
Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...
, respectively.
In March 2000, Men announced his withdrawal from the "Yabloko" association.
Due to changes in regional legislation, on 1 November 2002, Mikhail Men announced an early resignation of vice-governor of Moscow Oblast.
Deputy Mayor of Moscow
For three years, from November 2002 to November 2005, Mikhail Men worked as deputy Mayor of Moscow in interregional cooperation and sports. From 2003 to 2005, he headed the
Commission on Human Rights
A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights.
The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...
by Mayor of the capital and Moscow Clemency Board.
Governor of the Ivanovo Oblast
On 22 November 2005, deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the
Ivanovo Oblast
Ivanovo Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It had a population of 927,828 as of the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census.
Its three largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, cities are Ivanovo (the administrat ...
approved the candidacy of Mikhail Men for the post of Head of Administration of the
Ivanovo Oblast
Ivanovo Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It had a population of 927,828 as of the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census.
Its three largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, cities are Ivanovo (the administrat ...
, submitted by the
President of the Russian Federation
The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. I ...
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
. 32 deputies voted for, none against, two were absent.
Mikhail Men became the third member of
Yuri Luzhkov Yuri may refer to:
People
Given name
*Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc.
*Yuri (Japanese name), feminine Japanese given names, including a list o ...
team (after former Vice Mayor
Valery Shantsev (Governor of the
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a population of 3,119,115 as of the 2021 Ru ...
) and Vice Speaker of the State Duma
Georgy Boos (Governor of the
Kaliningrad oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast () is the westernmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is a Enclave and exclave, semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea within the Baltic region of Prussia (region), Prussia, surrounded by Pola ...
), appointed by the Kremlin administration to the governor's post.
Since late 1990's, the heads of regional administration have been called governors by journalists, but at the official level only in 2007 Mikhail Men established a name of governor.
From 1 December 2008, to 25 May 2009 — Member of Presidium of the
State Council of the Russian Federation
The State Council () is an advisory body to the Russian head of state, which deals with issues of the highest importance to the state as a whole. The council was established by a decree of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, on September ...
.
On 19 October 2010,
Russian President
The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. I ...
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...
submitted to the Ivanovo Oblast Duma the candidacy of current region's head, Mikhail Men, to give him governor's powers for a second term. By the decision of the Ivanovo Oblast Duma's deputies Mikhail Men's powers were extended.
On 16 October 2013, Men prematurely, at his own request, resigned from the post of Governor of the Ivanovo Oblast. On 1 November of the same year he was appointed Minister of Construction Industry, Housing and Utility Sector.
Results of activities
Among the results of Men's activities as governor was the elimination of wage arrears in 2011.
From 2005 to 2012, the average salary in the region tripled;
regional airport was reconstructed; a bus station building in
Shuya was finished.
At the same time, the governor was criticized for insufficient work with investors,
with obvious results of work: for example, investors were attracted to the housing and utilities sector of the region for the construction of 16 new boiler houses.
In 2011, in order to modernize the local poultry producer Ivanovsky Broiler, a loan of 700 million rubleswas allocated from regional fund for small and medium-sized businesses at a subsidized interest rate.
In 2020, the Prodo group, which was controlled by managers of
Millhouse Capital investment company, and was the owner of Ivanovsky Broiler, repaid the loan by paing 710 million rubles to the budget of Ivanovo Oblast. The repayment of the loan was confirmed by Governor Voskresensky.
Later the loan paid will become a reason for claims against Mikhail Men.
Among the cultural changes, there is an initiativeto raise money and buy out the
Andrey Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. His films explore spiritual and metap ...
archive at
Sotheby's auction in November 2012 (the archive was bought for 1.3 million pounds and transferred to the Andrey Tarkovsky HouseMuseum in
Yuryevets). Promotion of the Ivanovo city of Ples, thanks the construction of tourist infrastructure and international festivals - fashion festival "Linen Palette. Ples on the Volga" and the "Mirror" film festival; creation of state professional recording studio "Ivan-Records" for young musicians in this region.
Job ratings as governor
In 2004,
Vyacheslav Nikonov
Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Nikonov (; born 5 June 1956) is a Russian political scientist.
Early life
Nikonov is a grandson of Vyacheslav Molotov, prominent Bolshevik and Soviet foreign minister under Joseph Stalin, whom he was named after, a ...
