Matveev, Mikhail Nikolaevich

Mikhail Nikolaevich Matveev was born on May 13, 1968 in Dnepropetrovsk , in the family of the university intelligentsia. In 1972, the Matveyev family moved to the city of Kuibyshev , where, after the university was opened, his father Nikolay Mikhailovich Matveev became the head of the Department of Botany.

In 1985 he graduated from school No. 41 of the city of Kuibyshev and entered the Kuibyshev State University at the Department of History, but at the end of the first year he was drafted into the Armed Forces of the USSR. He served in the Red Banner Black Sea Fleet with the rank of sailor; in 1988 he continued his studies at the university and in 1992 received a diploma of historian with honors.

After university, Mikhail Matveev entered the graduate school of Samara State University and in 1995 defended his thesis on the history of Zemsky self-government of Russia ( "Zemstvo of the Volga in 1917-1918." ). In 2007, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Saratov State University ( “Power and Society in the System of Local Self-Government of Russia in 1977-2003” ), receiving a doctorate in historical sciences.

A. N. Solzhenitsyn ^[1] liked the candidate dissertation of M. N. Matveev on zemstvo, with whom the young Samara scientist met in 1995 and maintained relations until the writer’s death. On the recommendation of A. I. Solzhenitsyn ^{[2], the} journal version of the dissertation was published in 1997 by Sergei Zalygin in the journal New World under the title Drama of the Volga Zemstvo .

In 2010, he received his second higher education, graduating with honors from the Law Faculty of the Eastern Economics and Law Academy for the Humanities (VEGU, Samara Branch). The author of more than 50 scientific papers and three monographs in the field of the history of local self-government of Russia and municipal law. He is a professor at the Department of History of State and Law of the SGOA (N) .

Scientific Views

In his studies, he devotes the greatest attention to the study of the work of local governments during crises (1917-1918, 1991-1993, etc.). Proceeding from this, it determines the special nature of local self-government as a conductor and, during crises, a “resonator” of public moods in power on the one hand, and an executor and conductor of political decisions of local authorities on the other hand ^[3] . The dual nature of LSG bodies is objectively related to the fact that this is the level of power closest to the population; it also makes them a “battlefield” during political crises, giving LSGs additional vulnerability. In his works on local self-government, he proves a direct dependence of its viability and crises of the local self-government system (zemstvos, Soviets, modern LSG bodies) on the degree of political involvement of LSG bodies and the penetration of partisanship in them. Contrasts the economic nature of LSGs with the political nature of state power.

Proceeding from this, it defines the principles of self-government, self-financing, as well as apoliticality and a democratic way of formation (for zemstvos - omnosophy) as the basis for the viability of LSG bodies, in which the population votes directly for “personality” and not for the party ^[4] . It proves that the Zemstvos in 1918 and the local Soviets of People's Deputies in 1993 were artificially liquidated due to their political involvement due to being drawn into the confrontation, and not because of their own non-viability.

The stages of reforming local government in Russia are associated with national trends in centralization or decentralization. The low efficiency of local government in Russia is associated with the alienation of power from society and the lack of real rights and mechanisms of government responsibility and direct participation in the local government.

He believes that local self-government in Russia has a "paradoxical legislative basis", which determines the problems of its development, laid down in the contradiction between its constitutional basis and the basic law of Federal Law No. 131 "On general principles of the organization of local self-government", since, according to Matveyev, in the Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993, the Anglo-Saxon model was laid down, according to which local self-government, within its powers, independently and has a certain autonomy, in which LSG bodies are not included in the system of state bodies Asti (Article 12) provides an independent decision by the population on issues of local importance, etc., and the basic federal law on local self-government and the practice of its implementation actually “decipher” the model of Russian local self-government as “continental”, which is characterized by an understanding of local self-government not as autonomous self-government, but as the lower level of the state vertical of power, which in Russia is still aggravated by “Soviet administrative command habits” ^[5] . Proceeding from this, he believes that local self-government in Russia is to a greater extent not a public institution, but rather a lower-level power formed by the state.

Along with works on the history of local self-government of Russia in the 19th — 20th centuries He studied the Constituent Assembly in Russia in 1917-1918, the Civil War and the activities of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly ( KOMUCH ) ^[6] , the KOMUCH People’s Army and General Kappel in 1918 ^[7] , the protest movement of the perestroika period 1985-1993, the activities of the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP) ^[8] , the work of authorities in the field of interethnic relations, the historical and philosophical views of Leo Tolstoy , as well as a number of other topics.

He gave public lectures ^[8] .

Conducts local history work and activities to protect the monuments of history and culture of Samara. He is the initiator of the creation in 2007 under the Government of the Samara Region of a working group to study materials on setting the date of the founding of the city of Samara ^[9] , as well as the initiator of the postponement of the celebration of the day of the city of Samara from May to September ^[10] .

Jobs in Journalism and PR

While still a student, he graduated from the courses of the Faculty of Further Education with a degree in journalism, regularly wrote notes in the university multi-circulation University Life, collaborated with a number of Samara newspapers (Volzhsky Komsomolets, Samara Izvestia) as a freelance employee. In his last year, he began working as a reporter from the first issue of the opening Samarskaya Gazeta , whose former editor Sergey Ryazanov, Matveyeva, was appointed as the editor-in-chief. Upon graduation from the university, where the Soviet distribution system was still preserved, he was distributed in Samara Gazeta as a “correspondent of the historical chronicle,” and actually worked as a reporter for the news department (1991-1992).

In 1992, along with journalistic work, he began to collaborate, and then completely transferred to the advertising business, becoming the director of advertising and marketing for one of the first Samara private companies, PSG (Pushkin, Stolyarov, Garanin), where he worked until the end of 1995 years, overseeing at different periods advertising up to 10 different areas of the companies included in the holding (trade in clothing, perfumes, alcohol, sports goods, auto parts, securities, real estate, etc.), acting as a developer of creative ideas and advertising, as well as an organizer R advertising campaigns. He was the first advertising manager for promoting brands such as Remy Martin, Finlandia, Reebok, Puma, Diesel, Oriflame, etc., in the Samara market in the early 90s.

