Structure | Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

Contacts

The address of the reception: 62 Suvorovsky Prospekt, Room 52, St Petersburg 191124

The phone and fax number of the reception: Tel./fax: (812) 577-13-64

Biography

1949 Born in April 1949.

1972 Graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Chemistry and Pharmaceutics.

1984–1986 First Secretary of the Krasnogvardeisky District CPSU Committee in the city of Leningrad.

1985 Graduated from the Academy of Social Sciences of the CPSU Central Committee.

1986–1989 Deputy Chair at the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council.

1989 Elected People’s Deputy of the USSR. As one of the youngest female MPs, headed the USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on Women, Families, Maternity and Childhood.

1991 Completed Senior Diplomatic Staff Course at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and joined the diplomatic corps, where she served until 1998 with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

1991–1994 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR and the Russian Federation to the Republic of Malta.

1995–1997 Director of the Foreign Ministry Department for Liaisons with the Constituent Entities of the Federation, the Parliament, Public and Political Associations, member of the Foreign Ministry Collegium.

1997–1998 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Greece.

1998–2003 Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

2003–2011 Appointed Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District in 2003, and elected the same year Governor of St Petersburg, Russia’s “northern capital”.

2011 On 31 August 2011, she took her seat on the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation as a representative of the executive authority of the city of St Petersburg. On 21 September 2011, she was unanimously elected Speaker of the Federation Council, and re-elected to this high office in 2014 and in 2019. Ms Matvienko has been serving as a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation since September 2011. In November 2011, she was elected Chair of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS).

State awards:

Order of the Badge of Honour (1976);

Order of Red Banner of Labour (1981);

Order of Honour (1996);

Order for Service to the Motherland, 3^rd Class (1999);

Order for Service to the Motherland, 4^th Class (2003);

Order for Service to the Motherland, 2^nd Class (2009);

Order for Service to the Motherland, 1^st Class (2014);

Order for St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called (2019).

Valentina Matvienko also holds a number of foreign decorations: the Grand Decoration of Honour with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria (2001), the Order of Princess Olga of Ukraine, 3^rd Class (2002), the Grand Cross of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic (2007), the Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion of Finland (2009), Order of Legion of Honour of the French Republic (2009), Order for Great Love for Independent Turkmenistan (2009), Order of Friendship of the Peoples of the Republic of Belarus (2009), National Order of Merit of the Republic of Malta, 2^nd Class (2013), Order of Friendship of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2^nd Class (2016).

Valentina Matvienko was also decorated with a number of medals.

Has a son and a granddaughter.

Leisure activities: literature, theatre, painting, music, sports (tennis, alpine skiing).

Authority

(Article 18 of the Federation Council Rules of Procedure)

1. The Speaker of the Federation Council:

a) convenes Federation Council sittings, including extraordinary ones;

b) drafts the agenda for Federation Council sittings, submits it for review to the House Council and presents the reviewed draft to the Federation Council.

c) presides over Federation Council sittings;

d) signs Federation Council resolutions;

e) administers the oath to persons appointed to the office of judge of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and Prosecutor-General of the Russian Federation;

e1) (Paragraph e1 was omitted as per Federation Council Resolution No. 556-SF dated 15 December 2010);

f) oversees internal regulations as authorised by these Rules of Procedure;

g) delegates functions among the First Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council and Deputy Speakers of the Federation Council (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 305-SF dated 19 September 2008);

h) provides for the operation of the House Council and chairs its sittings;

i) coordinates the work of Federation Council committees (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 568-SF dated 27 December 2011);

j) sends for preliminary consideration by appropriate Federation Council committees draft laws of the Russian Federation approved by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (hereinafter the State Duma) amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws, federal laws approved by the State Duma, as well as draft laws, amendments to draft laws drafted by a Federation Council committee or member to be submitted to the State Duma as per the Federation Council’s right of legislative initiative (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 568-SF dated 27 December 2011);

j1) sends to the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, at its request, documents and materials it needs for public review of draft laws of the Russian Federation amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation, draft federal constitutional laws and federal laws, except for materials classified as state secret or other secrets protected by law (Paragraph j1 was added by Federation Council Resolution No. 85-SF dated 24 March 2006);

k) gives public notice of the adopted laws of the Russian Federation amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation;

l) sends the adopted laws of the Russian Federation amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation for review to the legislative (representative) authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

m) submits to the President of the Russian Federation for signing and official publication laws of the Russian Federation approved by the Federation Council to amend the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws and federal laws;

n) sends to the State Duma draft laws of the Russian Federation amending the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws and federal laws that have been rejected by the Federation Council;

