Pavel Balakshin

Pavel Nikolayevich Balakshin (Павел Николаевич Балакшин, born 10 July 1936) is a Russian politician.

He began his career in 1952 at the Mir collective farm.

He worked as a beacon, sailor, helmsman in the Northern river Shipping Company, then as a Locksmith on the railway.

From 1955 to 1958, he served in the Soviet Armed Forces as a mechanic of radar equipment.

In 1959–85 he was working at the Kotlas Pulp and Paper Mill in Koryazhma.

From 1987 to 1990 he was director general of Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill, Novodvinsk.

From 1990 to 1991 — Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Arkhangelsk Regional Council of People's Deputies.

He was the first Head of Administration of his home region, Arkhangelsk Oblast, from 1991 to 1996.

Pavel Balakshin was born in the village of Dementyevo, Kotlassky District, Northern Krai (now Arkhangelsk Oblast) in a Russian working-class family.

On 19 September 1991, by the Decree of the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, Balakshin was appointed head of administration of Arkhangelsk Oblast.

In December 1993 he was elected a deputy of the Federation Council of the first convocation from Arkhangelsk Oblast.

During Balakshin's administration, in 1995, dismantling of nuclear submarines in Severodvinsk began along with removal of radioactive waste from the harbor.

In January 1996 he became a member of the second Federation Council.

He was elected a member of its Committee on Federation Affairs, Treaty of Federation and Regional Policy.

On February 21, Balakshin was ousted from his post by presidential decree "for gross violations when using targeted loans, allocated for the delivery of products to the regions of the Far North."

On 15 March 1996, Balakshin was removed from the Federation Council.

On 8 December 1996 Pavel Balakshin became the first mayor of Arkhangelsk to be directly elected.

He had occupied this position for the next four years.