President Vladimir Putin said air strikes did nothing to settle the situation around Iraq and urged any action taken against it to be sanctioned by the United Nations.

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (February 1 1931 - April 23 2007) was the first president of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999. Yeltsin came to power on a wave of high expectations. On 12 June 1991 he was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president in Russian history.

Sergei Borisovich Ivanov (born January 31, 1953, Leningrad) is a first deputy prime minister of Russia and former minister of defense (March 2001 - February 2007). Previously, as secretary of the Russian Security Council, Ivanov served as an adviser to President Boris Yeltsin and later President Vladimir Putin (November 1999-March 2001) on matters of national security.

Ilya Iosifovich Klebanov (born May 7, 1951 in Leningrad) is the Plenipotentiary Presidential Envoy to the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation. Klebanov graduated in 1974 from the M.I. Kalinin Polytechnical Institute in Leningrad where he majored in electrical engineering. After graduating, he moved up through the ranks of the Leningrad Optics and Mechanics Association (LOMO) in St. Petersburg, leaving in 1997 after spending 7 years as its Director.

Lyudmila Putina (born January 6, 1958, Kaliningrad, Soviet Union) is the wife of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In her early years she was an airline stewardess on local flights from Kaliningrad. In 1986 Putina graduated from the Branch of Spanish language and philology of the Department of Philology of Leningrad State University, where in 1990-1994 she in turn taught German. She married Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin on July 28, 1983; they have two daughters, Maria, …

Naina Iosifovna Yeltsina (maiden name "Girina", born March 14 1932) is the widow of the first President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin. Naina Yeltsina was born in the Orenburg Oblast in 1932. After graduating from the construction faculty at the Ural Polytechnic Institute in Sverdlovsk in 1955, she worked with various projects at the Sverdlovsk Institute. In 1956 she married Boris Yeltsin, whom she met at the institute, and lives, since 1985, in Moscow.

Sofia Rotaru is a Soviet / Ukrainian singer from an ethnic Moldovan family. She has sung songs in Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian languages, which were equally popular throughout the Soviet Union (e.g. such superhits as "Chervona ruta" (Червона рута) in Ukrainian, "Романтикэ" (Romantika), in Moldavian). Her songs have become the classics of Soviet and post-Soviet stage.

Gennady Troshev is a former general in the Russian military and was formerly the commander of the North Caucasus Military District, includingChechnya. He publicly defied, on national television, Minister of Defense Sergi Ivanov's suggestion that Troshev should relocate from Chechnya (the North Caucasus Military District) to a region in Siberia. Due to this act, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree dismissing Troshev from his post in 2002.

Yevgeny Ivanovich Shaposhnikov is a Russian military leader and business figure, Chief Marshal of Aviation (1991). In 1987-1988, Yevgeny Shaposhnikov was the air force commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. In July of 1990, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Soviet Air Force. In August - December of 1991, Yevgeny Shaposhnikov held the post of Minister of Defence of Soviet Union. In 1991 - 1993, he was commander-in-chief of the CIS Armed Forces.

Viktor Vladimirovich Ponedelnik (born May 22, 1937 in Rostov-on-Don) is a former Soviet football player, regarded as one of the best strikers in Soviet football history. Ponedelnik first started playing for a local team, Rostselmash, in 1956. In 1958 he switched to "SKA Rostov-on-Don" and was invited to join the Soviet national team. In the 1960 European Championship, the only major Championship ever won by the Soviet Union, …

what about me?

You know who I am.

Speakers Arkady Dvorkovich , Head, Presidential Experts Directorate Arkady Dvorkovich was appointed Head of the Presidential Experts Directorate of the President Executive Office in April 2004. Mr. Dvorkovich graduated in economics from the Moscow State University, Russian Economic School and Duke University (USA). From 1994 to 2000, he worked for the Economic Expert Group of Russia’s Ministry of Finance.

Vladimir Putin was born in Leningrad on October 7, 1952. My childhood was pretty avaerage so we'll skip that. In 1975, I graduated from the law department of the Leningrad State University. After graduation I worked at the Foreign Intelligence Service (KGB), for a long time in Germany. After my return to Leningrad, I managed to bag a job as an aide to the vice-president of the Leningrad State University in charge of international issues.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is the current president of Russia. He became Acting President of Russia on December 31, 1999, succeeding Boris Yeltsin, and was sworn in as President following the elections on May 7, 2000. In 2004, he was re-elected for a second term, which expires in 2008. The current Constitution of Russia imposes term limits that prevent Putin for running for reelection again.

Anatoly Safonov Mr. Anatoly Safonov is the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on International Co-operation in Combating Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime.

Roman Elizarov Roman was born on September 28, 1977, in Leningrad. In 2000 he gained the degree of Master of Mathematics on graduation from St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (SPbGU ITMO), the Chair of Computer Technologies. During his study at the University, he participated in the finals of ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest - ACM ICPC) as a member of ITMO team.

Dmitri B. Zimin (65 years of age) has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors of VimpelCom since its inception. Prior to joining VimpelCom, Dr. Zimin held senior management positions at the Mintz Radio Technical Institute, a government-owned defence institute, which during the Soviet era was involved in the development of high-technology radio and defence equipment, for nearly 30 years.

Marshal, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation on strategic stability In this capacity, Marshal Sergeev develops approaches toward the strengthening of the military readiness of Russia, including Russia’s readiness in today’s conditions of international change. Marshal Sergeev also works in veterans’ affairs. Marshal Sergeev was born on April 20, 1938.

Yegor T. Gaidar (42 years of age) was appointed a director of VimpelCom in September 1996. He has been Chairman of the Democratic Choice of Russia political party since June 1994. During 1993 and 1994 he served as First Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation. In December 1993, Mr. Gaidar became the Chairman of the "Choice of Russia" political party of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

Leonid Khvoinsky is currently on the Committee on Manufacturing, Construction, Science and Technology. Prior to his election to the State Duma, Mr. Khvoinsky served on the Novoaltaisk City Council of Peoples Deputies and Altaisk Regional Council of Peoples Deputies. Throughout most of his career, Mr. Khvoinsky spent at the road construction entities, rising from an engineer to the post of Director.

Yulia Andreeva (Hauser Scholar) Yulia Andreeva holds an LL.M. degree in Public International Law from Leiden University, The Netherlands (2001), and Specialist in Law cum laude from the Urals State Law Academy, Russia (2000). She is a Gold Medal winner of three All-Russian legal competitions in private and public international law and several regional competitions in legal studies.

Ms. Darya Vasilevskaya - Darya Vasilevskaya graduated with honours from the Law Faculty of the Russian State University of oil and gas in Moscow in 2000. In 2001, she defended a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Law, entitled "Constitutional bases for sub-surface exploration in the Russian Federation" at the Academy of State Service of the President of the Russian Federation.

Ms. Elena Krivosheina , PhD Student, Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation

Mr. Viktor Ivanov , Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Bio Mr. Ivanov

In 1930, Ignaty Yeltsin , a well-off peasant of Butka village, Sverdlovsk region, was declared kulak . His house, his mill, and other valuables were confiscated. According to different sources, Ignaty Yeltsin either fled the village to avoid further persecution, or was sent to internal Northern exile. On February 1, 1931, Ignaty 's grandson, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin , was born in Butka.