Valentina Matvienko - the personality is very controversial. However, this is a person who has a strong character and since childhood is ready for big challenges. Valentina Ivanovna has extensive experience in the state apparatus. Today she is the Chairperson of the Federation Council, and behind her, no less, work as Governor of the northern capital of Russia, Deputy Prime Minister, Ambassador to Greece and Malta.
Childhood and youth
Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko - a native of the Ukrainian SSR. She was born in the city of Shepetovka on April 7, 1949. The maiden name of Valentina is Tyutina. Her father was a member of the hostilities and fought with Nazi Germany. He passed away when little Valya was in primary school. The mother of the girl was a dresser in a local theater. Valentina was not the only child in the family, she has older sisters - Zinaida and Lydia. Valya spent all her childhood in the Ukrainian city of Cherkasy.
Valentine was a very diligent student. All in the same Cherkasy, she graduated from high school with a silver medal, and then with a red diploma in her hands, a medical school.
After that, she left for higher education in Leningrad, where she became a student at the local chemical-pharmaceutical institute (now - SPHFU). The girl became a graduate of the university in 1972.
The beginning of a political career
According to Matvienko herself, she always wanted to become a famous scientist, rather than a politician. After all, even at the institute, the girl studied for one "five", with the exception of one single subject - philosophy. However, at a certain point she was at a crossroads: to study in graduate school or become an employee of the Komsomol district committee. After carefully considering all the options, she accepted the invitation from the district committee, and planned to return to graduate school in just a couple of years.
At the age of 36, Valentina Ivanovna graduated from the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU, and after 6 years passed courses at the Diplomatic Academy at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since then, Matvienko has connected her life with work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for seven years, starting her journey from ambassador to Malta (1991) and ending with ambassador to Greece (1998).
We can say that Valentina Ivanovna is a real polyglot. In addition to Russian, she can calmly speak four languages, such as: English, Ukrainian, Greek and German.
After productive work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 1998 Matvienko took the post of Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation. She worked as Deputy Prime Minister until 2003. After that, for less than a year, she became Plenipotentiary in the NWFD.
The first woman governor of St. Petersburg
In the fall of 2003, early elections for the post of head of the city took place in St. Petersburg. Matvienko managed to get into the second round and win in it by a margin of 40% from the competitor (also, by the way, women). Thus, she became the governor of the northern capital of Russia. She held the position of head of St. Petersburg for almost 8 years.
During the time that she was governor, considerable changes took place in St. Petersburg. In particular, Matvienko’s achievements are attributed, for example: the demolition of a dilapidated building of modern housing, the construction of leisure infrastructure, the solution of a number of transportation problems (expansion of the metro line, the emergence of a water taxi) and the attraction of many investors.
However, coupled with praise, there is always criticism. Matvienko was criticized for exactly the same reasons for which they were praised. Her love of construction turned into the fact that new-fashioned buildings, according to many, began to spoil the image of the cultural capital. As for the transport situation, by the end of Matvienko’s reign, the city was so full of transport that it got stuck in endless traffic jams. Neither the construction of the metro nor the availability of water transport solved the problem.
Further work
In August 2011, Valentina Ivanovna voluntarily resigned from her post. However, after only a month, she was elected Chairman of the Federation Council.
Matvienko has been chairing the upper house of parliament for over 7 years.
In the summer of 2018, Valentina Ivanovna approved the bill on raising the retirement age, painful and controversial for most Russians, declaring it necessary.