In the same year, he founded one of the first Triangle advertising agencies in Samara with friends (he left the founders in 2002, the agency lasted until 2007), as well as the Samara-rating PR agency.

Repeatedly became the author of original mock-ups of advertisements, logos, video plots, etc., the winner of various nominations in Samara advertising competitions, having gained fame in the mid-90s as a specialist in creative development of advertising and a PR manager . As an advertising developer, he often signed his work with the comic trademark “MatveEv Pictures” invented by him (later it was registered as a trademark of the Triangle advertising agency). He is the author and developer of a number of later known Samara brands Empire Center, Park House, lemonade Kapel, Hippopotamus, Samara Review, etc.

In 1996, he became one of the founders and founders of the popular weekly weekly Samara Review , where he worked until 2000, as deputy editor-in-chief and director of the advertising service. In 1999, he was one of the founders of the Samarsky Courier newspaper, whose editor was until 2003, and also participated in a number of other publishing projects (Office Courier magazine (editor-in-chief), etc.)

Since the mid-1990s, he began to develop political advertising, combining work in journalism and PR.

In 1996-2003 he was known as a successful PR consultant and political strategist who took part in a number of projects and election campaigns in various regions of Russia ^{[11] [12]}

In the early 2000s, after the start of independent political activity, he left the "profession" of a political strategist, refusing to work as a specialist in other people's election campaigns and doing his own.

In an interview, he explained his departure from the political technology business by saying that “in the process of making political money, I realized that ethical motives increasingly prevailed in my work, and began to refuse orders. What a professional should not have ” ^[13] .

“Most people ... in political technology, don't care. They were hired, and they are doing their job, their candidate must win and the opponent lose. Point. Which way is not important. Since, doing political PR, in the texts of programs, speeches that I wrote ... I expressed my real thoughts ... and the candidates were increasingly bastards, they themselves did not believe in what I said with my words and were not going to fulfill anything promised, I’m all more often began to experience discomfort from the profession. ... And I decided that my hands should not rake in the heat, try to implement my own program already run-in at the elections of others, on my own. Thus, in politics, I moved from the category of people who earn money in the elections to the category of those who spend ”

- Interview 63.ru

Meanwhile, opponents of Matveev have repeatedly noted in his own election campaigns a lot of political and technological moves ^[14] , while he knows how to “PR for everything that is possible and impossible” ^[15] .

As the editor of the newspaper Samara Courier, he first participated in the elections, registering as a candidate for deputy of the Samara City Duma (October District) in 2000. In fact, the campaign as a candidate did not lead, while simultaneously participating as a political technologist in the campaign headquarters of the candidate for governor of the Samara region Viktor Tarkhov (the elections of the City Duma and the governor were combined). Took third place with 13% of the vote.

In 2001, he participated in the elections of the Samara Provincial Duma of the third convocation in the Oktyabrsky constituency No. 4. He took third place with 21% of the vote (the first was the current deputy Sivirkin (he will lose the election to Matveeva in 2007), the second is the chairman of the Nikologorsky city election commission who participated in the elections). After gaining some fame and even taking first place in a number of sectors, he decided to focus on socio-political activities, moving away from journalism and leaving the post of editor of the Samara Courier (remaining one of the founders of the publication).

Another outcome of the 2001 campaign was the formulation by Matveyev of his own political principles and the development of a thorough electoral program of "people's self-government", which the politician subsequently improved and upheld and which became an integral part of his political positioning. The program was highly appreciated by A. I. Solzhenitsyn , which was subsequently repeatedly used with a different mark of appreciation by both Matveev’s supporters and his opponents.

“Your program is clear, sober and especially significant sections of public education, medical services, local government, the national question. And the sections on family, spirituality, and morality surely caused alarming concern. A lot of breaking rolled our people XX century and the last decade. The initiative and the desire for a better life are broken very much, but not completely. Do not drop the spirit! "

- Letter to A. I. Solzhenitsyn M.N. Matveev dated January 18, 2002 ^{[16] [17]}

In 2002, Matveev began work on the creation of a public organization in Samara (the "Union of People's Self-Government") and the formulation of his own political views, while returning to scientific research in the field of local self-government, which after some time will result in work on a doctoral dissertation.

He himself does not refer to any political currents, emphasizing his own independence and non-partisanship ^[18] , in Samara he is considered a left-wing politician, according to a number of statements he can be attributed to the Social Democrats with some influence of national-democratic views.

He interacted with the Communists (including participated in the May Day demonstrations of the left and spoke at rallies ^[19] ) by Just Russia, Yabloko, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the monarchists. A number of opponents pointed to his open interaction with nationalists ^[20] , including demonstrative participation in Russian marches in Samara in 2009-2014 ^[21] , including one of the organizers ^[22] . The politician’s blog posted articles and comments on the national issue, migration issues, etc. As a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Samara Region, Matveev influenced the adoption of documents relating to the regional migration policy, adjusting them to protect the rights of indigenous citizens of Russia ^[23] , as well as He initiated and co-authored a number of bills, in particular, a federal bill requiring all foreigners arriving in Russia to have a health insurance policy ^[24] .

At the same time, Matveev has repeatedly stated that he does not accept radicals and extremism on any side, in particular, the politician is aware of the fact that the politician initiated a criminal case to distribute anti-Semitic leaflets, allegedly distributed on his behalf, brought to court during the election ^{[25] [26]} , as well as critics of anti-Muslim provocations ^[27] .

It was stipulated that nationality is less important than religion, saying that for him personally, nationality cannot affect attitudes toward people ^[28] , and calling the Russians “the Russian world” is not “by blood, but by spirit”.

He supported the idea of ​​erecting a monument in Samara to the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga John (Snychev) by the sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov ^[29] . Polemating with representatives of the radical liberal public in Samara, who opposed the installation of a monument to “an ardent supporter of autocracy, a hater of democracy and a consistent anti-Semite” ^[30] , he took part in video debates with liberal publicist Sergei Leibgrad . Speaking about the erection of a monument to Metropolitan John, he emphasized that all groups - believers, and unbelievers, and liberals, and patriots, regardless of national, religious or political origin, have the right to their beliefs, symbols, and monuments ^[31] .

