March 2007 Issue

Prominent Russian Women

VALENTINA TERESHKOVA ‘The living legend’ In 1963 Valentina was the first woman astronaut to go in space. After this achievement, she graduated from the Aerospace Academy and defended her Doctorate in space engineering. She was the Chairman of the Soviet Women Committee. Until recently she headed the Russian Centre for International Cultural and Scientific Cooperation. She is still a leading expert and instructor at the Russian Space Centre, which is involved in the training of cosmonauts. In 1999 she was awarded the title ‘Woman of the XXth Century’, by the International Women Association.	ELEONORA MITROFANOVA A Doctor of Economics, specializing in International Relations and Law. Throughout her career she managed to realize her potential in many fields. She was a member of the Russian Duma (Parliament), worked as a Federal auditor and was entrusted to work as a Vice Director of the General Secretary of UNESCO. She also served at the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs as First Deputy Foreign Minister. Today she is the Head of the Russian Centre for International Scientific and Cultural Cooperation.
ELLA PAMFILOVA In the 1990’s she was delegated by her trade union to sit on the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Parliament) and since then she has been an active participant in the public and political life of the country. In 2000 she was the first woman to run for Presidency in Russia, ranking 7th out of 11 candidates. Afterwards, she focused her attention on NGOs. In 2002 she was appointed chairperson of the presidential human rights committee. Currently she chairs another two institutions: the All-Russia Union of Public Associations - ‘Civil Societies for the Children of Russia’ and the Presidium of the All-Russia Public Movement - ‘Civil Worth’. These positions empower her to speak out on a wide variety of issues affecting public well-being.	LYUDMILA VERBITSKAYA Professor of Philology. She is the Chairperson of the International Association of Russian Language Teachers. Since 1995 she is the Rector of St. Petersburg State University. Lyudmila has published over 200 books and articles on Russian phonetics, language syntax, and methods of teaching. She is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the International Higher Education Academy of Science, the Russian Academy of Humanities, and the International Academy of Informatics. She is Vice-President of the UNESCO Committee on Women's Education and Vice-Chairperson of the Council of Rectors of Russia. She has been the recipient of numerous awards at home and abroad. She has also received honorary doctorates from universities in China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the USA.
ALEXANDRA MARININA Russia's queen of pulp fiction. Barely five years since she began moonlighting from her job as a criminologist to write detective stories, she has emerged as the country's most widely read author. Her novels are sold in millions. Italian and French publishers have already released her first novels. Her fast-paced novels have dominated the Russian scene and have topped the bestsellers’ lists. "She is a national phenomenon and might be an international one soon", said her publisher Alek Novikov	IRINA KHAKAMADA In the early 1990s, she was among the first post-Soviet entrepreneurs. She founded the first Russian Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange, where she sat on the board of directors and served as chief expert. She ran for the Presidency in 2004 and was placed fourth, receiving 3.84% of the vote. Later she set up the Institute of Entrepreneurship, which she headed for a long time. In 2004 she founded ‘The Free Russia Democratic Party’.
AIDAN SALAKHOVA Aidan happens to be a most popular initiator of art galleries in Russia today. Being driven by the desire to exhibit the works of her fellow students as well as her own, she started her private Art Gallery immediately after graduating from the Sourikov Art Academy. Since then her Gallery has won world acclaim. Her main objective is finding the right owner for a good work of art. She believes that paintings are meant to contribute to human education and spiritual development and are never meant to serve only for decorative purposes.	VERONICA BOROVIK-KHILCHEVSKAYA Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Top Secret’ media holding, comprising a number of top- selling newspapers and magazines. In 2003 the expert council of the Russian Council of Patriarchs, Patriarchia, awarded Veronika the title of ‘Personality of the Year’ for her adherence to the journalistic traditions and support to independent journalism in Russia. In 2006 she was honoured ‘For Supporting the International Events of Moscow’, She is now acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in the mass media.
OLGA SVIBLOVA A psychologist by education, Olga has become one of the most successful promoters of the photographic art: she seeks to put back the artistic and social value of photography in today’s perception. Olga is the founder and director of ‘The Russian House of Photography’. This body organizes festivals to facilitate access to the general public, both at home and abroad, to precious archives of prominent Russian photographic art. Olga is the winner of the Cannes Film Festival for her documentary about the Russian Avant-Garde. In 2006 she received the title of the ‘Diamond Lady’, awarded to the most successful woman of Russia.	OLGA PLESHAKOVA Is a PhD in the Technical Sciences. She has been holding the post of Director General of Russia’s largest private air company since 2001. Under her guidance, Transaero Airlines has improved its performance fivefold and has became one of the leaders in Russian commercial aviation. Olga was awarded the Order for Valour and Honour for the Patronage of the Arts. She has also won the Russian National Olympus Best Manager contest in 2005 and the Olympia National Contest in Flawless Business Reputation.
VALENTINA MATVIENKO Many Maltese still remember Valentina when serving as Russian Ambassador to Malta at the beginning of the 1990’s. Since then she has achieved many high positions. Today she is the Mayor of Saint Petersburg, the second biggest city in Russia, with a population of over 5 million people. She has also served in the government as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the social sector. She believes that no economic development is possible without the equal participation of women in all spheres, and considers the realization of this principle as one of priority.	ANNA BELOVA Among prominent Russian women, Anna stands out. The steps of her career coincide with the milestones of the economic development of Russia today. Being an excellent top manager she has administered the restructuring of Russia’s major industries one after the other: the Russian telecom systems and the Russian atomic energy industry. Presently she is the deputy minister for the railways. Her responsibility is now to rejuvenate the world’s longest rail system. Her effort has so far been very successful. In 2006 international experts have acknowledged that the reform in the railway system of Russia has been the most efficient European reform in 3 years.

MESSAGE BY MR KOITIRO MATSUURA, DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNESCO,
ON THE OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY