Oleg Matveychev

Oleg Anatol'evich Matveychev (Russian: Олег Анатольевич Матвейчев, born 1 February 1970) is a Russian politician, political consultant and spin doctor for the Kremlin.

He is currently a professor at Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation in Moscow and has published various books on politics and public relations.

He is one of the most popular Russian bloggers.

In 1993 Matveychev graduated in philosophy from the Ural State University.

He then completed a PhD in the philosophy of politics and law with the thesis topic of Philosophy of Hegel's Politics and Modernity.

From 1996 he became an active political consultant for Russian regional elections and participated in over 60 campaigns.

From 2006 to 2010 Matveychev was a staff member of Presidential Administration of Russia.

From 2007 to 2020 he was professor of National Research University – Higher School of Economics.

In 2010 he became deputy governor of the Vologda Oblast.

In 2010, according to the Guardian newspaper, Matveychev caused controversy by writing on his blog that "he dreamed of gathering the Russian opposition on a city square and calling in an army of tanks to mow them down. 'And then, like after Tiananmen in China, we would also have 10% annual economic growth after 20 or 30 years'".

Matveychev is an opponent of copyright.

He was involved in at least two plagiarism scandals, where Matveychev was the one whose writings were plagiarized, once by Anna Chapman, and a second time by the Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky in his book "Myths about Russia", particularly in the chapter about "unwashed Europe" and "clean Russia".

Matveychev had announced that he is not going to pursue any action as the copyright impedes innovation and "behind every thought or object is every human being who ever lived".

Matveychev is an author of an alternative theory about the ending of the Trojan War, with the Trojans as winners.

Additionally, Matveychev was behind the idea to change the name of a real person to Harry Potter to participate in Yekaterinburg regional elections.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Matveychev made a series of demands directed towards the United States and NATO.

In 2011 he became deputy governor of the Volgograd Oblast.

In 2021 Matveychev was elected as a member of the 8th Russian State Duma.

He proposed a list of various demands for once the invasion succeeded, including that the US immediately end all sanctions against Russia and in order to aid their economic recovery, return the State of Alaska, and Fort Ross, California, both of which were historically Russian territories voluntarily given up during the 19th century.

He also demanded that the continent of Antarctica be recognized as Russian territory, citing that it was discovered by Russian explorers.

His proposition was widely mocked and condemned on social media, notably by Mike Dunleavy, the Governor of Alaska, who stated, "Good luck with that! Not if we have something to say about it."

Matveychev was sanctioned by the United Kingdom from 15 March 2022 in relation to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

Matveychev is on the board of "Right to Smile", a children's charity set up by ex-spy Anna Chapman, active in her hometown of Volgograd.