According to the ex-deputy of the Samara City Council, Vladimir Semenov, Matveyev is a “spontaneous Marxist” who, “by virtue of prejudices or beliefs” because of his rejection of the “Bolshevik practice” of Marxism in Russia, does not recognize or does not recognize it ^[32] .

An opinion about the views is also provided by a questionnaire of 25 questions filled by Matveyev as a candidate for the Coordination Council of the Russian Opposition in 2012 (the so-called “political compass”) ^[33] , in response to which he spoke out for high customs duties to protect domestic producers, restriction of labor migration, preservation of free medicine and education, special relations with the countries of the former USSR, redistribution of budgetary flows towards municipalities and regions, free right to carry firearms, fixed e in the Constitution the special status of Russian as the titular nation, the revision of privatization results, preservation of state participation in the economy, including state-owned corporations, the introduction of criminal responsibility for offending religious feelings and mandatory jury trial in criminal cases, preserving the accumulative part of pensions. He opposed the parliamentary republic as the most suitable system for Russia, the formation of the army exclusively on a contract basis, a flat income tax, a unified state exam (USE) ^[34] .

At the end of 2017, he joined the Communist Party of the Russian Federation ^[35] . He explained his decision with the desire "to strengthen the party and turn it in the region into an influential political force and an instrument for solving the tasks that our many supporters pose before us." However, despite experts' assumptions that “joining the party makes him the number one candidate for the post of first secretary of the Samara regional committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation”, the politician very quickly faced with a noticeable opposition to his promotion within the party both from the party bureaucracy and from business structures and authorities with interests and influence on internal processes in the party, who tried to challenge his leadership by blocking the receipt of any status in the regional party branch. As a result, Matveev did not take any posts in the regional branch, remaining an ordinary member of the party. ^[36]

Participation in the State Duma elections in 2003 and the organization of the Samara regional branch of the Rodina movement (party) (Sergey Glazyev)

In 2003, Mikhail Matveev participated in the election of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in the Samara constituency No. 153 as an independent candidate (having registered by voter signatures). He took 4th place, gaining about 7% (14 thousand) of the vote and outstripping including the representative of the Rodina bloc Sherstnev. Shortly after the election, in early 2004, Matveev met in Moscow with Sergei Glazyev (according to some information - from the submission of Albert Makashov ) ^[37] .

After the meeting, the Union of People's Self-Government, headed by Matveev, joined the collection of signatures in support of the nomination of Sergey Glazyev as a candidate for the President of the Russian Federation. In February 2004, Matveev was appointed the confidant of the presidential candidate Sergei Glazyev for the Samara region and the head of his campaign headquarters in the region. Matveev also received the authority to coordinate the creation of a regional branch of the "Motherland" (the All-Russian movement) and even held its constituent assembly ^{[38] [39]} .

However, due to the beginning of a struggle between supporters of Sergey Glazyev and Dmitry Rogozin for leading the re-division of the party being created, which also actively involved the people of Samara Mayor Georgy Limansky and the disorganization and dual power that followed in the work of the Samara election headquarters Sergey Glazyev (coordinated with Pavel Matveev Glazyev also entrusted Sergey Terentyev, deputy head of the Samara Industrial District administration) ^[40] , Matveev soon resigned as head of staff and resigned from “tug of war” around the re-division of the “Motherland” ^[41] . Nevertheless, during his visit to Samara in March 2004, Glazyev continued to call Matveyev one of his “coordinators” in the region, but he actually retired. Matveyev later stated that he considered it a mistake and premature for Glazyev to participate in the presidential elections in 2004 and the ensuing split between Glazyev and Rogozin and the problems that began at Rodina. In subsequent events around the regional branch of the "Homeland" in the Samara region did not participate.

Union of Popular Self-Government (Mikhail Matveev Block)

In 2003, he created in Samara the city ​​public organization for the development of self-government and the protection of the rights of the population, the Samara Union of People’s Self-Government (in 2008, it reorganized into the Samara regional public movement “The Union of People’s Self-Government - Mikhail Matveev’s Bloc”), which aims to propagate the ideas of the Zemstvo and national self-government. The movement gained fame ^[42] . After a series of high-profile actions against the compacted buildings in Samara, which ended in the victory of the residents, as well as legal assistance to the population in the housing sector and the distribution of various educational and legal literature. The newspaper “Samara Courier” (published since 1999), which since 2001 has ceased to appear as a periodical, but has maintained a certain regularity, became the organ of the press of the Union of People’s Self-Government ^{[43] [44]} .

A. I. Solzhenitsyn, in a letter dated October 15, 2004, expressed his admiration to M.N. Matveev for his struggle for the principles of popular self-government ^{[16] [45]} .

Since 2006, a public organization began to acquire an increasingly political character, associated with the permanent campaign headquarters of Mikhail Matveev, which led to the transformation in 2007 into a form of social movement and the addition of the words “ Mikhail Matveev Block ” to the name ^[46] . In the manifesto of the movement it was stated:

“The movement is carried out on a non-partisan basis. We believe that the level of local self-government needs direct representatives of the population of urban districts responsible to it. Therefore, we strive to unite the urban community around individuals and programs, on a public, rather than a party basis. ”

- Manifesto of the Bloc of Mikhail Matveev

It was announced that the movement as a block of candidates will take part in the elections of deputies of the Samara City Duma in 2009. However, the change in the electoral legislation did not allow BMM to nominate lists, and participation in the elections of the City Duma (postponed to 2010) took place in the form of self-nominations of the participants in the movement.

In the elections of the Samara City Council in 2010, 10 candidates were nominated under the “Mikhail Matveev Bloc” brand, 9 of them were also removed from the elections during mass withdrawals by the electoral commission under various pretexts, but one, Maxim Fedorov , was not removed and was ultimately elected as a deputy ^[47] . In the fifth convocation Samara City Council, United Russia won 29 out of 35 seats, Fair Russia won 5 seats (subsequently everyone left the party, the faction was not created ^[48] “Mikhail Matveev’s Bloc” alone, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Communist Party did not hold any candidates) ^[49] .