, president of "Politika" Foundation spoke about Men's appointment:
The introduction by President of Russian Federation about candidacy of the Deputy Mayor of Moscow in the metropolitan government of Mikhail Men for the Governor's post of Ivanovo Oblast is explained solely by business qualities of the Vice Mayor, and not by any political considerations
In 2013, political scientist Alexander Kynev said that because of the Governor, the political system in
Ivanovo Oblast
Ivanovo Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It had a population of 927,828 as of the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census.
Its three largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, cities are Ivanovo (the administrat ...
has degraded and:
Behind the outwardly decent formal image of a complacent governor with a legendary surname, there was a hard tightening of nuts and reliance on imported Moscow region cadres
Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation
On 1 November 2013, the
Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities was established by Decree of the
President of the Russian Federation
The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. I ...
. New department was headed by Mikhail Men.
As the newspaper
Kommersant
(, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily ...
wrote, Mikhail Alexandrovich Men was remembered by the constraction market for numerous reforms in a field of shared-equity construction. He began to work on preparing for the rejection of its use.
In February 2018, Ministry of Construction proposed that developers start using escrow accounts, where co-investors' money should be kept until the end of construction. According to Ministry's plan, developers working with escrow accounts should be exempt from the need to make contributions to the compensation funds of shareholders. During Men's work as a Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities of Russian Federation, one of the largest Russian developers, Mikhail Balakin's
SU-155, was forced to leave the construction market, which in 2015 announced its inability to complete the construction of 71 houses and its obligations to 27 thousand participants in shared-equity construction. The Ministry of Construction has developed a scheme for the rehabilitation of the SU-155, the main obligations of which were assumed by state bank "Russian Capital".
Over the years of management, there has been a dynamic in housing commissioning. 2014—2017 became a record for the Russian housing construction market — the volume of housing commissioning in 2014 amounted to 84.2 million m
2, in 2015 — 85.3 million m
2, in 2016 — 80.2 million m
2, in 2017 — 79.2 million m
2. During the period of leadership of the Ministry of Construction by Mikhail Men from 2014 to 2017, about 4 million mortgage borrowers improved their living conditions. Mortgages became available to 33% of families by 2016, with the value of this indicator not exceeding 5% in the early 2000s. In 2017, about 1.1 million loans worth more than 2 trillion rubles were issued, which is almost 27% more in quantitative terms and 37% more in monetary terms than in 2016, mortgage rates decreased to the level of 9.79%.
Under the Minister Mikhail Men, licensing of the management of apartment buildings was introduced, which at the first stage led to weeding out 13% of management companies. Already after the introduction of licensing, 653 licenses were terminated, 21 licenses were canceled. According to the
GIS
A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...
of housing and communal services, as of May 2018, there were 21146 licenses in the country. The Ministry of Construction, under my leadership, managed to raise the rate of resettlement of emergency housing from 1 million "squares" in 2013 to 3 million in 2014 and subsequent.
Since the creation of the
Ministry of Construction, Russia has risen in the
World Bank'sbr>
Doing Business ratingin the direction of "Obtaining a construction permit" by 63 positions from 178th place to 115th. Another initiative of the
Ministry of Construction is the implementation of the priority project "Formation of comfortable urban environment". 25.6 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget to finance projects to create a comfortable urban environment. In 2017, more than 23 thousand objects were improved as part of the project. In 2018, for the first time in Russian practice, a rating vote was held on improvement projects, which was attended by more than 18 million people.
During the years of Mikhail Men's leadership, the Federal State Information System of Pricing in the construction of the (FGIS CA) was put into operation.
Head of the supervisory board of the Federal Autonomous Institutio
Glavgosexpertiza
Results of activities
According to
Andrey Nazarov, co-chairman of Delovaya Rossiya, the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation has managed to reduce the number and cost of administrative procedures by more than half in six years, which is an excellent indicator.
Sergei Gordeiko fro
Rusipotekanoted: "The preservation of the volume of mortgage lending was a great success of the Ministry of Construction during the period of Mikhail Men's leadership. The volume of construction is annually near the mark of 80 million square meters per year, in 2014-2016 the figure was higher. At the end of 2017, the drop in housing commissioning was 2%".
