Biography of the Minister
Rashid Nurgaliev was born in the small town of Dzhetygar, which is located on the territory of modern Kazakhstan. In 1956.
His father was a career security officer who worked all his life in the internal affairs bodies. Gumar Nurgaliev held the position of head of colony No. 4, located in the Republic of Karelia. He retired with the rank of colonel of the internal service.
Shadiya, mother of Rashid Nurgaliev, died in 1998. The Nurgaliev family moved to Karelia from Kazakhstan in the 60s. Nurgaliev Rashid Gumarovich, whose parents’ nationality is Tatar, went to first grade in the Karelian village of Nadvoitsy, Segezha region, with a population of only 7 thousand people.
In 1974 he successfully entered Petrozavodsk State University. There he also studied at the military department.
Nurgaliev's awards
Rashid Nurgaliev
Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliev is an honorary citizen of the Republic of Karelia and an honored employee of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation. For high achievements he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree. and also the Order of Honor, the Order of Akhmat Kadyrov, the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy, 1st degree. He was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Karelia and the Yuri Andropov Prize.
Rashid Nurgaliev and Kadyrov
Nurgaliev was also rewarded with many medals for: “Merit in conducting the All-Russian Population Census”, “Impeccable Service” of the 1st degree, “For strengthening the military community”, “Military valor” and “For distinction in military service. In addition to them, medals: “In memory of the 1000th anniversary of Kazan”, “200 years of the Ministry of Defense”, “In memory of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg”, “70 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR”, “200 years of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia”, “100 years of the Trans-Siberian Railway."
With liquidators of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
In security agencies
Immediately after graduating from university, Rashid Gumarovich Nurgaliev worked for two years as a physics teacher at a high school in his native village. Only after this he entered the service of state security agencies.
Since 1981, he became a KGB officer. To begin with, he worked in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as an intelligence officer in the Kalevalsky district department. For successful and fruitful work, he will soon be transferred to the department of the city of Kostomukshsk. Then Rashid Nurgaliev headed the Medvezhyegorsk district department.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he continued to work in the Federal Security Service. In the Republic of Karelia, he headed the department for combating terrorism.
Son of Rashid Nurgaliev - Maxim
The son of Rashid Nurgaliev, Maxim, is the first child in the family of a political figure. The father was glad that his son was born, because he is the successor of the Nurgaliev family.
Since childhood, Maxim grew up as an active child, studied well at school, and attended various sports sections. He rarely saw his father, so when he was able to spend a weekend with him, it became a real holiday for the child. It’s no wonder that Maxim was interested in the work of Rashid Gumarovich and listened carefully to his father’s stories about his job responsibilities.
When, after graduating from school, the time came to enter a university, the eldest son did not think for a minute about which institute and which faculty he should enroll in. As a result, Maxim graduated from the military academy in the capital.
Now the son of Rashid Nurgaliev has become an officer and works in his specialty.
Work in the central office
A big role in Nurgaliev’s career was played by the fact that from 1992 to 1994 he worked in Karelia under the leadership of Nikolai Patrushev. At that time, the security officer held the position of Minister of Security in the republic. A few years later, he was appointed director of the FSB of Russia and contributed to Nurgaliev’s promotion.
Since 1995, Rashid Nurgaliev has been an employee of the central apparatus of the federal counterintelligence service, and soon goes to work for the FSB. First, the chief inspector of organizational management. He manages to significantly advance his career in his own security department, where he participates in the investigation of several high-profile cases.
In 1998, Nurgaliev was transferred to the Main Control Directorate, which reports directly to the President of Russia, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin. However, after a year they are returned to a more familiar structure - the FSB. Nurgaliev is assigned to lead a responsible area - the fight against smuggling and illegal drug trafficking. For these purposes, a special department is created, the head of which is the hero of our article. The department becomes part of the FSB Economic Security Department.
In 2000, Nurgaliev received the post of deputy director of the Federal Security Service.
Childhood and youth
Rashid Gumarovich is the owner of a typical Soviet-era biography of a man born into a family of internal affairs officers. Father Gumar graduated from a military school and the Higher School of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the documents, he is simply Gumar Nurgaliev, without a middle name, which he abandoned after his own father, Rashid’s grandfather, left the family and stopped communicating with the children. He met his wife Shadiya at a dance while serving in the special commandant's office in the Kazakh town of Dzhetygara.
Politician Rashid Nurgaliev
Rashid and older brother Radik were born there. Later, Gumar Nurgaliev was transferred to serve in a workers’ village in Karelia, to a penal institution whose prisoners were building the White Sea Canal. His family moved with him. The Nurgalievs are Tatars by nationality. By the way, the father of the former minister, and now deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, rose to the rank of colonel.