Samara City Council

In 2004, he was elected to the Samara City Council of the 4th convocation in the single-mandate constituency No. 8 of the Oktyabrsky District, gaining about 60% of the vote. He was chairman of the Duma Control Committee. Known for the fact that the only one of the deputies ^[50] in 2005 refused to vote for the abolition of the popular election of the mayor of the city. Elections by the Duma were canceled, but six months later, deputies under pressure from public opinion were forced to cancel their own decision and return the popular election of the mayor.

In 2005, he became the author of an alternative Statute of the city of Samara , fixing the accountability of officials and the mayor to the population of the city and other democratic provisions ^[51] , which received some resonance, but was not adopted ^[52] .

In the same year, Matveev initiated the transfer of the celebration of Samara City Day from May to September, as it was before the 1917 revolution ^[53] . The proposal was discussed with the governor of the Samara region, but was not implemented ^[54] . Only in 2012, when Matveev was a deputy of the provincial Duma, the date of the celebration of City Day was changed ^[53] .

In 2006, Matveev expressed the idea of ​​erecting a monument in Samara to the hero of the Soviet film “The White Sun of the Desert ”, Red Army Sukhov ^[54] , which was also embodied in 2012 ^[55] .

Samara Mayor Election

For the elections to the mayor of Samara in 2006, he passed as an independent candidate. During the election, he was one of the three leaders and positioned himself as a “third force”, opinion polls showed the candidate a high rating ^[56] , being considered one of the favorites of the election campaign ^[57] . On the eve of election day, the city election commission initiated the removal of the candidate, however, the Leninsky district court did not have time to make a decision within the deadlines set by law, and Matveev remained among the candidates ^[58] .

He took 4th place out of 17 candidates, gaining 13.8% (about 50 thousand votes).

During the second round, he refused to support any of the candidates ^[59] (Georgy Limansky and Viktor Tarkhov), proposing to the RIO television channel on October 11, 2006, both candidates to implement his program ^[60] , but agreed to meet with the governor of the Samara region Konstantin Titov, passing him the electoral orders collected during the elections. This fact was widely disseminated by Limansky’s headquarters as evidence that Mikhail Matveev allegedly supported his candidacy, which forced Matveev to give a special rebuttal on Terra TV on the evening of October 20, 2006 ^[61] .

Samara Provincial Duma of the 4th convocation

In 2007, he was elected as a deputy of the Samara Provincial Duma in the single-mandate constituency No. 4 of the Oktyabrsky district, deputy chairman of the committee on local self-government of the Duma. He is the author of the law “On Counteracting Alcoholization of the Population of the Samara Region” adopted in 2011, which prohibited the sale of alcohol in the Samara Region at night, and a number of other social bills. One of the authors of the amendments to the Charter of the Samara region.

In 2007-2011, he repeatedly stood at the head of ^[62] various public and protest actions, including against the point building of the square on ul. Osipenko and the construction of the building of the Arbitration Court in the green zone ^[63] , rallies of fans of the Krylya Sovetov football club (he was the host of the rally on Slavy Square 01/24/2010) ^[64] against the bankruptcy of the club, defrauded real estate investors, for Samara time (against the transfer region in the Moscow time zone) ^[65] , the movement of fishermen against the introduction of paid fishing ^[66] .

In 2007, as part of the delegation of the Samara region, as an independent deputy, he participated in Tver in the congress of initiative groups of the “For Putin” movement. Having come to the rostrum, he severely criticized United Russia and called mistakes the monetization of benefits and the abolition of single-mandate constituencies for elections to the State Duma, etc., which caused confusion in the hall and unexpected applause ^[67] .

In 2010, he joined the Communist Party faction in the Duma, which observers associated with the approaching regular elections of the mayor of Samara and the desire to insure themselves against withdrawal. At the same time, in a statement on joining the faction, Matveyev indicated: “in the event of a discrepancy between his own election program and party installations, as a non-partisan deputy I reserve the right to a separate opinion” ^[68] , which caused ^{[69] a} vote against among several members of the Communist Party (Musatkin, Gontar), whose votes, however, were not enough to deny politics the inclusion in the faction.

Samara mayoral election in 2010

Long before the mayoral election in Samara in 2010 was named as one of the most likely participants ^[70] . However, after Dmitry Medvedev introduced a series of amendments to the election legislation, which significantly complicated the registration of non-partisan candidates.

In this situation, Matveev, previously known for his principled non-partisanship, without joining the party, six months before the election joins the Communist Party faction in the Samara Provincial Duma. Then, against the backdrop of the rapidly losing popularity of his rival in the last election, mayor Viktor Tarkhov , sociologists ^[71] in Samara begin to perceive as one of the possible candidates for victories, ahead of, according to opinion polls, on the eve of the start of the election of the current mayor in his rating ^[72] . Local analysts did not exclude ^[73] that it was Matveev’s reinforcement that led United Russia and regional authorities to understand the need to replace the official candidate from the party, the speaker of the Samara Provincial Duma, 63-year-old Viktor Sazonov, with a younger candidate - the 40-year-old minister of ecology and natural resources of the regional government, ex-vice mayor of Samara Dmitry Azarov ^[74] . However, even after this castling, Matveev continued to be considered one of the three main candidates along with Azarov and Tarkhov, in fact repeating the scenario of the 2006 elections, where he was also a “third force” ^[75] .

However, the Communists did not nominate Matveev as a candidate due to the fact that at the regional conference of communists none of the nominated candidates, including non-partisan Matveyev, won the majority of votes ^[76] .

Matveev advanced as a self-nominated candidate. However, he was refused registration. Among the reasons for the refusal to the candidates, the election commission called not only “violation of the form of the signature sheet”, which led to the invalidation of all 100% of the 22 thousand signatures collected by the candidate, but also a number of others, for example, the invalidity of passports due to the presence of FMS marks on cancellation earlier issued foreign passports ^[77] . The grounds for refusal in court were recognized as legal ^[78] .