Alexey Perlin, CEO o
SMU-6 Investments reported: "During his tenure as Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities, the volume of housing commissioning has increased significantly, reaching record levels. The program "Mortgage with state support" helped the construction market in difficult times, while mortgage rates today have dropped to record lows and continue to decline." Ilshat Nigmatullin, President of the Granel Group of Companies, credited Mikhail Men for the introduction of a major overhaul system.
In January 2017, he was elected as a member of General Council,
United Russia Party. In December 2017, he was elected as a member of presidium of General Council of United Russia Party. In June 2018, he suspended membership in the United Russia Party in accordance with the law "On Accounts Chamber of Russian Federation".
In March 2018, President of Russian Federation awarded the head of Ministry of Construction Mikhail Men for "Many years of impeccable public service" with the distinction "For Impeccable Service".
Auditor of Accounts Chamber of Russian Federation
On 20 June 2018, on the proposal of the
President of the Russian Federation
The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. I ...
, he was appointed by the
Federation Council
The Federation Council, unofficially Senate, is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, with the lower house being the State Duma. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993.
Each of the 89 federal s ...
to the position of auditor of the
Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation. Among the areas of work — control activities in the area of spending federal budget funds in the social sphere and science.
Since 1 October 2019 — Auditor of the
Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, supervising the direction of control activities in the field of spending federal budget funds. And also in the field of environmental management and agriculture.
On 13 November 2019, Men made a report to the State Duma on state policy in the field of environmental development and ensuring environmentally safe waste management, where he noted that out of 97% of the 70 million tons of
MSW
MSW may stand for: Businesses and organisations
* Manatawny Still Works, a craft distillery in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States
* Massawa International Airport, Eritrea (by IATA code)
* Ministry of Interior (Poland) ()
* Muslim Society of Was ...
generated annually are placed in landfills, "often located within cities and settlements." "Reducing landfill areas and preventing a formation of unauthorized landfills is impossible without creating a comprehensive waste management system," he said.
In 2019,
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of state-owned company "Russian Environmental Operator" (REO), which oversees a "garbage" reform, Denis Butsaev was prematurely dismissed by order of Prime Minister of Russian Federation
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...
. As the media reported, son of
Prosecutor General Public Prosecutor General or Prosecutor General may refer to:
* Prosecutor General of Lithuania
* Prosecutors General of Azerbaijan
* Prosecutor General (Albania)
* Prosecutor General of Armenia
* Prosecutor General of the Republic (Brazil)
* Pros ...
Igor Chaika was in favor of appointing Butsaev to the post of a head of REO. After Butsaev was removed from office, Mikhail Men was named one of the likely candidates for the position of a head of Russian Environmental Operator.
In November 2019, Deputy Prime Minister of Government of Russian Federation
Alexey Gordeev announced that the government of Russian Federation decided to appoint Mikhail Men, ex-head of Ministry of Construction, as CEO of Russian Environmental Operator. However, this appointment did not happen later, and Men continued to work as an auditor of Accounts Chamber in Russian Federation.
Mikhail Men's report, published in October 2020, discussed the problems with the implementation of the garbage reform, which mentioned companies associated with people close to the head of the
National Guard of Russia
The Federal Service of Troops of National Guard of the Russian Federation (), officially known as the (),#Official website, Official website is a federal executive body which is responsible for law enforcement, internal security, counter-terro ...
,
Viktor Zolotov
Viktor Vasilyevich Zolotov (; born 27 January 1954) is a Russian military officer who is the Director of the National Guard (Rosgvardiya, concurrently serving as National Guard Forces Commander-in-Chief) and a member of the Security Council. Zo ...
, and the head of
Rostec
Rostec, formally trading as State Corporation "Rostec", fully the State Corporation for the Promotion of the Development, Manufacture, and Export of High Tech Products "Rostec" and formerly Rostekhnologii, is a Russian State corporation (Russia), ...
,
Sergei Chemezov.
On 10 November 2020, as a result of publication the report of auditor in Accounts Chamber M.A. Men, the head of Ministry of Natural Resources
Dmitry Kobylkin
Dmitry Nikolaevich Kobylkin (; born 7 July 1971) is a Russian politician who served as Governor of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug from 4 May 2012 until 29 May 2018, and as Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation from May 2018 u ...
