Vladimir Gruzdev

Education and military service

Vladimir Gruzdev was born on February 6, 1967, in the village of Bolshevo, Moscow region. In 1984 he graduated from the Moscow Suvorov Military School and entered the Military Red Banner Institute.

While studying at the Military Red Banner Institute, Vladimir Gruzdev was sent to work as a military Interpreter in Angola and Mozambique. In 1989, for the courage shown in fulfilling his military duty, he was awarded the Medal "For Battle Merit", the diploma of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR "Warrior-Internationalist".

In 1991 he graduated with honors from the Military Red Banner Institute as an interpreter-referent in Portuguese and English. In addition to these two languages, he speaks Spanish.

From 1991 to 1993 he served in the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Later, in 2000, he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University, majoring in Legal studies.

Entrepreneurship

In 1993, after making the decision to resign from the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, he decided to engage in entrepreneurship. As Deputy General Director, he gained experience working with retail chain stores in the "OLBI-Diplomat" company.

This year Vladimir also has attracted investments. Together with his partners he established the trading company "The Seventh Continent", where he worked at executive positions from 1994 to 2001. In 1994-1996, Gruzdev was Chairman of the Board of Directors, in 1996-1997 — First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, and in 1997 — Chairman.

In 2007, Gruzdev sold his stake in "The Seventh Continent" to partner Alexander Zanadvorov for about $1 billion, explaining that political career was the priority for him.

In 2005 he entered the Russian rating of Forbes magazine with net worth of 0.34 billion dollars (89th place) for the first time. In 2014, his fortune reached a peak of $1.3 billion, which allowed Gruzdev to take 79th place in the ranking. As of 2021, he occupied the 133rd place in the Russian rating of Forbes magazine with a fortune of 0.9 billion dollars.

Father, Sergei Gruzdev, is a professional military officer, mother, Nelly Gruzdev is a teacher of chemistry and biology in high school.

Wife - Olga Gruzdeva. Four children: daughters Arina and Maria, sons Grigory and Leonid.

Political activity

Moscow City Duma

In 2001, Vladimir Gruzdev won the election to the Moscow City Duma in the 27th district, gaining 53.17% of the vote.

During the period of work in the city parliament, he managed the working group on the personnel policy of the courts of Moscow. He was a member of several commissions of the Duma: budget and financial, legislative and security, entrepreneurship, education, as well as a joint commission of the Moscow City Duma and the Moscow Government on the regulatory basis of land and property relations.

The State Duma

In December 2003, Vladimir Gruzdev was elected a deputy of the State Duma of the IV convocation for the Chertanovo single-mandate constituency, having received at the elections 149,069 (53.3%) votes.

Gruzdev was a member of the Presidium of the Moscow city regional branch of the party "United Russia" and a member of the bureau of the Supreme Council of the party till 2016.

In December 2007 he was elected to the 5th State Duma from Moscow. He was the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation.

In September 2011, Vladimir Gruzdev was included number two (after Boris Gryzlov) into the list of candidates from "United Russia" in the Tula region. On December 4, 2011, elections to the 6th State Duma took place, as a result "United Russia" received 61% of the vote in the Tula region. Gruzdev refused the deputy's mandate.