Nikolay Nikiforov
Николай Никифоров
Minister of Communications and Mass Media
In office
21 May 2012 – 7 May 2018
Preceded byIgor Shchyogolev
Succeeded byKonstantin Noskov
Personal details
Born
Nikolay Anatolyevich Nikiforov

(1982-06-24) 24 June 1982
Kazan, Tatar ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia)[1]
Alma materV. I. Ulyanov-Lenin Kazan State University
ProfessionEconomist

Nikolay Anatolyevich Nikiforov (Russian: Никола́й Анато́льевич Ники́форов; born 24 June 1982) is a Russian politician. In 2012, he became Minister of Communications and Mass Media of Russia.

Career

At age 19, Nikiforov became deputy director of the Kazan Portal company. From 2006 to 2010, he headed the Center of Information Technology of Tatarstan. In 2010, Nikiforov became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Information and Communication of the Tatarstan Republic.

On 21 May 2012, at the age of 29, he was named as the Minister of Communications and Mass Media in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet, thus becoming its youngest member.[2]

In October 2012, Nikiforov criticized Russia's leading telecom operation, Rostelecom for failing to address "digital inequality" in the country. Nikiforov singled out Rostelecom's investment strategy, which has primarily focused on expanding its market share by acquiring other companies, as inadequate. This, Nikiforov said, means the company's energies are focused on areas that are already connected to the internet, rather than acting to expand internet access.

He pursued the modernization of the Russian Post, saying that modernization of the Russian Post will make it possible to deliver mail inside the country within a week. Nikiforov said the purpose of the Ministry of Communications is to ensure that all mail should be delivered within the boundaries of one large city of community within one day[3] and that he sees several instruments of financing the postal service’s upgrade program, such as the issue of infrastructure bonds, a rise in the prices of some services, the introduction of differentiated fees for the delivery of pensions (depending on the region) and the introduction of tax breaks.[4] Since 27 December 2017, he is on the supervisory board of Post Bank.[5]

Nikiforov was responsible for the transition away from Apple iOS products towards Samsung Android products for use as government IT tools sometime between 2010 and March 2014, when it was first noticed by journalists at a cabinet meeting. He was quoted by AFP as saying "American special services … will significantly increase the volume of information they intercept (which) of course causes serious concern to many governmental clients. This obviously orientates Russian clients, primarily state ones, to be very choosy about their partners in IT."[6]

Accusations of academic dishonesty

In 2011, Nikiforov defended his thesis in Economics. According to an examination by Dissernet, this doctoral thesis contains at least 97 pages with undocumented plagiarism from six other works[7] and data fabrication.[8][9] On 22 June 2016, the dissertation council of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration confirmed the existence of plagiarism in Nikiforov's thesis, but refused to recommend stripping Nikiforov of his degree.[10]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nikolai Nikiforov.
  1. ↑ "Board of Directors: Nikolay Nikiforov". company.rt.ru. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. ↑ "Russia Appoints Youngest Minister". RIA Novosti. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  3. ↑ Kaznin, Dmitry; Arno, Tatyana (9 April 2013). ""Почта России": во всем виновата таможня" (in Russian). Dozhd. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  4. ↑ "RF Government intervenes in the work of Russian post". ITAR-TASS. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  5. ↑ "Избран новый состав наблюдательного совета "Почта Банка"" [The new composition of the "Post Bank" Supervisory Board was elected]. pochtabank.ru (in Russian). Post Bank. 27 December 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  6. ↑ France-Press, Agence (26 March 2014). "Russian officials switch from iPads to Samsung over security concerns". The Guardian. Agence France-Press in Moscow. Retrieved 28 March 2019 – via TheGuardian.com.
  7. ↑ "Никифоров Николай Анатольевич". Dissernet.org (in Russian). 6 April 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  8. ↑ Parkhomenko, Sergey (17 April 2014). "Как министру Никифорову заигошили ученую степень..." Dissernet.org (in Russian). Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  9. ↑ Dolgov, Anna (8 April 2014). "Mass Media Minister's Thesis Was Plagiarized, Online Group Says". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  10. ↑ Zayakin, Andrey (22 June 2016). "Диссовет отказался лишить ученой степени министра связи Никифорова". Meduza.io (in Russian). Retrieved 28 March 2019.
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