, who was responsible for the implementation of "garbage reform", was dismissed. A few days before Kobylkin's resignation, Ilya Gudkov, the head of public law company "Russian Environmental Operator", was removed from his post.
In the last report of Mikhail Men was said that one of the largest companies - the "Big Three" - was engaged in modernization of unified state information system for accounting for waste from the use of goods (EGIS "UOIT"). The contract in amount of 566 million rubles was signed in August 2019. One of the owners of the "Big Three" was Yuri Chechikhin, whom the media call the son-in-law of the head of Rosgvardiya Viktor Zolotov. The claims of Accounting Chamber to this project were related to the fact that the UOIT Unified State Examination System is identical in its functionality to the UTKO GIS program (municipal waste accounting system), which is also used in the field of waste management. The auditors considered that this is an inefficient expenditure of budget money.
Results of activities
8 days after the resignation of the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Dmitry Kobylkin, who was responsible for the implementation of the "garbage reform" and the dismissal of Ilya Gudkov from the post of head of the public law company "Russian Environmental Operator", on 18 November 2020, the
Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF; ) has since January 2011 been the main federal investigating authority in Russia. Its name (''Sledstvennyi komitet'') is usually abbreviated to ''SKR'' (). The agency replaced the Pro ...
appealed to the Federation Council. It satisfied the submission of Prosecutor General
Igor Krasnov and agreed to criminal prosecution Mikhail Men is responsible for the allegedly stolen loan, which was paid in full to the budget of the Ivanovo Oblast back in June 2020. Also it was issued from the budget of the Ivanovo Oblast in 2011 to the Ivanovsky Broiler to improve the material base.
In November 2020, M.A. Men was charged the article 160 of
Criminal Code of Russian Federation for alleged embezzlement committed as governor of the Ivanovo Oblast. According to Igor Krasnov, "sufficient evidence was obtained of Men guilt" in embezzlement of 700 million rubles from the budget of the Ivanovo Oblast in 2011 for the modernization of one of the agro–industrial complex enterprises - poultry meat producer "Ivanovsky Broiler", when Mikhail Men was governor and head of the government of the Ivanovo Oblast. According to the Prosecutor General, after receiving a loan for the development of production, the funds allocated to "Ivanovsky Broiler" were allegedly stolen.
On 22 June 2020, even before the initiation of proceedings against M. Men, the Prodo Group, which was controlled by the managers of
Roman Abramovich's investment company
Millhouse Capital, repaid the debt of "Ivanovsky Broiler", returning 710 million rubles to the regional budget.
Despite the fact that the loan was repaid in full, the initiators of the "theft" were called "unidentified persons from among the beneficiaries" of the Prodo group of companies, which then included "Ivanovsky Broiler". The owners of GC "Prodo" Andrey Gorodilov, Efim Malkin and Irina Panchenko are considered associates of Roman Abramovich. Men, according to the investigation, led the theft, earlier another ex-governor of the Ivanovo Oblast, Pavel Konkov, who was the first deputy governor during the loan issuance period, was involved in the case. Mikhail Men denied all charges.
On 18 May 2021, the court dismissed the case against Mikhail Men. The case against the auditor of the Accounting Chamber M.A. Men was terminated due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. At the same time, the court dismissed the cases against the ex-governor of the region Pavel Konkov and the managing director of JSC "Ivanovsky Broiler" Dmitry Grishin. Mikhail Men pleaded not guilty in court.
On 1 June 2021, the Federation Council received a presidential submission on the early release of Mikhail Men from the post of auditor of the Accounting Chamber at his request. On 2 June 2021, the senators agreed with the submission of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the early termination of the powers of auditor of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Mikhail Men in connection with his personal statement.
After completing his career as a civil servant, Men said that he intended to engage in projects "related to creative and entrepreneurial activities."
Evaluation of the activities and grounds for the persecution of Mikhail Men
Vladimir Zherebenkov, lawyer of the interregional collegium of lawyers "Law and Man", commented on the situation to the
Vedomosti
( rus, Ведомости, p=ˈvʲedəməsʲtʲɪ, ) is a Russian-language business daily newspaper published in Moscow.
History
was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Dow Jones, who publishes ''The Wall Street Journal''; Pearson, ...
newspaper:
"But judging by the fact that the money was returned, there is no corpus delicti as such".