Elections of the Samara Provincial Duma of the 5th convocation on December 4, 2011

On December 4, 2011, he won by a wide margin the election of deputies of the Samara Provincial Duma in his single-member constituency, having been re-elected for a second term. He was nominated for election by the Communist Party. At a certain stage, it was expected that Matveyev could even lead the list of the Communist Party in the elections of the Samara Provincial Duma in the Samara Region, as well as enter the top three regional list of the Communist Party in the elections to the State Duma ^[79] . For this reason, Matveev’s nomination from the Communist Party was preceded by numerous attempts by the Samara authorities to influence the party so that the politician’s nomination from the Communist Party did not take place at all, since according to sociologists, Matveyev’s rating and fame exceeded the fame of any of the Communist Party’s functionaries in the region ^[80] and the involvement of the Communists as The “locomotive” of a popular non-partisan politician could break the scheme built by the government and its political technologists and give the Communists an “unnecessary” increase in votes. The non-nomination of the politician from the parliamentary party made the registration of the candidate dependent on the collection of signatures, the mechanism for the refusal of registration for which had already been worked out in relation to Matveev in the mayoral election in 2010.

Despite the electoral appeal, the Communists did not include Matveev in the regionwide part of the list (the so-called “five”) of candidates to the Samara Provincial Duma and the list of their candidates to the State Duma. According to some information, this was partly a result of agreements reached with the authorities and the Communists' reluctance to openly conflict with the regional leadership, and partly a consequence of the internal struggle within the party’s leadership for “passing” places on the list and the “sale” of a number of them to sponsors. As a result, one of the "vacant" places in the "five" of the Communist Party’s regional list in Gubdum was also taken by 76-year-old State Duma deputy Valentin Romanov , who is also No. 2 on the list in the State Duma, and the other is businessman Sergei Rakitin, who joined the Communist Party before the election, and before that was first in United Russia, and then Just Russia, and called sources one of the main "party sponsors" in this period ^[81] . The first three places on the list were taken by Matveev’s colleagues in the Gubdum, deputies: first secretary of the Communist Party regional committee Alexei Vladimirovich Leskin, secretary of the Communist Party Togliatti city committee Vitaly Minchuk and secretary of the regional committee Gumar Valitov (in parallel, Minchuk and Valitov ran for single-member districts where they lost).

Nevertheless, the regional Communist Party conference by a majority vote (46 against 21) supported Matveev’s nomination in the October single-mandate constituency, where he was the current deputy, in addition, a non-party politician topped the Communist Party’s list in this constituency ^[82] . As a result, according to the results of the 2011 elections, the Communist Party in the constituency received 17% more votes in comparison with the 2007 elections ^[83] , and Matveev himself bypassed the candidate from United Russia in the single-member Degtev constituency by more than 5 thousand votes. Also, a large entrepreneur Koshelev, who was walking around the okrug on the party list of United Russia, was called the main sponsor of the party in power and at the same time, an active "anti-Matveev campaign" in the okrug.

At the first meeting of the Samara Provincial Duma of the V convocation, he defiantly came in a black T-shirt with a portrait of Ernesto Che Guevara ^[84] .

In the Samara Provincial Duma of the V convocation, he retained the post of deputy chairman of the committee on local self-government, and also entered the committee on housing and communal services, fuel and energy complex and environmental protection ^[85] .

In 2013, M.N. Matveev initiated the construction of a boulevard on the dividing strip of ul. Novo-Sadovoy between st. Soviet Army and Eye Hospital. Eroshevsky in Samara, as well as the construction of the boulevard between Moskovsky highway and st. Malomoskovskaya ^[86] .

Participation in the actions of the opposition in 2011-2012.

December 10 and 24, 2011 was one of the organizers ^{[87] of} rallies in Samara against falsification of the results of regional and federal elections. He stated that, despite the victory in the elections, he was ready to lay down his mandate and go to new elections if the authorities agreed to demands for new free elections ^[88] .

For participation in the organization of a number of rallies and pickets in December 2011 - March 2012 and disobedience to the lawful requirements of the police to terminate them, he was brought to administrative responsibility in the form of fines, the decision on the imposition of which was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights ^[89] .

In January and February 2012, he initiated and held a meeting of the first Samara Civil Forum in Samara, in which about a hundred representatives of various political and civil forces, scientists, and creative intelligentsia discussed the situation in the country and possible alternatives for its development ^[90] (transcript meetings 01/28/2012 ^[91] , 02/25/2012) ^[92] . In subsequent years, several more meetings of the GFS took place.

In September 2012, on the proposal of the Voice Association, he was awarded the Defender of Free Elections medal in Moscow ^[93]

In the fall of 2012, he participated as a candidate on the civil list in the elections to the Coordination Council of the Russian Opposition . He was a member of the Regions, the Nationalists Bloc, the Real Affairs, and the Pact Majority Strategy blocs ^[94] .

He became the winner of an anonymous candidate essay competition, in the final of which the work of Mikhail Matveev “Development of local self-government is one of the main tasks of the new Russia” ^[95] took first place ^[96] .

In the summer of 2013, during the beginning of the criminal prosecution of Alexei Navalny and his campaign for mayoral election in Moscow, he generally reacted negatively to the liberal “lean” of the opposition movement, noting that it actually turns out that Navalny “and his moral sponsors” are working on the neo-liberal project “Perestroika -2 ".

Political Positions During the “Ukrainian Crisis” of 2013-2014

During the period of the Ukrainian crisis of 2013-2014 and the events on the Maidan and in the southeast of Ukraine, he supported the line for the actual reunification of the divided Russian nation and “historical Russia”, but was opposed to military methods of solving the problem. One of the first public politicians in the Samara region, even before the announcement of the Kremlin’s official position, spoke out in support of the desire of the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol to become part of Russia, making a corresponding statement to this effect at a plenary meeting of the Samara Provincial Duma on February 25, 2014 ^[97] . He was the organizer of a rally in Samara in support of the Crimea and Sevastopol and the author of his resolution, which called for giving Sevastopol the status of a separate subject of the Federation, refraining from giving Crimea any national-republican status, protecting the population of South-East of Ukraine, and also “changing the priorities of migration Russian policies involving migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus to resettle former Ukrainian citizens to Russia ” ^[98] .

He formulated his position in the article “Why Russia always gets its land back?”, Published in English on the politician’s blog and reprinted by many online publications ^[99] .