o) solicits proposals from appropriate Federation Council committees, as well from the Legal Department of the Executive Office of the Federation Council regarding draft laws adopted by the Parliament of the Union State, the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Eurasian Economic Community, model legislative acts adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as drafts of these acts (as per Federation Council Resolutions No. 308-SF dated 6 October 2006 and No. 568-SF dated 27 December 2011);

p) represents the Federation Council in its relations with federal and regional government bodies, local government authorities, civic associations, as well as parliaments of other countries, international organisations, foreign state officials and public figures;

q) takes part in conciliation procedures used by the President of the Russian Federation as per Article 85, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation to overcome disagreements between federal and regional government bodies of the Russian Federation, as well as between constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

r) coordinates the organisation of parliamentary hearings, roundtable discussions and other events hosted by the Federation Council;

s) approves visiting hours by members of Federation Council committees, and sends for review to other Federation Council officials individual and collective petitions received by the Federation Council (as per Federation Council Resolutions No. 25-SF dated 12 February 2003 and No. 568-SF dated 27 December, 2011);

t) resolves other matters related to the operation of the Federation Council as per these Rules of Procedure and other regulations;

u) exercises overall authority over the Executive Office of the Federation Council and oversees its activities (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 79-SF dated 26 March 2003);

v) approves the Executive Office of the Federation Council structure in coordination with the House Council;

w) approves the number of the Executive Office of the Federation Council (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 254-SF dated 29 May 2002);

x) with the agreement of the House Council, appoints and dismisses the General Secretary of the Federation Council (hereinafter the Federation Council General Secretary), as well as appoints and dismisses, upon the recommendations of the Federation Council General Secretary, first deputies (first deputy), deputies of the Federation Council General Secretary, as well as other staff members of the Executive Office of the Federation Council as per the Staff Regulations of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation;

x1) signs the certificate to the badge of honour of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation “For Contributions to Developing Parliamentarism” (Paragraph x1 was added as per Federation Council Resolution No. 152-SF);

y) signs and bestows the Certificate of Honour of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation;

z) as per the decision of the House Council, signs and submits to the President of the Russian Federation nominations for state awards for Federation Council members and members of the Executive Office of the Federation Council;

aa) signs and sends invitations on behalf of the Federation Council to members of the Government of the Russian Federation and other persons in the manner set forth in Article 77 of these Rules of Procedure;

ab) directs the planning of the Federation Council’s activities;

ac) signs the power of attorney of a Federation Council representative to take part in the proceedings in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation;

ad) submits for consideration by the Federation Council recommendations on candidates from among Federation Council members for appointment as Federation Council authorised representatives (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 530-SF dated 19 November 2014);

ae) approves the records management guidelines for the Federation Council and policy regarding citizen petitions filed with the Federation Council (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 20-SF dated 9 February 2005);

af) issues instructions to Federation Council committees (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 38-SF dated 22 February 2012).

ag) issues instructions to other Federation Council officials (as per Federation Council Resolution No. 79-SF dated 26 March 2003).

2. The Speaker of the Federation Council issues directives and instructions on matters within his or her authority.

3. The Federation Council may cancel a directive issued by the Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (hereinafter directive of Federation Council Speaker) that contravenes the laws of the Russian Federation or these Rules of Procedure.

4. The Speaker of the Federation Council, or the First Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council acting on the Speaker’s instructions, reports to the Federation Council on the House’s activities and draft programme of its legislative work in the manner set forth by a Federation Council decision, as discussed during Federation Council sittings. The Federation Council may adopt resolutions following a debate (as per Federation Council Resolutions No. 152-SF dated 26 May 2004 and No. 305-SF dated 19 September 2008).

5. The Speaker of the Federation Council approves, subject to preliminary coordination with the House Council, rules for allocating inter-budgetary transfers from the federal budget to the budgets of the constituent entities (regions) of the Russian Federation in order to offset expenses related to financing activities of Federation Council members and their aides in the regions of the Russian Federation, and rules regarding the allocations of subsidies from the federal budget to provide state support to media outlets established by the Federation Council, as per the submission to the House Council by the Federation Council Committee on House Rules and Parliamentary Governance (as per Federation Council Resolutions No. 223-SF dated 18 June 2008 and No. 568-SF dated 27 December 2011);

6. The Speaker of the Federation Council approves standards for financial, material, technical and other provisions for Federation Council members, as duly agreed with the Federation Council Committee on House Rules and Parliamentary Governance.

(Part 6 was introduced as per Federation Council Resolution No. 223-SF dated 18 June 2008; as per Federation Council Resolution No. 568-SF dated 27 December 2011).