On 17 May 2021, the court stopped the criminal case against the ex-governor due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Commenting on the termination of the criminal case to the
ZVEZDA TV channel, lawyer Murad Musayev said: "Mikhail Men ... pleaded not guilty and agreed to the termination of the case".
The media connected Men's case with his professional activities during his work in the
Accounts Chamber. As
Stanislav Belkovsky noted, "the real reason, most likely, is that, already working in the Accounts Chamber, Mikhail Men showed ''excessive'' diligence in studying the so-called garbage topic, the topic of waste disposal."
Evgeny Minchenko "does not exclude that what is happening may be related to the sphere of Men's current work in the Accounts Chamber – he dealt with the topics of ecology and garbage reform".
Political observer Dmitry Yuryev commented on the
Gazeta.Ru publication:
"In my opinion, "the case of Mikhail Men" is a rare case when from the very beginning everything was absolutely transparent. Given: the auditor of AC works on the garbage (in the sense – on the garbage operator). It is necessary: stop for a few months, during this time we will fix everything. Solution: we put the auditor in prison for several months, then let him go."
The
Ivanovo
Ivanovo (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Russia and the administrative center and largest city of Ivanovo Oblast, located northeast of Moscow and approximately from Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Russia, Vladimir and Kostroma. ...
journalist Aleksey Mashkevich, who conducted his journalistic investigation of the "Ivanovsky Broiler" case, believes that the criminal case against Mikhail Men and Pavel Konkov had a political connotation and pursues only one goal – to put an end to their careers, and "chicken money" is not the cause, but only a reason for excitement.
Politician Boris Nadezhdin in a commentary to
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 ...
called the prosecution of Mikhail Men "political":
“There's some kind of fight going on under the carpet. You can find something on any official in any regional administration to launch a case. It's some kind of elite infighting; it's not a war on corruption.”
The head of the political expert group Konstantin Kalachev, in a comment to the Free Press, explained the persecution of Men by an intra-elite struggle: "If a case is raised ten years ago, then the trigger is the events of present time. Obviously, this is connected not so much with the fight against embezzlement as with intra—elite showdowns," Kalachev also pointed out that the persecution of Me is probably related to his professional activities as an auditor of the Accounts Chamber - he was engaged in garbage and ecology.
Doctor of Economics Nikita Krichevsky in his interview linked the persecution of Mikhail Men with the activities of the auditor of the Accounts Chamber. In particular, Krichevsky pointed out: "In 2020, my department announced fraud with oil and gas reserves, having found out that raw materials companies put deposits on the state balance sheet, the resources of which are not subsequently confirmed. In the fall of 2020, Men announced the failure of the garbage reform, that only 7% of waste is still processed in Russia, and over 90% is sent to landfills and landfills."
Creative work
As a composer and musician Mikhail Men gets international recognition in 2005, when his albu
Made in Moscowwas released, in which musicians
Glenn Hughes and
Joe Lynn Turner
Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer best known for his work with Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Turner joined Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow in the early 1980 ...
took part. The music for the album was written by Mikhail Men in collaboration with Alexey Tumanov, Igor Ryabtsev and Mikhail Zatravkin, and the lyrics were written by Joe Lynn Turner and Glenn Hughes. Russian musician
Dmitry Chetvergov Nikolai Devlet-Kildeev, Valery Diorditsa, Alexander Berezhnoy, Piotr Makienko, Alexander Lvov, Pavel Titovets, Alexander Filonemko, Mikhail Lomov and Andrey Lomov participated in the project.
Later Mikhail Men organizes a concert tour of
Joe Lynn Turner
Joe Lynn Turner (born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito, August 2, 1951) is an American singer best known for his work with Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Turner joined Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow in the early 1980 ...
in Russia, where he performs as a producer and bass guitarist. In 2017, the vinyl album Made in Moscow will be released, consisting of two records. On one – original Made in Moscow in studio sounds, on the second – professional recording Made in Moscow Live, arranged on one of the concerts.
