Irina Khakamada

Irina Mutsuovna Khakamada (Template:Lang-rus; born 13 April 1955) is a Russian economist, political activist, journalist, teacher, publicist, and politician who ran in the 2004 Russian presidential election.

Khakamada was a former member (deputy) of the lower house (the State Duma) of the Russian parliament for three convocations (electoral terms, 1993–2003) and vice-chair of the house; co-chair of a political party Union of Right Forces (1999–2003), presidential candidate of the Russian Federation (2004), member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (2012–2018).

In 1995, Time named Khakamada a 21st-century politician among 100 well-known women in the world.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2002, Khakamada served as a rapporteur from Russia at the 57th session of the UN General Assembly. In 2005, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Biography

Khakamada was born to a Japanese father, Mutsuo Hakamada, a Japanese communist who defected to the Soviet Union in 1939. Her mother, Nina Sinelnikova, with Russian, Lezgian and Armenian roots,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> was an English schoolteacher who lost her father to the Stalinist purges and her mother to suicide following the family's forced relocation to Khabarovsk.<ref name="EoRWM">Noonan, Norma C. & Nechemias, Carol. Encyclopedia of Russian Women's Movements. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref>

Khakamada's paternal uncle is Template:Nihongo, a member of the Japanese Communist Party leadership. The Russia expert and political science professor Shigeki Hakamada is her half-brother.

In kanji, Khakamada's family name is Template:Lang; in katakana, her name is イリーナ・ハカマダ.<ref name="Mitrokhin">Mitrokhin, Vasili, Christopher Andrew (2005). The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World. Basic Books. Template:ISBN.</ref>

Khakamada graduated from the Department of Economy of the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University in Moscow in 1978. She obtained her PhD degree from the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University. In 1983, she received the academic title of associate professor in the specialty "political economy". She was a member of the CPSU from 1984 to 1989.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Duma career

Khakamada was an elected Duma representative from 1993 to 2003. She is regarded as a democratic politician who is in a moderate opposition to the Russian government. She is known for criticizing the governmental actions during Moscow theater hostage crisis where she was involved as one of the negotiators. Khakamada stated that the hostage takers were not going to use their bombs to kill the people and destroy the building.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Khakamada was a member of the coordinating council of the Union of Right Forces. She opted to abstain from the council's vote on their endorsement in the 2000 presidential election, in which the party ultimately voted to support Vladimir Putin's campaign over that of council member Konstantin Titov.<ref name=antic>Антикомпромат. Союз Правых сил</ref>

2004 presidential campaign

Template:See also Khakamada was one of the leaders of the Union of Rightist Forces when she decided to run in the 2004 Russian presidential election. She was not supported by her party, which had decided that they would not nominate a candidate.<ref name="OSCE">Template:Cite web</ref> She announced her candidacy in December 2003.<ref name=rew5>Template:Cite web</ref>

Khakamada kicked off her campaign by delivering a speech which placed the blame for the Moscow theater hostage crisis at Putin's feet.<ref name=rew6/><ref name=rew5/> She entered the election with better name recognition than most of the other candidates challenging Putin.<ref name="OSCE"/> Her candidacy was officially registered on 8 February.<ref name="OSCE"/> Khakamada was only the second woman to be a registered candidate in a Russian presidential election, after only Ella Pamfilova in 2000.<ref>Ksenia Sobchak announced the participation in the presidential elections in Russia October 18 18:30, Ksenia Sobchak for Vedomosti</ref>

Khakamada claimed her motivation for running was her desire to see a liberal opposition candidate.<ref name=rew6>Template:Cite web</ref> She would ultimately be the only liberal opposition candidate to run.<ref name=rew6/>

In an article published in Novaya Gazeta, Yulia Latynina alleged that Khakamada only entered the election to feign a role of a democratic opponent to provide more legitimacy to the election of Vladimir Putin. Khakamada denied such allegations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Khakamada's campaign slogan was “Irina Khakamada: Our Voice”.<ref name=rew6/> Her campaign received funding from Boris Nevzlin, a former Yukos chief who was being targeted for international investigation by Russian authorities and was residing in Israel during the campaign.<ref name=rew6/> She was outspoken about unfair conditions of the election, particularly about its media coverage.<ref name="rew6" /> Early into the campaign, analysts predicted that she might be able to receive more than 10% of the vote.<ref name="rew6" /> Khakamada received 3.9% of votes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=rew4>Template:Cite web</ref> While she declared that she found her performance in the election to have been, "satisfactory", she alleged that there had been many irregularities with the vote.<ref name=rew7>Template:Cite web</ref>