“Over the past thousand years, our people have been building the Russian state, and as a result have united in a vast space from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea and from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea and the Caucasus. (...) Crimea became part of Russia even before the United States The Constitution appeared, and Kiev is called the “mother of Russian cities” as the first capital of the Russian state from the 9th century, that is, 6 centuries before the discovery of America by Columbus. The territory of Ukraine is not the territory of a foreign country that was once annexed by Russia, this is Russia itself, its historical native Russian land, the cradle of the Russian people, for the history of Russia began more than 1000 years ago from here, from Kiev (...)

Now think - what is 23 years in the thousand-year history of Russia? (...) Why do you call the separatists of the rebels, those who want to unite the former state, which existed for centuries, but did not call the separatists those who tore off pieces of it 23 years ago? The processes that are now going around the return of territories seized from separatists by Russia are the restoration of a divided people, a divided Russian nation and Russia in its historical territories that have existed in our state for centuries. Russians do not annex anything from foreign countries. We return our. Browse through history books and open your eyes - this is Russian land for 300, 400, 500, 1000 years. And the separatists are overthrown and united with Greater Russia at the behest of the people, which was violated 23 years ago. This is democracy, this is a Russian association, do not bother him. "The Russians will not go beyond their historical borders, but no one can stop the natural desire of a divided nation to be together in one state." [ ^[99]

- "Why Russia always gets its land back?

Repeatedly raised the question in the Duma and various regional authorities on assistance to the South-East of Ukraine and the reception of refugees, as a result, in June 2014 he organized the collection and sending of humanitarian aid to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic, organizing the group “Russian Spring-Samara” ^{[100 ]} . He became the organizer of the rally on June 28, 2014 in Samara, demanding recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics from the Russian Federation and the provision of full assistance to them, held under the slogan “Putin! Do not hand over New Russia! ” ^[101]

He was the author of an appeal to the President of Russia on the recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, submitted by the Communist Party and LDPR factions to the Samara Provincial Duma in July 2014 (not accepted, 12 deputies voted, 32 against).

Elections of the governor of the Samara region in 2014 and the aggravation of political confrontation in the Samara region in 2015-2016

In June 2014, the governor of the Samara region N.I. Merkushkin (from 1995 to 2012 - the head of the Republic of Mordovia) resigned to run for early elections (he was appointed interim governor). At the end of June, the Samara regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation by a majority vote (92/16) nominated non-partisan Mikhail Matveev as a candidate for governor of the Samara region.

At a press conference held on July 3, 2014, Mikhail Matveev said that the main task of his participation was to uphold an alternative strategy for reforming local self-government in the region: unlike Governor Merkushkin, he considered it unacceptable to cancel the election of mayors and heads of districts and settlements and transfer local self-government to actual appointment by the governor ^[102] . In addition, Matveev stated that, understanding the impossibility of winning the election under conditions incompatible with the provisional governor of resources, he considers, nevertheless, the participation of “their own” (Samara) politicians in the elections to prove that they exist.

The features of the elections of the governor of the Samara region on September 14, 2014 were the active use of administrative resources for early voting (223 thousand people, or about 10% of the number of voters) and home voting (113 thousand people, or about 5% of voters), a large the number of invalid ballots, the manipulation of the number of voters in the precincts during the election day (it turned out to be 70 thousand less by the end of the day than at the beginning) and the absolute dominance over all the others during the election of the candidate (The airtime about candidate Merkushkin on Samara television channels reached 98% of all news about candidates ^[103] ). Even under such dominance, rival candidates and. Governors often limited the possibility of expressing their position within the framework of the airtime provided by law. So, Mikhail Matveev forbade the regional election committee to broadcast the video ^[104] , where the candidate disagreed with “Nikolai Ivanovich” on the reform of local self-government ^[105] . Since the financial and organizational support of candidate Matveev from the Communist Party was minimal (the candidate’s election fund amounted to only about 2 million rubles, of which 550 thousand rubles were election funds and 650 thousand rubles were the candidate’s own funds) ^{[ 106]} , the candidate concentrated his main efforts on the campaign in Samara and his own deputy constituency - the Oktyabrsky district of the city of Samara.

According to the results of voting in the elections of the governor of the Samara region, Matveev took the second place, collecting according to official figures about 4% of the vote (including about 7% in Samara and over 12% in his own deputy district) ^[107] . Nikolai Merkushkin received 91.35% of the vote ^[108] . This result by many, including sources in the "United Russia", was perceived as incredible and not consistent with its real rating ^[109] .

After Nikolai Merkushkin gained the status of governor, elected with a “record result” ^[110], his policy in the Samara region began to acquire openly authoritarian features ^[111] , which could not but lead to a conflict with public opinion and its other spokesmen. The governor’s first unpopular steps were to wind down local self-government and abolish the election of mayors of cities ^[112] (including Samara, one of the main candidates for the post of mayor of which Matveev ^[113] was traditionally considered), an association of leading Samara universities ^[114] , with the liquidation of the classical Samara state University , «Alma Mater» Matveeva, various mixed architectural governor of projects, including the construction of Close view of the Volga with a six-meter square of Glory memorial wall ^[115] provoked not only dissatisfaction with himself rtsev ^[116] , but also an active critic Mikhail Matveev. For his part, the governor N. I. Merkushkin several times publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the criticism of the deputy ^[117] .

Relations between the ex-candidate for the post of governor of the Samara region and the governor escalated significantly after a loud political scandal erupted in the region, when at the end of 2015 it became known that the Samara political strategist and blogger Dmitry Begun, who was detained for extortion, began to testify to the governor N. I. Merkushkin according to which the latter, for three years, financed “publications against politicians who interfered with this, both local and federal levels, for example, the first deputy head of the presidency of the dentist administration Vyacheslav Volodin , secretary of the presidium of the general council of United Russia Sergey Neverov, head of the Russian Technologies State Corporation Sergey Chemezov and others " ^[118] , after which" the testimony was brought to the attention of the country's leadership, and it was decided to check all other activities of the governor , especially economic, in connection with which a group of security officers from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee, and the FSB arrived in the region ” ^[119] . According to these testimonies, among the persons whose activities were discredited by the instructions of the Governor N. I. Merkushkin, there was also a deputy M. N. Matveev, in respect of whom it was allowed to carry out “any measures to discredit” ^[120] .