Album "Michael Men Project. Made in Moscow" hit the charts in
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
(#54 in Deezer Top 300 Releases) and
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
(#73 in iTunes Top 200)
Mikhail Men initiated few Russian festivals: First Russian Festival of Guitar Music, Dubrava Music Jazz Festival, Andrey Tarkovsky International Film Festival, Ples Jazz Festival, Rock Panorama (1980s event reopened), Black Rose International Music Festival, Interregional Rock Festival "Antifabrika".
Mikhail Men also helps to establish organizations in Russia for captive executors. Among the realized projects – tour of the British rock vocalist
Graham Bonnet
Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal bands including Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Michael Schenke ...
(
Alcatrazz
Alcatrazz is an American rock band formed in 1983 by Graham Bonnet, Jimmy Waldo, and Gary Shea. They are best known for their songs "Island in the Sun", "Hiroshima Mon Amour", and "God Blessed Video". They are also notable for featuring a pre ...
and
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
), British trio-band Boot
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
, Scottish rock band
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...
and others.
In 2006, Mikhail Men, together with famous performers
Grigory Leps
Grigory Viktorovich Lepsveridze (, ka, გრიგორი ვიქტორის ძე ლეფსვერიძე), known as Grigory Leps; born 16 July 1962), is a Russian singer-songwriter of Georgian origin. His musical style grad ...
,
Alexander Marshal,
Sergey Mazaev, Igor Sandler, Anatoly Alyoshin and others, took part in the recording of the official tribute albu
"Пипл про/to purple"which hits #39 in the Deezer All Genres Top 300 Releases chart in Russia.
In 2009, Mikhail Men is producing the group Natsproekt which is applying for participation in the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
with the English-language son
Last Callby Mikhail Men. But the group does not go through all the stages of pre-selection. The song Last Call is released as a separate single and in the debut album
Ivanovsky Blues by th
Natsproektgroup on all digital showcases and on CD.
Later, Mikhail Men produced the rock band Monoraga,
which releases the album
Принцип каждодневных схем on all digital showcases, as well as five singles:
Чертое Платье,
Ты,
Тайна за семью печатями,
Амстердам and
Край
Mikhail Men is also producing the Finnish singe
Mariam Menand releasing he
Popular Jewish Songsalbum available on all digital storefronts.
In 2016, Mikhail Men initiated the revival of the legendary rock group
Kruiz. The collective successfully gave several concerts, including at the
Luzhniki Small Sports Arena
The Luzhniki Small Sports Arena (formerly, the Minor Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium; ) is an 8,700-seat indoor arena that is part of the Luzhniki Sports Complex in Moscow, Russia. The arena was built in 1956 in the Soviet Union. It hosted vo ...
, for which the famous guitarist and one of the founders of the group Valery Gaina specially flew from the USA. The renewed
Kruiz has released two album
"The Rebirth of the Legend. Live"an
"Rock Panorama 2016. Live" But after that, due to constant disagreements between the musicians, the group ceased to exist and broke up into several different groups.
In recent years, Mikhail Men became interested in jazz and began to develop in its various trends. There were jams of Mikhail Men with famous Russian jazzmen, among them saxophonists
Alexei Kozlov and
Sergei Golovnya, guitaris
Alexei Kuznetsov pianist and flutist Vladimir Nesterenko.
In 2017, Mikhail Men, together with guitarist
Dmitry Chetvergov, create th
ChetMenband. The style of the group can be described as fusion - a fusion of jazz, blues, funk, soul with elements of pop rock, art rock and ethnic music. Albums and singles of the ChetMen group have repeatedly occupied leading positions in the Russian and foreign top charts. Thus, the composition Sarcasm held the 1st place in the Russia
iTunesTop 200 Tracks in the jazz category, a record for this genre for three and a half weeks
Dubrava Livewas ranked 5th in the iTunes Top 200 Tracks in the jazz category in France. The group is a participant in the festival
Koktebel Jazz Party Jazz of a quiet backwater
Dubrava Music In 2019, ChetMen performed at th
in
Montreux
Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...
(Switzerland).
Together with pianist Alexander Mironov, Mikhail Men also creates the jazz trio MM +, which performs classical pieces in a jazz arrangement. MM + performed Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in his own jazz interpretation at
Igor Butman's Sochi Jazz Festival.
In 2019, Mikhail Men, together with musician
Dmitry Chetvergov and entrepreneur Alexander Finkelstein, are building a recording studio fo
Moscow City Records as well as organizing a record label and production center of the same name.