Subsequent political activities (2004– present)

Template:Expand section After the election Khakamada founded a new political party named Our Choice.<ref name=rew7/> Since 2004, the chairman of the Party reorganized into the "Our Choice Interregional Public Fund for Social Solidarity", which in 2006 became part of the Russian People's Democratic Union (RNDS) political party, led by Mikhail Kasyanov and her.

Khakamada published the book "Gender in big-time politics"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> describing her personal experience of work in Kremlin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 11 June 2006 Boris Berezovsky, a fugitive from the Russian justice system, said Boris Nemtsov received word from Khakamada that Putin threatened her and like-minded colleagues in person. According to Berezovsky, Putin had issued threats that Khakamada and her colleagues "will take in the head immediately, literally, not figuratively" if they "open the mouth" about the Russian apartment bombings.<ref>Live interview with Berezovsky by Evgenia Albats, Radio Echo of Moscow, 11 June 2006. Transcript in Russian, computer translation Template:Webarchive.</ref>

Former FSS officer Alexander Litvinenko said he had learned from Anna Politkovskaya that Putin asked Khakamada to pass a threat to Politkovskaya.<ref>Litvinenko's statement at the Frontline Club, 19 October 2006. Google video in Russian and English Template:Webarchive.</ref> Khakamada denied her involvement in passing any specific threats, and said that she warned Politkovskaya only in general terms more than a year earlier, and that Politkovskaya blamed her and Mikhail Kasyanov for becoming Kremlin's puppets.<ref>Live interview with Irina Hakamada by Anna Kachkayeva. "Irina Hakamada on party engineering and Russian economy", Radio Liberty, December 4, 2006. Transcript in Russian Template:Webarchive, computer translation .</ref> Politkovskaya and Litvinenko were murdered in October and November 2006.

2008, Khakamada left the party of her own accord, explaining the cessation of her political activities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Khakamada in 2013

2016, she became a member of the Council of the Political Growth Party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She took part in the elections to the State Duma of the 7th convocation as a candidate from the “Party of Growth”, in the first part of the regional list of Moscow.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The party won 1.28% of the vote and was unable to sit in parliament.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Books

• 1995 - "Common cause" ("Общее дело")
• 1999 - "Maiden Name" ("Девичья фамилия")
• 2002 - “Peculiarities of National Politics” ("Особенности национального политика")
• 2006 - “Sex in big politics. Self-made woman's handbook" ("Sex в большой политике. Самоучитель self-made woman")
• 2007 - “Love, out of the game. The story of one political suicide" ("Любовь, вне игры. История одного политического самоубийства")
• 2008 - "Success in the big city" ("Success [успех] в Большом городе")
• 2012 - "The Tao of Life: A Master Class from a Staunch Individualist" ("Дао жизни: Мастер-класс от убежденного индивидуалиста")
• 2014 - “In anticipation of oneself: From image to style” ("В предвкушении себя: От имиджа к стилю")
• 2017 - "Success. You ask - I answer" ("Успех. Cпрашиваете– отвечаю")<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2018 - "Restart: how to live many lives" ("Рестарт: Как прожить много жизней")<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Film and television

Khakamada has appeared in several films and television series as an actress, including Brief Guide To A Happy Life in 2012.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

External links

English

• Template:Usurped — from mosnews.com
• A challenger for the presidency

Russian

• Official site
• Irina Khakamada about her book Template:Webarchive
• A chapter from the book Template:Webarchive
• Another chapter from the book Template:Webarchive
• Irina Khakamada about hostage crisis, interview by Anna Politkovskaya
• Presidential race
• Criticism Template:Webarchive by Yulia Latynina
• Reply to the criticism
• Interview - Radio Free Europe
• Interview - Radio Free Europe
• Interview - Radio Free Europe