DEPUTY ANDREI VLADIMIROVICH SKOCH

Andrei Skoch was a successful businessman, but abandoned his career in entrepreneurship to become a deputy of the State Duma. Subsequently, he became the co-author of more than 160 drafts, as well as a well-known philanthropist.

EARLY YEARS 

Andrei Vladimirovich was born in 1966 in the Moscow region, in Nikolskoye village, located in the Balashikha district. His father worked at the nearby Salyut factory. After graduating from school, Andrei served in the army in a reconnaissance and amphibious company.

Later, Skoch received a higher education: he studied psychology at the MSPU, and defended his dissertation on pedagogy in the 2000s.

In the 90s, Andrei Vladimirovich decided to create his own business. Despite the difficult economic and political situation in the country, the Russian people could finally prove themselves in the field of private entrepreneurship, and Skoch did not fail to take advantage of the opportunities that opened up to him.

Together with his business partner Lev Kvetnoi, he opened a bakery cooperative, and then started selling computer components. His meeting with Alisher Usmanov was decisive for his future career. In 1995, the entrepreneurs became shareholders in Usmanov’s Interfin company which invested in securities and traded on the stock exchange.

In 1996, another very important event occurred in Andrei Skoch’s life, determining his future fate: he founded the Healthy Generation (Zdorovoe Pokolenie) Foundation, which helped children with severe heart diseases.

From that moment on, helping people became the highest priority for Skoch. He gradually began to move away from his business life and participated less and less in the management of his enterprise, and in 1999, realized that he wasn’t interested in entrepreneurial activity anymore.

Andrei Vladimirovich decided to branch out into politics and ran for deputy of the State Duma from Belgorod region. At this time, he transferred all his business assets to his father V. N. Skoch.

Vladimir Nikitovich had extensive experience in industry behind his back, and he was also a good judge of character. In running a business, he took an example from his son Andrei and entrusted management to the company’s managers. Subsequently, the business expanded. The Metalloinvest Group of Companies was built on the basis of Interfin, which is now part of the USM Holdings. To date, Skoch Sr. owns shares in the USM and Vnukovo Airport.

LAWMAKING AND CHARITY

Andrei Vladimirovich was elected to the State Duma in 1999. According to the results of the elections, he received more than half of the votes. As a deputy, Andrei Skoch was engaged in what he was well acquainted with — he became the head of the Expert council on the Metallurgy and the Mining Industry.

In subsequent years, he was elected to the Duma from the United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya) party. He has been a deputy for five convocations.

In total, Skoch has co-authored 166 drafts that he had developed from 1999 to 2020.

The deputy’ legislative initiatives were devoted to:

• restricting access to online materials containing scenes of animal cruelty;
• clarifying the levels of higher education that are needed to get a second and subsequent;
• “dacha amnesty” – simplified registration of rights to land plots and country houses for citizens who are engaged in gardening;
• providing material support to military personnel educators;
• investments in environmental projects in the Arctic.

Andrei Vladimirovich still pays great attention to the projects of his Pokolenie (Generation) Foundation.  In the years since the organization was founded, its activities have gone beyond endeavors in the field of children’s health.

Now the foundation helps parents with numerous children and the veterans, supports people with disabilities, takes care of the proper upbringing of the younger generation, supports young talent, and more.

Andrei Skoch’s humanitarian organization mainly provides assistance to the Belgorod region’s residents, but the Pokolenie Foundation also engages in all-Russia and even international projects. For example, the Debut writer’s award was created to encourage talented young authors. Every year, it attracts participants from all over the world. The main conditions to enter are that the works be written in Russian language and the authors under 35.

The Pokolenie Foundation provided substantial assistance to the Belgorod region’s residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The masks, the protective glasses and the gloves for health workers of the region, as well as the material for sewing the protective suits and antiseptics, which were used to treat the public places and the nurseries, were purchased at the fund’s expense.

Andrei Skoch’s humanitarian organization also helped the Belgorod sisterhood. The nuns distributed free lunches to those in need, but had to close the refectory during the pandemic. The Pokolenie Foundation had bought about ten thousand sets of disposable tableware for them to make the sisters work  less costly and more safely.

Skoch’s foundation also purchased medical vehicles for the settlements of the Belgorod region. In September 2020, a vehicle was donated to the Krasnyanskaya CRH. A new Lada Granta was provided for the general practitioners, paramedics and nurses who work in medical district No. 344. In total, the deputy’s organization has purchased more than 160 cars for the medical institutions in the region. With his support, several paramedic and obstetric stations were established.