In 2020, Mikhail Men records bass guitar parts on several tracks of
Dmitry Chetvergov's new album
Повороты судьбы which hits the iTunes Top 200 charts in Russia (all genres - # 2, rock - # 1), in rock genre: number of weeks in the chart - 1.
Mikhail Men is a member of the Union of Composers of Russia.
Discography
Awards
* Order of Honor (2011)
* Order of Friendship (1 September 2014)
* Badge of Distinction "For Impeccable Service" of XXV years
* 3 Letters of Gratitude from the President of the Russian Federation
* Medal "In memory of the 850th anniversary of Moscow" (26 February 1997)
* Medal of P. A. Stolypin I degree
* Badge "Honorary Builder of Russia"
* Medal of the Ministry of Transport of Russian Federation "For the construction of transport facilities" (30 June 2016)
* Medal of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russian Federation "For contribution to the development of agro-industrial complex of Russia" (9 November 2010).
* Honorary title "Honored Builder of the Khabarovsk Territory"
* Honorary title "Honored Culture Worker of Moscow region"
* Medal "10 Years of the Federal Bailiff Service" (FSSP, 15 October 2007)
* The badge of Distinction "For impeccable service to the City of Moscow" XX years (Moscow, 1 December 2005) — for many years of fruitful activity for the benefit of the city of Moscow and its residents
* Medal "For Impeccable Service" (Moscow region), 4 November 2002)
* Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh II degree (2007) — for attention to the works on the erection of a monument to the clergy and laity who suffered for the faith of Christ during the seizure of church valuables in 1922, in Shuya, Ivanovo-Voznesenskaya Diocese
* Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh III degree — for assistance in resolving the issue of former sacristy collection of Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
* Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, III degree
* Honorary Doctor of the Institute of Theology of Belarusian State University (28 October 2005) — for his great contribution to the formation of modern principles of relationship between Church and state and for his contribution to the development of cooperation between Belarus and Russia
* Honorary Professor of the
Moscow Architectural Institute
* The title of "Honorary Citizen of Ples-city"
Scientific works and publications
* Men M. A. Culture and religion. — M.: Path; Truth and life, 2001. — 176 p.
* Men M. A. Land. Problems of land use and the investment process in Moscow region. — M.: Path; Truth and Life, 2002.
* Men M. A. Constitution, State, Church: ensuring civil security, peace and harmony. — M.: Gothic, 2005.
* Men M. A., Nazarov A. Yu., Smirnov E. A. Leadership and values. — St. Petersburg: Publishing House of St. Petersburg State University, 2010.
* Men M. A. Leadership as a social and personal phenomenon (theoretical and methodological aspects of research). — Moscow: Publishing House of Moscow State University, 2011.
* Men M. A. Social Philosophy of Leadership (conceptual analysis). — M.: Publishing House of the Independent Institute of Civil Society, 2013.
Personal life
Married for the second time, three daughters and three sons. His wife, Elena Olegovna Nalimova (born 1975) is a lawyer and entrepreneur. She worked in the apparatus of the
Moscow City Duma
The Moscow City Duma (, commonly abbreviated to ) is the Regional parliaments of Russia, regional parliament (city duma) of Moscow, a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject and the capital city of Russia. As Moscow is one of Federal cities ...
, the
State Duma
The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...
and the
Federation Council
The Federation Council, unofficially Senate, is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, with the lower house being the State Duma. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993.
Each of the 89 federal s ...
, then in commercial structures, was engaged in charity work. Nalimova, with an income of 88.9 million rubles received in 2010, was one of the ten richest wives of governors.
The first wife, Inna Georgievna Men (born 1962, née Petrova) – singer and entrepreneur, performed under the pseudonym Daria Menshikova. Winner of the Grand Prix at "Miss Rock-88" All-Union Music Competition, laureate of the festival "Rhythms of Jurmala-86".
He is fond of music and sports (alpine skiing, table tennis, cycling).
He lives in the Arkhangelskoye dacha farm, next to the
Arkhangelskoye estate.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Men, Mikhail
1960 births
Living people
Governors of Ivanovo Oblast
United Russia politicians
Russian male musicians
Russian people of Jewish descent
Government ministers of Russia
Second convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)
Moscow State Art and Cultural University alumni