Biography:
Born in 1967 in the village Bolshevo, Moscow region; Mother - teacher of chemistry and biology in high school; his father is a professional soldier. At the present time both are retired.
In 1984 he graduated from the Moscow Suvorov Military School. In 1991, he graduated from the Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense with honors.
He speaks three foreign languages: English, Portuguese, and Spanish. During his studies at the Military Institute he was sent to work in Angola and Mozambique, where he served as a military interpreter. In 1989, he was awarded the Medal for Military Merit for carrying out state tasks.
Served in the RAF, which in this period was led by Yevgeny Primakov, with whom Vladimir Gruzdev subsequently established good relations.
In 1993, he retired from military service. he took a loan and, together with a team of associates, many of whom were former military men, set up a company OAO "The Sedmoy Kontinent". The company currently employs over ten thousand people, getting a decent wage.
In 2000, he gained a second degree at the Legal Sciences Faculty of Moscow State University n.a. M.V. Lomonosov.
In 2001, he won the election for deputies of the Moscow City Duma on 27 constituency, gaining 53.17% of votes. While working in the city parliament he led the Working Group on Personnel Policies courts of Moscow; a member of the Duma committees: on fiscal, on law and security, on entrepreneurship, on education, and on a joint commission of the Moscow City Duma and the Moscow Government on the regulatory framework of land and property relations.
In 2003 he successfully defended his thesis for the degree of Candidate of Legal Sciences at the University of the Interior Ministry.
Member of advisory council to the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber;
In December 2003, Vladimir Gruzdev was elected to the State Duma on Chertanovskaya single-mandate constituency, won the election with 149,069 (53.3%) votes.
On August 2, 2007, he dove to a depth of 4,261 meters together with the crew of bathyscaphe "Mir-1" at the North Pole. During that dive at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean the flag of the Russian Federation and a capsule with a message to future generations were left.
He was awarded the Order of Merit of the degree III for his courage under extreme conditions during the high Arctic deep-sea expedition.
In December 2007 he was elected the State Duma Deputy of the V convocation of the city of Moscow. He is the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on civil, criminal, arbitral and procedural legislation.
He is a member of the Presidium of the Moscow City regional office of United Russia, a member of the General Council of the political party United Russia, the coordinator of the party in the interaction with the business community; Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the General Council of the Russian political party "United Russia" on industry business.
In 2007, he supported the building a community of young business people - the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Russia; Chairman of the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Russia.
In 2009 he was elected deputy chairman of the Russian Lawyers' Association.
Vladimir Gruzdev lives in South Butovo. Married, has three children: daughter Mary and sons - Gregory and Leonid.
Source: gruzdev.ru
Dossier:
In summer 2000, Gruzdev announced plans to sell a big stake in ZAO "Sedmoy Kontinent". It was also said that they might sell shares in two companies into which ZAO "Continent” was transformed in 1988: ZAO "Sedmoy Kontinent" was in charge of transport and financial logistics, and manager of shops, and "Stolichnye Gastronomy’ was the owner of retail space. It was reported that one of the contenders for the purchase could have been the Alfa Group.
Source: Kommersant № 142 (2027) on 08/04/2000
In 2007, the media rumored that Gruzdev was going to become a space tourist. "United Russia" was going to cover the costs of this action at its own expense.
There were also rumors that Gruzdev sold 5,2% share of equity trading empire "Fashionable continent" to his friend - TV reporter, Vladimir Solovyov - for 5 million rubles. The real price of those shares ranged from a half to two million dollars. Journalists hinted ironically at the possibility that Solovyov had been laundering money, obtained by raiding through the company of his friend. And then they rejected this assumption ironically. They found another one, mush more simple explanation. Solovyov is known as a connoisseur of the arbitration law. In the courts, he became known, on his own terms, as Vladimir Reshaylovich (‘decision maker’). Sometimes he resorted to blackmail in the courts in favor of businessmen. Then Gruzdev had a problem: the company "Sedmoy Kontinent" merged with OAO "United Commercial Real Estate and then the company was saddled with the contentious process of ZAO Mostorg-36 there were several non-residential premises integrated into the authorized capital stock not quite correctly. In case Solovyov failed to resolve the case in favor of Gruzdev through giving a call to the judge, he could accuse the judges of incompetence in public in his programs.
Source: Vokrug Novostey on 23/10/2007
Soon the rumors about Gruzdev’s intention to fly into space were confirmed. It turned out that United Russia indeed was to pay for his flight.
"Russian Newsweek", 08.10.2007
In 2007, 10% of the company "Fashionable continent” were acquired by a direct investment fund United Capital Partners (UCP).