After the criminal case materials, previously only quoted in local and federal media, fell into the hands of Mikhail Matveev, the latter published them on his blog at the end of March 2016 ^[121] , which caused obvious indignation among the governor and N. I. Merkushkin himself, who stated that "The runner says that which was not there" ^[122] . A case against the governor was not initiated ^[123] , and on April 5, 2016, the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Samara Region in the framework of a criminal case on the disclosure of the materials of the preliminary investigation by MP M. Matveev in the apartment and in the office in Samarskaya Searches of the Provincial Duma ^[124] (video ^[125] ) were carried out, which caused serious public outcry and publications in local and federal mass media ^[126] , as well as accusations of the investigative committee of bias ^[127] , especially taking into account The fact that insignificant, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the crime under Art. 310 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ^{[128] was} taken up by the investigation team of the department for especially important cases, and Matveev himself could not be held accountable, since he was not a participant in the investigation and there were no signings about he did not disclose materials that fell into his hands ^[129] . Governor Merkushkin, commenting on the searches of his opponent, said that the publication of the materials of the criminal case, where he appears, was aimed at "spoiling the country's image", and that the deputy and his lawyer were searched, "they are to blame themselves " ^[130] . The Communist Party faction in the Samara Provincial Duma at a plenary meeting on April 7, 2016 issued a statement ^[131] protesting the actions of the UK against MP Mikhail Matveev, who “dared to publicize the egregious materials that featured Governor Merkushkin and appealed to the federal authorities demanding a thorough investigations ”, during the announcement of which the United Russia faction, together with members of the Government of the Samara Region, left the hall with a scandal ^[132] . On April 13, 2016, at a plenary meeting of the State Duma, a statement "United Russia and corruption" was made by deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party deputy V.F. Rashkin , who called searches of the Samara deputy of the Communist Party faction Mikhail Matveev instead of "a criminal case and investigation of the charges against the governor Merkushkin" “A campaign to evade the responsibility of an official of the upper echelon of power from the party in power” ^[133] .

Elections of the State Duma of 2016 and the Samara Provincial Duma of the VI convocation

On June 25, 2016, at the Congress of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, was he nominated as a candidate for deputy of the State Duma in the Samara single-mandate constituency No. 158 ^[134] ? and also entered the "troika" of the general regional list of the Communist Party in the elections to the Samara Provincial Duma. He won 22% of the vote in the State Duma elections (second place), but did not go to the federal parliament and was re-elected as a deputy of the Samara Provincial Duma of the VI convocation.

After the election, in the series of investigative films “How Voices Stolen in the Samara Region” ^{[135] [136] [137]} , made on the basis of the analysis of surveillance cameras from polling stations, convincingly showed how the elections were massively rigged in the interests of his rivals and party "United Russia", against him and the party "Communist Party". According to the results of the investigations of the deputy, which were resonant, the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Samara Region initiated several criminal cases on the fact of election fraud ^[138] , including one of the heads of the settlements, the person involved in the film “How the votes were stolen in elections in the Samara region. Rozhdestveno ” ^[136] , the head of the settlement of Rozhdestveno Volzhsky district of the Samara region Anatoly Kudiyarov, together with his subordinates, issued a confession, admitting to the mass election fraud ^[139] .

Activities during the Samara Provincial Duma of the VI convocation.

Pensioners rally and change of governor of Samara Region

Since the beginning of 2017, a protest movement began to form and grow in the Samara region, the main participants of which were pensioners. The start of the process was due to decisions of the Government of the region on the initiative of Governor N. I. Merkushkin, who reduced the amount of social assistance to pensioners, veterans, the disabled and several other socially unprotected citizens. The total reduction in social support for pensioners amounted to about 5 billion rubles, while the expenditure budget of the Samara region for 2017 was about 150.3 billion rubles ^[140] . A limit of 50 trips per month for travel by public transport was introduced, benefits for working pensioners, benefits in housing and communal services were replaced by smaller monetary compensations. These reductions in social support have affected about 1 million people.

Not wanting to engage in dialogue with the opposition and protesting retirees, the governor put himself in the position of head of the target for criticism. As a result, starting from February, one of the main slogans of protests in the region was the demand for the resignation of the governor. Since mid-February, the organization of the protest movement has actually shifted to the Communist Party, the main role in the coordination of which was played by deputy Mikhail Matveev. From January to April, five large rallies of pensioners took place in Samara, numbering from 1 to 5 thousand people. Three rallies in Togliatti exceeded the number of 1,000 people. Rallies took place in Novokuybyshevsk, Syzran and other cities of the region. On April 23, 2017, Mikhail Matveev held a demonstration in Samara (“a march to protect pensioners”) along one of the central streets of the city, Lenin Avenue, which brought together about 3 thousand participants. The demonstration was preceded by a decision of the Leninsky District Court, which recognized the refusal of the Samara Administration to coordinate the march unlawful. However, immediately after the demonstration, deputy organizer Mikhail Matveyev was detained by the police and spent 24 hours in the administrative detention cell in Samara police department No. 5, after which he was taken to the Oktyabrsky District Court, which awarded him a fine of 30 thousand rubles for “interfering with pedestrians” ^[141] . The detention of the politician caused a great resonance and, in general, negative responses to the authorities and, according to the St. Petersburg Politics Foundation, became one of the factors in the region’s rating decline ^[142] .

In June 2017, during a “direct line”, Russian President Vladimir Putin read out a question selected by him that the governor of the Samara region allegedly deprives federal veterans of their benefits, promising to deal with it ^[143] .

On September 25, 2017, the governor of the Samara region N.I. Merkushkin was dismissed. The appointed provisional governor of the Samara region D.I. Azarov on the air of the local television channel said that at the meeting prior to his appointment with President of Russia V.V. Putin, the head of state discussed with him "the current situation with protest activity in the region", as well as the issue of benefits Veterans ^[144] .

