Olga Borisovna Lyubimova (; born 31 December 1980) is a Russian politician serving as the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. She was appointed on 21 January 2020. Prior to her current appointment, Lyubimova has served the Deputy Minister of Culture since 2015 and as the head of its

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

department since 2018.

Early life and education

She is the daughter of

Boris Lyubimov Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name * *List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) Arts and media * Boris (band), a Japanese experimental rock trio * ''Boris'' (EP), by Yezda Urfa, 1975 * "Boris" (son ...

(currently the acting president of the Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School) and the great-granddaughter of renowned actor

Vasily Kachalov Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov (; – 30 September 1948), was one of Russia's most renowned actors. He worked closely and often with Konstantin Stanislavski. He led the so-called Kachalov Group within the Moscow Art Theatre. It was Kachalov who playe ...

. Following an unhappy enrollment at an Orthodox high school which she would later compare to an

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

training camp, Lyubimova graduated from

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

with a degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

and from the Russian Institute of Theater Arts where she studied theater.

Career

Since the 2000s she has worked often in television, working on shows including '' Vzglyad'', ''Orthodox'', and ''Orthodox Calendar''. She has been head of Channel One's directorate of social and journalistic programs since 2016. Her appointment as Minister of Culture was controversial due to past

LiveJournal LiveJournal (), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school ...

posts by Lyubimova wherein she said she "can't stand going to exhibitions, museums, opera" and explained that "I've been to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

and a few dozen more European and Russian museums and reckon I wasted my time there". However, she received support from film critic

Anton Dolin Anton Dolin may refer to: * Anton Dolin (ballet dancer) (1904–1983), English ballet dancer and choreographer * Anton Dolin (film critic) Anton Vladimirovich Dolin (; ) is a Russian film critic, journalist, radio host, blogger and podcaster. ...

, who said "she loves culture, or at least, cinema". On 6 May 2020, Olga Lyubimova's Press Secretary announced that she had contracted the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, but the disease is mild, so hospitalization is not required. Since the disease was mild, on 14 May Lyubimova recovered and returned to the exercise of her powers. On 17 July 2023, Lyubimova was sanctioned by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for "using her position to support the Russian state's damaging anti-Ukrainian policies".

References

External links

* 1980 births Living people Politicians from Moscow Culture ministers of Russia Women government ministers of Russia Moscow State University alumni 21st-century Russian women politicians {{Russia-politician-stub