Source: Kommersant »№ 71 (3647) on 04/26/2007
Following the announcement of the sale of his business Gruzdev again ran for parliament.
Source: SmartMoney on 11/19/2007
In 2008, it became known through the insider circles, that a few days before the presidential election managers of stores chain "Sedmoy Kontinent” ordered the employees to vote on it. In the morning the buses drove employees even those working the night shift to the voting precincts. And they promised to dismiss for failure to comply. Previously it was known that members of United Russia, having a business, were to report the voices of their employees.
At that moment, it remained unclear: whether it was the order of Gruzdev or the new owners of"Sedmoy Kontinent", to which he intended to sell the business? The media came to believe that Gruzdev only pretended to be selling "Sedmoy Kontinent". As the message on the sale of package to the partner of Gruzdev, Alexander Zanadvorov was announced in the media exactly one day before the election. Then reports appeared that Zanadvorov supposedly was going to sell some shares of Goldman Sachs. The source of the "Sedmoy Kontinent" also claimed, TPG together with Goldman Sachs were ready to buy 100% of "7K-investholding. Zanadvorov also said he had no intention to sell the entire chain.
While newspapers were full of rumors, the Duma elections approached, and Gruzdev prepared to become a member of the list. After the election, the sale was no longer remembered.
Source: Stringer on 03/03/2008
During the crisis Gruzdev had problems like other businessmen. However, unlike his colleagues in business he could not return to the operational management to solve them, as he was a deputy. Problems were coming: in October 2008 his partner Zanadvorov received a call from Deutsche Bank for payment of the loan taken to repurchase Gruzdev’s share in "Sedmoy Kontinent". Family Foundation of Gruzdev immediately bought 10% stake in the company, and Gruzdev returned to the company. But he refused to restructure the loan. The chain began to look for a new owner.
Source: SmartMoney on 04/27/2009
In October 2009 it became known that Gruzdev was going to take over as chairman of the presidium of the Association of Retail Companies (ACORT), and to replace Lev Khasis. At the same time the media wrote about the fact that retailers were losing the fight for the law "On Trade", supposedly because of the past leadership, and Gruzdev had the opportunity to lobby. However, a survey of major companies revealed not an unequivocal opinion about Gruzdev. They mentioned that the transaction by Gruzdev on sale of his shares in "Sedmoy Kontinent" was a dummy; he needed to get rid of the business before the election. In addition, the financial position of the chain left at that point much to be desired - it was close to bankruptcy. This situation adversely harmed the reputation of the Association. Some also believed that Gruzdev needed the new post to knock out credits for his company. They also talked about the fact that Gruzdev funded defamatory media publications against Khasis.
In the same year it became known that Gruzdev was not going to fly into space. The official version was due to the fact that the application was temporarily suspended. In fact, during the recession the party funding was reduced, and they changed their minds to finance Gruzdev.
Source: The Moscow Post from 16.10.2009
In 2009, Gruzdev gave up the control package of shares of Bank Finservice- a joint project of "Sedmoy Kontinent "and Sobinbank.
Source: Kommersant № 194 (4249) on 10/17/2009
In 2010 a group of deputies of United Russia, including Gruzdev, filed a request with the Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika to check actions of Vladimir Zhirinovsky and another deputy of Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Khesin. The letter stated that since 2008, Zhirinovsky has appealed to the Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov with the requirements to carry out actions on behalf of certain entities engaged in construction, led by relatives of Khesin.
Source: "Kommersant" dated 28/04/2010
In 2010, Gruzdev tried to become Governor of the Tambov region. His main rival was the acting head of the region, Oleg Betin, who became the new governor.
Source: Kommersant (Voronezh) № 96 (4394) on 06/01/2010
In summer 2010 Gruzdev, along with other deputies in the Duma introduced a bill which stated the abolition of absentee arrest of entrepreneurs, if they are charged with economic crimes. MPs wanted to clarify the category of persons who can not be detained. Accent was made on entrepreneurs on some reason.
Source: Kommersant № 117 (4417) on 07/02/2010
In 2010, Alexander Zanadvorov agreed to repurchase shares of “Sedmoy Kontinent” from a fund of Gruzdev’s family to become a sole owner.
Source: Kommersant № 190 (4490) on 13/10/2010
Then it became known that Gruzdev may be a minority shareholder in the largest developer of elite housing in Moscow RGI International. By some estimates, the shares are owned by Gruzdev through the company Kensington Gore. Gruzdev neither confirmed nor denied this information.
Source: Kommersant № 196 (4496) on 10/21/2010