On September 26, 2017, after a meeting with deputies of the Communist Party faction in the Samara Provincial Duma, M.N. Matveev and A.V. Leskin, D.I. Azarov ordered to create a working group to study the situation with the deprivation of benefits for pensioners and other categories in the Samara region , which also included Mikhail Matveev. In turn, Matveev, as the coordinator of protests for the rights of pensioners in the region, refused to hold the next rally and march of pensioners scheduled for September 30, declaring the suspension of protests for the period of the working group’s activities ^[145] . On October 19, 2017, following two meetings of the working group of the Acting Governor of the Samara Region, Dmitry Azarov announced the decision to increase the travel limit of pensioners on a social card to 90 per month (this figure was included as one of the requirements of the resolutions of rallies of pensioners ^[146] , as well as the return of benefits to working pensioners whose pension does not exceed the average for the region (13.5 thousand rubles) ^[144] .

Commenting on the result, Matveev called it “intermediate”, tweeting that it should be evaluated, including from the point of view “to continue the protests or not” after the government’s decisions are fully publicized and discussed with people ^[147] .

Activities during the period of protests against pension reform and the election of the governor of the Samara region in 2018

In 2018, he led the region in protest against pension reform and raising the retirement age, which became one of the largest in the Russian province ^[148] . In the primaries of candidates for governors of the Samara region, conducted by the Left Front , took first place, ahead of the votes of the first secretary of the Samara Regional Committee of the Communist Party A.V. Leskin five times. ^[149] However, despite the obvious popularity, the Communist Party did not nominate Matveev as a candidate for governor, preferring the nomination of Leskin. The decision caused the Communists to be "bargained" with "United Russia" on the part of both local and federal experts. So, political scientist Nikita Isaev said that "another vivid confirmation that the Communist Party became the" spoiler "of the party in power - past and upcoming elections of governors. Having decided not to quarrel with United Russia, the party did not nominate such bright regional politicians as candidates for governor Vyacheslav Markhaev (Buryatia), Anatoly Lokot (Novosibirsk) and Mikhail Matveev (Samara). ^[150]

Despite the non-participation in the election of the governor, the politician remained one of the most mentioned regional politicians. At the beginning of 2019, the KPRF website published a citation and media mention rating for the regional deputies of the Communist Party, in which Matveev took 7th place out of 413. ^[151]

Father - Matveev Nikolai Mikhailovich (1939–2016), Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor, Honored Worker of the Higher School of the Russian Federation, one of the founders of Soviet (Russian) plant allelopathy , mother - Matveeva (Litvin) Raisa Grigoryevna (born 1938), a Russian school teacher language and literature, older sister Oksana and younger brother Vladimir.

The origin of the family. On the father's side: Russians, from the Kirov region (Vyatka province), grandfather - Mikhail Mitrofanovich Matveev (M.N. Matveev was named Michael in honor of his grandfather), railway worker, train driver of the Northern Railway, participant in the Great Patriotic War, grandmother - Matveeva (Vladimirova ) Elena Ivanovna, a housewife, had 8 children, Nikolai - the father of M.N. Matveev - was the youngest.

According to family legends, the Matveyev clan comes from the village of Goryushki of the Svechinsky district of the Vyatka province, founded at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries by the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Mikhail Matveyev, a certain Abraham Matveev from the village of Ogurtsy, whose son Efim, a soldier who served 20 years in the Nikolaev army, had 5 sons, including Mitrofan - father of Mikhail Mitrofanovich Matveev.

• Uncle Mikhail Matveev (on the father's side) - Lenfilm film actor Vitaly Matveev (1936-2010), student of S. A. Gerasimov .

On the mother's side: Ukrainians, from the Dnepropetrovsk region, Magdalinovsky district, grandmother Litvin (Litvinov) Olga Petrovna (1912-1976), a peasant woman from farm laborers, grandfather - Nosenko Grigory Porfirevich, (went missing at the front in 1941). The whole family of the grandmother (parents, brothers and sisters, except one) died during the famine in Ukraine in the 20s.

• Grandfather’s sister, Grigory Porfiryevich, “Baba Gavryshka” (Maria Gavrysh), was a folk healer.

Married wife - a teacher of history at the university, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor, three children (son and two daughters).

He is an active publicist and blogger, leading since 2009 in the Live Journal “Samara Politics Diary”, which has about 2 thousand readers , Facebook and Twitter pages with more than 3 thousand readers . According to the rating of the Goslyudi.ru portal, calculated on the basis of the Yandex.blogging service, it was included in the 20 most readable political blogs of the country, in the combined rating (readability, mentionability, activity) as of August 2013 it took 14th place out of 334 blogs ^[152]

• Matveev M. N. “Power and society in the system of councils of people's deputies in 1977-1993”, Samara, 2005
• Matveev M. N. “Authorities and society in the system of local self-government of Russia in 1993-2003”, Samara, 2006
• Matveev M. N. "The Soviet power of Samara in 1991-1993." Samara, 2006
• The experience of the deputies of the Samara Provincial Duma. Samara, Samara Provincial Duma, 2009
• Samara fates. Biographical Encyclopedia. Samara, Agni Publishing House, 2011
• Who is who in Samara. Reference and encyclopedic publication. Samara, Navigator-F Publishing House, 1998
• The first Samara Civil Forum. Transcript and materials / ed. M.N. Matveeva.-Samara, 2012.
• II — IV Samara Civil Forum 2012—2015 Shorthand records and materials / Sost and red.d.-d.ist.nauk M.N. Matveev-Samara: “Media book” .- 2016.
• A. I. Solzhenitsyn and Samara / under the scientific. ed. P.S. Kabytova. - Samara: Samara University, 2008 .-- 137 p. - ISBN 978-5-86465-427-9 .

• The official website of Mikhail Matveev
• Mikhail Matveev's blog
• Drama of the Volga Zemstvo. New World, No. 7, 1997. Article by Mikhail Matveev

Interview

• Mikhail Matveev about the work of a politician, his desire to live at least 5 lives and Internet activity. Interview with Pervy Magazine, September 30, 2012
• Mikhail Matveev. Many people think that under the table the deputy has a bag of money. Interview with the portal Money63.ru
• Mikhail Matveev. Compared to Solzhenitsyn’s moral support, any pressure is nothing. Portal of the Samara Provincial Duma