Alyona Arshinova

Russian politician, model and sociologist

Alyona Igorevna Arshinova (Алёна Игоревна Аршинова; born 3 March 1985 in Dresden, East Germany) also known as Alena Arshinova, is a Russian politician, model, and sociologist. She is a deputy of the State Duma, a member of the Presidium of the General Council of the United Russia party, and Secretary of the Chuvash regional branch of the United Russia party from 24 June 2020 to 21 February 2022. Arshinova is a member of the United Russia faction and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education. In the State Duma of the VI convocation, she served as Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Education and Science.

Alyona Arsinova was born in 1985 in Dresden since her father, a member of the Soviet Army, was stationed there. Arshinova holds dual citizenship of Russia and Transnistria. From 2002 to 2007 she studied sociology at the state university of Transnistria, the T. G. Shevchenko University in Tiraspol. Arshinova led the political youth organization Breakthrough (Russian: Proriv) which defends the independence of Transnistria with close ties to Russia, and opposes union with Moldova. She has written articles for the Transnistrian news agency «Lenta PMR». In December 2005 Arshinova was interviewed by the German news magazine Der Spiegel. In 2009 she was a fellow of the John Smith Memorial Trust programme for democracy and good governance. In 2007, Alyona Arshinova moved to Moscow for postgraduate work in sociology at Lomonosov University. Her dissertation is titled "Youth Extremism in Russia". From July to December 2010, Arshinova was Deputy Chief of the Central Headquarters of the Young Guard of United Russia, and from December 2010 to August 2012, co chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Young Guard. For the 2011 Russian legislative election, she contested a seat in the State Duma. Since 2013, she is Coordinator of the Youth Club under the Presidium of the General Council of the United Russia party. In September 2016, she was elected to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 7th convocation on the federal list from United Russia (No. 5 in the regional group No. 16, the Republic of Mari El, the Republic of Mordovia, the Chuvash Republic – Chuvashia, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast). In June 2020, Arshinova became the Secretary of the Chuvash regional branch of United Russia. She resigned from this position on 21 February 2022.

She is sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 in relation to Russo Ukrainian War. She is one of the members of the State Duma the United States Treasury sanctioned on 24 March 2022 in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In December 2011, Arshinova, as a representative of the All Russian Popular Front, ran for the Duma on the lists of United Russia from the Penza Oblast, but to no avail. On 28 March 2012, the Central Election Commission, having considered the decision of the Presidium of the General Council of United Russia, transferred the mandate of the deputy of the State Duma of Russia of the sixth convocation from Chuvashia, which became vacant due to the appointment of Konstantin Kosachev to the post of head of Rossotrudnichestvo, to Arshinova. On 17 April 2012, Arshinova visited Chuvashia for the first time, from which she became a deputy of the State Duma. The region's opposition reacted negatively to the mandate transfer to Arshinova. The head of the Communist Party faction in the State Council of Chuvashia, Dmitry Yevseyev, called the loss of the United Russia mandate a "shame" for the republic. He was supported by the leader of the regional branch of the party Patriots of Russia, Vladislav Soldatov. As deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from Chuvashia, Arshinova spoke about the benefits of the voluntary study of the Chuvash language and, simultaneously, against being forced to do so in the schools of Chuvashia.

On 16 May 2012, Arshinova was appointed Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education.

On 21 January 2013, it became known that nine United Russia members (including Alena Arshinova and Frants Klintsevich) wrote a letter to the Ministry of Justice with a request to check the Peace and Harmony Foundation, founded by the International Association of Peace Foundations, chaired by their colleague from the United Russia party Anatoly Karpov. The signatories wanted the ministry to determine if the foundation was a "foreign agent." Arshinova said, "We want to know the answer – does it receive funding from abroad and does it participate in the political life of the country?" The letter followed after Anatoly Karpov proposed to exclude from the "anti tobacco law" the article "Prevention of illegal trade in tobacco products and tobacco products includes ", which, in particular, provides for control over the production of cigarettes. Karpov himself explained his proposal by the fact that such an article is already provided for by international law.