Colleagues

For the post of Commissioner of the Russian Federation at the European Court, instead of a former classmate, the Minister of Justice proposed a former subordinate

Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov withdrew the candidacy of Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Viktor Evtukhov for the post of Commissioner of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights. Instead of his former classmate, Mr. Evtukhov, the minister now proposes Georgy Matyushkin for this place - his former deputy during his time as plenipotentiary representative in the Volga Federal District. This was reported yesterday by both sources in the St. Petersburg legislative assembly and in the Strasbourg court. The Ministry of Justice stated that they do not comment on this topic. However, Viktor Evtukhov confirmed that his candidacy for this post was indeed rejected.

As the Vremya Novostei newspaper wrote , St. Petersburg deputy Viktor Evtukhov reported on the flattering offer made to him by the Minister of Justice even before the former Commissioner of the Russian Federation to the ECHR, Veronika Milinchuk, was dismissed, who was brought to this place by Konovalov’s predecessor, Vladimir Ustinov (now he works as a plenipotentiary representative in the Southern Federal District). Evtukhov's candidacy for this post initially seemed rather dubious - he received a law degree only in 2002, and he clearly did not have enough experience for such a responsible position. The only reasonable explanation for this in the context of modern Russian administrative policy was that Messrs. Konovalov and Evtukhov have known each other since school.

At the beginning of July, President Medvedev dismissed Veronica Milinchuk, but the expected appointment did not happen. “The other day, Evtukhov announced that his candidacy had been withdrawn and another person had been nominated in his place. Evtukhov did not name the reasons for these actions,” a source in the St. Petersburg legislative assembly said yesterday.

Yesterday, the deputy gave a comment on this topic to the Ekho Moskvy radio station in St. Petersburg: “They already showed me high confidence that they considered my candidacy as one of the possible candidates for this post. I am a thin spikelet in the field of big politics. Wherever the top political leadership directs me, I will work there.”

Sources in the St. Petersburg parliament and in Strasbourg reported yesterday that the new candidate for the post of commissioner at the ECHR was Georgy Matyushkin, Mr. Konovalov’s former deputy during his plenipotentiary mission to the Volga Federal District. The question of his appointment also remains unresolved, but from his biography it can be judged that he is a much more experienced lawyer than Mr. Evtukhov, and as an official too, although he also did not have to work in the international legal field.

Georgy Matyushkin was born on June 10, 1966 in Moscow. In 1988 he graduated from Moscow State University, in 2001 - from the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation (professional retraining). In 1990-1991 he worked as a lawyer in the joint Soviet-American enterprise Most (Moscow), in 1991-1903 he worked as a legal consultant, and was a member of Most-Pravo LLC (Moscow). From 1993 to 2000, he worked as a lawyer and was deputy chairman of the presidium of the interterritorial bar association “Klishin and Partners.” In 2000, he was appointed to the position of Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Chuvash Republic - Minister of Property Relations. Since April 2002, he held the posts of head of the Main Control Directorate of the President of the Russian Federation for the Volga Federal District, then assistant to the plenipotentiary representative in the Volga Federal District (oversaw legal and legal issues). In December 2005, he was appointed deputy plenipotentiary representative in the Volga Federal District. Author of a number of scientific works, including on the problems of international arbitration process.

Ekaterina BUTORINA