Azimov Rakhim Azizboevich

Russian statesman and politician, Doctor of Technical Sciences. The State Duma deputy was elected in electoral district No. 105 (Kirovsky - Kirov region) from the United Russia party.

Born in 1964 in the Tajik SSR. Tajik by nationality. In 1986 he graduated from the Leningrad Mining Institute named after G.V. Plekhanov (now St. Petersburg Mining University) with a specialty in technology and integrated mechanization of underground mining of mineral deposits. After graduating from university, he worked in distribution at the Vorkutaugol enterprise. Until 1991 he worked as a mining foreman at the Vorkutinskaya mine. Worked as a shift supervisor for a coal mining team. After the collapse of the USSR, he worked as director for external and economic relations of the Stroitel sports club in the Komi Republic.

From 1994 to 1996 he worked at the trade mission of the Komi Republic in Moscow. From 1995 to 1996, he also filled this position with the position of deputy head of the apparatus of the permanent representative of the Komi Republic to the President of the Russian Federation. From 1996 to 2002, he was executive director of the Northern Foundation for Presidential Programs.

In 2002 he graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

In 2002, he was appointed to the Federation Council from the government of the Komi Republic. However, he did not hold this position for long; a year later the Komi State Council terminated his powers. After leaving parliament, Azimov moved to the Federal Drug Control Service.

In 2004, he also defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Development of the fuel and energy complex based on modern technologies for organizing production,” which allowed him to combine work at the Federal Drug Control Service with teaching at the St. Petersburg State Mining Institute. In addition, during that period he worked as an adviser to the deputy general director of the state corporation Russian Technologies and the deputy general director of the RT-Biotechprom joint-stock company.

In 2013, he began working at the Uralchem enterprise, and in 2015 he took the position of deputy director for social issues and interaction with government authorities.

In 2015, he was elected as a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov Region.

In 2016, he was elected to the State Duma from the United Russia party.

Re-elected to parliament in 2021. In the State Duma he became deputy chairman of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption. During his time as a deputy, he became the author and co-author of 97 legislative initiatives.

Winner of several state awards, including an award from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for assistance in the restoration of the Dzerzhinsky house-museum.

- Violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. So Azimov was one of the deputies who voted for recognition of the independence of the puppet DPR and LPR, which became the formal reason for the start of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Azimov also voted for bills on the admission of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, that is, again for the annexation of the territories of a sovereign state.

For these actions he is under personal sanctions from the EU, UK, Ukraine, USA, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan.

- Adoption of anti-democratic legislation. So Azimov, since 2016, while serving as a deputy of the State Duma, voted for the adoption of the following laws:

- Tightening the law on foreign agents. Thus, in 2018, amendments were added to the law allowing the status of a foreign agent to be imposed on individuals. In 2022, the law was amended to allow foreign agents to be added to the list not only for foreign funding, but also for “foreign influence.” Under this law, onerous restrictions were imposed on citizens and organizations, for non-compliance with which administrative and criminal liability was provided. In reality, this article was used for repression against dissidents in cases where it was not possible to initiate a criminal case.

- Introduction to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses of articles on “discrediting the RF Armed Forces” and “fakes about the Russian army.”

- Toughening of the article on high treason, providing for a maximum penalty of imprisonment up to life and equating “switching to the side of the enemy” with high treason, that is, persons who want to resist Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.

- Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe and the denunciation of related treaties, which denied Russian citizens access to the European Court of Human Rights.

- Support for the usurpation of power by Vladimir Putin. So Azimov in 2000 was one of Vladimir Putin’s trusted representatives in the presidential elections, thereby trying to help legitimize his election. Also, Azimov, while serving as a deputy of the State Duma, in 2019 voted for amendments to the Constitution that expanded the powers of President Putin and allowed him to hold the post of president for at least two more consecutive terms.

- Membership in the anti-democratic party “United Russia”. So Azimov has been a member of United Russia for several years, at least since 2016. This party is responsible for many years of usurpation of power in the Russian Federation, the adoption of anti-democratic laws, corruption, and violation of the territorial integrity of neighboring states.