Dmitry Rogozin

Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin was Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation since 21 May 2012. President Putin met on 18 May 2018 with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who confirmed to Putin the line up of Russia's new government. One prominent casualty was Dmitry Rogozin, the flamboyant former Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the defence industries. He was replaced by Yury Borisov, a Soviet trained engineer and technocrat with a long career of service in the Soviet and Russian militaries. Borisov was previously Defence Minister Shoigu's deputy in the Defence Ministry. Borisov was seen as Shoigu's ally, in which case his appointment in place of the independent minded Rogozin consolidated Shoigu's leadership of the Russian defence establishment.

One of Russia's most charismatic, clever, and potentially dangerous politicians, Rogozin lacked any of the fervor typically associated with the nationalist wing in Russia. Rogozin was a polished, experienced politician who knew how to extend the limits without pushing too far. He was more a populist than a nationalist, with great charismatic propaganda skills.

Rogozin is the leader of the so-called informal “Izborsk club” which helped unite a big part of influential Russian nationalists. The club united such Russian patriots as Alexander Prokhanov, Mikhail Leontyev, Mikhail Shevchenka, Alexander Dugin, Nikolay Starikov, Vitaly Averyanov and Dmitry Rogozin. It is more than just a “think tank” (so common in the Western world) because it has a much greater direct influence on government decisions. The Izborsk club develops and publishes a wide variety of state development strategies - from defence to economic or social issues. In December 2011 Rogozin was recalled from political exile straight to the post of deputy prime minister. His main task was to rally nationalist forces under Putin’s flag.

Rogozin was born December 21, 1963 in Moscow, into the family of Oleg Rogozin (1929-2010), a prominent organiser of the Soviet defense industry and military science. Rogozin’s father was a leading official in Soviet defense procurement – prominent in procurement for the Air Force, then in the final Soviet years Deputy Chief of Armament, responsible for drawing up and implemening the State Armaments Program.

He recalled "I grew up in a family of techies. My great-grandfather was one of the first Russian pilots, then the organizer of the aviation industry in Soviet Russia. My grandfather is an associate professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute, a father who graduated from an aviation school and the Zhukovsky Academy of Engineering, an outstanding organizer of the defense industry and science, he headed the 13th Advanced Research Directorate, was the first deputy head of the armament service of the USSR Ministry of Defense. "It was my father who created the Soviet armament program in the eighties of the last century, or rather, it was built under his leadership. My sister is an aviation engineer, her husband is a designer. I am from this environment. Since childhood, he has been imbued with the spirit of engineering. At the age of seven or eight I first read the book "Theory of Jet Engines", which was on my father's shelf ... even then I knew that a ramjet is a ramjet engine, and a liquid-propellant rocket engine is a liquid-propellant rocket engine ... And I could explain their fundamental differences." In 1986 Rogozin graduated with distinction from the International Department of the Journalism Faculty at the Lomonosov Moscow State University. 1988: Graduated with distinction from the Economic Faculty of the Marxism-Leninism University of the Moscow City Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.

He holds a DSc (Philosophy and Theories of Wars) degree. Has written a number of books on military strategy and politics. Served as Editor in Chief of the “War and Peace in Terms and Definitions” Glossary of Military Terminology, which was published in 2004 and 2011. Received a weapon with a personal inscription engraved on it for ensuring the release of hostages seized by terrorist groups in the Chechen Republic in 1996-1999. Holds the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Married, with a son and two grandsons.

1990-1994: Vice President of the Research and Educational Organisation RAU-Corporation. 1994-1997: Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Congress of Russian Communities. 1998: Taught a special course, National Security, at the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

1997-2007: Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of three convocations; Deputy Chairman of the Security Committee; Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Head of the Delegation of the Russian Federal Assembly in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Head of the Rodina (Motherland) Parliamentary Party and Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly.

2002-2004: Special Presidential Representative for the Kaliningrad Region on the Expansion of the European Union.