Rashid Nurgaliev
After graduating from high school, Nurgaliev entered the university in Petrozavodsk at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, in 1979 he returned to his native village of Nadvoitsy, where he grew up, and began teaching physics at evening school. Rashid devoted two years to teaching, then became a student at the Higher Courses of the State Security Committee in Minsk. Over time, he graduated from the KGB Academy.
Transfer to the Ministry of Internal Affairs
In 2002, Nurgaliev was transferred from the FSB to work in the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He immediately receives the post of first deputy minister in charge of the criminal police service.
Due to the specifics of his work, he continues to oversee the fight against drug trafficking, and is also launching a large-scale campaign against organized crime. Rashid Nurgaliev, whose position at that time allowed him to make important management decisions, insisted in 2003 on the creation of a center for combating terrorism, which became part of the main department for combating organized crime.
Ministerial portfolio
On the last day of 2003, Boris Gryzlov resigned from the post of Minister of Internal Affairs. A week before, he submitted a petition to President Vladimir Putin for dismissal from the post of head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in connection with his election as a deputy of the State Duma. His place at the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was taken by Nurgaliev Rashid Gumarovich. This position gave him great opportunities in solving problems with terrorism and organized crime. At first, Nurgaliev became acting minister, and was finally approved for this post by presidential decree in March 2004.
It is worth noting that Gryzlov’s departure from a high post was associated not only with his parliamentary activities. His time at the helm of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was repeatedly associated with scandals.
Thus, in 2002, Gryzlov issued an order allowing the use of force against participants in uncoordinated rallies and actions, including execution. This caused numerous protests in society. This order also mentioned the creation of certain filtration points in which detained protesters could be held unofficially.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs for a long time denied in every possible way the existence of such points. However, journalists and human rights activists regularly recorded cases of beatings and torture of participants in uncoordinated political actions in such institutions.
All these facts, perhaps not directly, but indirectly influenced Gryzlov’s decision to go to work in the State Duma.
Personal life
Nurgaliev with his wife
The statesman is a very open and sociable person, but his position does not allow him to show off his personal life. However, it is known that he is married to the niece of the chairman of the presidium of the Karelian Supreme Council and has two children. Nurgaliev’s wife’s name is Margarita Evgenievna . The couple met at a New Year's party in Petrozavodsk, when she was a third-year student at the Pedagogical Institute. The woman worked as a primary school teacher all her life. The couple owns a plot of land and an apartment measuring 182 square meters.
Nurgaliev and Medvedev
The general's sons decided to continue the family's legacy and became officers. Maxim is a career military man, graduated from the Academy of Strategic Missile Forces. In turn, Rashid graduated from the Academy of the Federal Security Service, but never worked in his specialty. From some press sources it is known that he studied to become a financier at the Higher School of Economics, while other sources claim that he received a diploma from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Confers with Kadyrov
Since childhood, Nurgaliev was interested in hockey and gymnastics. Now he tries to keep himself in good shape, he plays hockey and does yoga. As Minister of Internal Affairs, he took over the leadership of the Board of Trustees of the All-Russian Physical Culture and Sports Society "Dynamo". The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said in an interview that he is a vegetarian. In food, he prefers fresh vegetables and fruits, herbs, walnuts, and is madly fond of Borodino bread and signature family tea from Samarkand. According to his father, Nurgaliev does not drink a drop of alcohol and has a negative attitude towards smoking. Thanks to proper nutrition and periodic physical activity, Rashid Gumarovich managed to lose thirty kilograms.
Work as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Rashid Nurgaliev, whose biography for many years was associated exclusively with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was one of the initiators of renaming the police into police. However, the methods of work of law enforcement agencies, as many note, remained the same.
In 2011, Nurgaliev headed an interdepartmental commission whose main goal was the fight against extremism. The functions of the new structure included not only the management of various services, but also the adjustment of their immediate activities.
Police reform
At the same time, the rights of police officers were significantly expanded, and an unscheduled recertification of all employees was carried out, as a result of which the ranks of the Russian police were significantly thinned. In certain areas, especially in the regions, there was an acute shortage of qualified personnel. About 20 percent of yesterday's police officers lost their positions.
The Federal Law “On Police” was adopted in 2011. One of his main points was recertification. In 2020, the law was amended to significantly expand the powers of police officers. In particular, they were allowed to open fire in crowded places if there was a threat of a terrorist attack or repelling an attack on public objects.
