Nikolay Nikiforov

Nikolay Nikiforov
Minister of Communications and Mass Media of Russia
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2012
Preceded by	Igor Shchyogolev
Personal details
Born	24 June 1982 Kazan, Soviet Union (now Russia)
Alma mater	Kazan Federal University
Profession	Economist

	Nikolai Nikiforov's voice recorded April 2013
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Nikolai Anatolyevich Nikiforov (Russian: Никола́й Анато́льевич Ники́форов, born 22 June 1982 in Kazan) is a Russian politician. In 2012, he became Minister of Communications and Mass Media of Russia.

Career

At age 19 he 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 May 21, 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.^[1]

On 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.^[2]

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]

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."^[5]

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^[6] and data fabrication.^[7][8] 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.^[9]

References

1. "Russia Appoints Youngest Minister". RIA Novosti. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
2. "Communications Chief Slams Rostelecom". RIA Novosti. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
3. "Почта России: во всем виновата таможня". tvrain.ru. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
4. "RF Government intervenes in the work of Russian post". Itar Tass. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
5. theguardian.com: "Russian officials switch from iPads to Samsung over security concerns" 26 Mar 2014
6. results of the expertise of Nikolai Nikiforov’s thesis on Dissernet server
7. http://www.dissernet.org/publications/kak-ministru-nikiforovu-zaigoshili.htm
8. Mass Media Minister's Thesis Was Plagiarized, Online Group Says //The Moscow Times
9. https://meduza.io/news/2016/06/22/dissovet-otkazalsya-lishit-uchenoy-stepeni-ministra-svyazi-nikiforova