A self-declared "Putin project," Rogozin came to the President's attention in 2002 while working on the transit rights of Russian citizens in Kaliningrad, in his capacity as Chairman of the Duma's International Relations Committee. Putin, who liked Rogozin's rhetorical punch and political effectiveness, offered him leadership of United Russia, but settled on Rogozin's spearheading of Rodina [Motherland] in 2003, as a leftist political combination that would bleed support from the Communists and Zhirinovsky. The term "Rodina" can be confusing since it represents both the political party led by Rogozin and a broader social movement of the same name, as well as a dissident faction led by former Rogozin ally, Sergey Baburin.

To the alarm of the Kremlin, Rogozin's blend of Russian chauvinism and great power nationalism proved "shockingly" effective and Rodina had the misfortune of garnering "too many votes," attracting 150,000 members in six months, and shooting up to second place in the opinion polls and party fundraising -- second only to Putin and United Russia, despite a lack of access to administrative resources.

Misreading the political tea leaves and disturbed by his visit to Beslan in the aftermath of the terrorist 2004 takeover of the school, Rogozin called then-Ukrainian presidential candidate Yushchenko and praised "on human terms" his public condolence over the loss of life. This, followed by his November 2004 visit to Kiev, donning of an orange scarf, public embrace with Yushchenko, and increasingly strident criticism of Putin's failed policy toward the orange revolution was the last nail in his political coffin. Forgetting that he was on a leash, Rogozin began to stray too far and ultimately crossed Kremlin redlines, to the anger of Putin.

Rogozin sought to kick-start a social movement based on Great Slav unity, which in separate press interviews he articulated as promoting the union of Russia and Belarus, the right of dual citizenship in Ukraine, the protection of ethnic Russian minorities in the Baltics, and the cause of the frozen conflicts. Rather than split the wealth among insiders, he believed that Russia should be prepared to pay a price -- in subsidized oil and gas, and other preferential trade and security regimes -- to maintain influence over former republics.

The Central Elections Commission took Rodina candidates off the ballot after the party aired political ads on TV that were understood as allusions to migrant workers from Central Asia as street trash. Rogozin took a step toward moderating Rodina's image when he publicly condemned an anti-Semitic attack on a Moscow synagogue in January 2006.

Rogozin's real sin was that he stopped playing at being an opposition politician and started acting like one. Rogozin was frustrated by his sojourn in the political wilderness -- which he attributed to his unsettling success in attracting voters, Orange revolution-era praise of Ukrainian President Yushchenko, and gullibility in taking on Moscow Mayor Luzhkov. Despite Rogozin's sidelining, his Rodina party had by Russian standards a deep bench of energetic regional representatives. Rogozin's blend of nationalism and chauvinism, while alienating a strata of the elite, generated a stable bedrock of support.

2008-2011: Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium. Putin appointed nationalist politician Dmitry Rogozin as the country's permanent representative to NATO. As Russia’s ambassador to NATO for four years, he specialized in publicly lampooning NATO. Rogozin was a former member of parliament who made his name championing the rights of ethnic Russians. He had previously called for Russia to increase its military presence in the Balkans to counter the threat from NATO. Ties between Russia and the military alliance have been strained by the NATO's expansion into former communist-ruled East European countries and by U.S. plans to station a missile defense shield in Europe. Despite long-standing opposition to NATO, Russia cooperated with the Western defense alliance on a number of military, political and humanitarian projects. But Russia said it felt threatened by NATO's eastward expansion and the prospect of possible Georgian and Ukrainian membership in the alliance.

Russian concern with the new NATO members helped explain the decision to send Dmitri Rogozin to serve as the Russian PermRep to NATO, where he attempted to warn the US and Western Europeans about the dangers presented by Eastern Europeans that are pressing their anti-Russian agendas upon the organization. Rogozin was respected in Moscow, where he was referred to as "the hooligan" for his ability to shake things up. Despite the seemingly harsh nature of Rogozin's public statements regarding NATO, these were tame in contrast to the cables he sent back to Moscow.

In the aftermath of 2008 hostilities in Georgia, Moscow froze relations with NATO in a number of areas to protest Western support for Tbilisi. In November 2009 Rogozin said NATO appeared frozen in a Cold War Stone Age. He went on to announce what he termed as "the modernization" of Russian-NATO relations, which includes termination or suspension activities related to military affairs.

February 2011 – 2012: Special Presidential Representative on Anti-Missile Defence and Negotiations with NATO Countries on This Issue. December 23, 2011: Appointed Deputy Prime Minister. March 21, 2012: Appointed Special Presidential Representative for Transdnestria. May 21, 2012: Reappointed Deputy Prime Minister by a Presidential Executive Order.

From January 17, 2012: Heads the Government’s Military-Industrial Commission. From February 15, 2012: First Deputy Chairman of the “Victory” Organising Committee. From June 26, 2012: Chairman of the Marine Board of the Government.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin, reacting to being barred from its airspace, said he would return in a TU-160 strategic bomber. Rogozin, one of the senior Russian officials sanctioned by the European Union and United States after Moscow moved to annex Crimea, was turned away 10 May 2014 when his plane tried to fly to Moscow from Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region. Rogozin, who oversees Russia's powerful arms industry, was also blocked by Ukrainian interceptor jets as he tried to fly home from the Russian-speaking region of Moldava bordering Ukraine.

In June 2014 Rogozin offered not very veiled threats against Moldova, including one about hoping Moldovans wouldn’t freeze, a reference to the Russian natural gas spigot. And in a visit in 2013, he also cautioned Moldova against a rapid move toward the EU. “Traveling at such a speed, a locomotive can lose its rear carriages," Rogozin warned Moldovans.

On 24 December 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the military-industrial complex and outer space, expressed doubts about the need for Russia to fly to the Moon and Mars. "We are told by some experts, including Roskosmos, that they would fly to the moon, let's master it, I used to like this idea myself, but now we need to calculate how much it will cost money.... What are the real goals on the Moon, what are there minerals - we have to count, we have a little money now, and we are in a hostile environment," Rogozin stated on the Vesti-24 channel.

He also outlined the attitude toward the plans for the exploration of Mars. "I say again: let's take it." NASA is interested in Mars, although I doubt it - well, they'll fly there, they will prove that their astronauts can get on Mars.Well, what next? And what specific tasks can we solve on Mars - we must think about it," the deputy prime minister concluded.

By 2015 dissatisfaction with Putin among Russia’s oligarchs was growing, as their business was suffering. Andrey Okara, director of the Moscow Center for East European Research, said “in Putin’s entourage,” there are people who today “are quietly searching” for a successor, with the names of Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin being the most often mentioned. “But for the time being there are no alternatives to Putin” in fact. Asked about Russia's military assertiveness, in a television interview Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin joked that "tanks don't need visas."

On 24 May 2018 Putin invited former deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin to head the state corporation Roskosmos. Putin's meeting with Rogozin took place in the fields of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2018). "We have discussed the development of Roskosmos for many years and have not talked about how important it is for the economy, for many other areas, including security, it goes without saying," the Russian president said. "You have reported to me proposals to strengthen and develop this company, we have discussed this many times," Putin said to Rogozin, "There is a wonderful opportunity as the head of this company to start implementing all the proposed development plans."

In response, Rogozin, who oversaw the government in the space industry, said that he would do everything possible and necessary to justify the president's confidence. Putin called on Rogozin to strengthen the staff of Roskosmos with profile specialists. "We must also look at strengthening the team so that this whole industry is headed by people who know how it works from the inside. It should be good specialists, highly qualified scientists, organizers," the president said. Putin noted that he would discuss this issue with Rogozin. Until now, the head of Roskosmos was Igor Komarov (former president of AvtoVAZ), who headed the state corporation since January 21, 2015.