Igor Shchyogolev
Igor Olegovich Shchyogolev, born November 10, 1965, in Vinnitsa (then Ukrainian SSR), is a Russian politician and government official. Since June 26, 2018, he has been the Presidential Envoy to the Central Federal District.
Earlier, he served as Russia’s Minister of Communications and Mass Media from May 2008 to May 2012. After that, he became an assistant to the president, acting as Vladimir Putin’s speechwriter and organizer of his meetings, a role he held until 2018.
Shchyogolev's career also includes work in the media and intelligence. He worked for ITAR-TASS, including time as a foreign correspondent in Paris, and he had a stint in the KGB’s foreign intelligence. He was Putin’s press secretary in 2000–2001 and later led the Presidential Protocol and the Kremlin Protocol before becoming minister in 2008.
Education wise, he studied at Moscow State Linguistic University (1982–1984) and Leipzig University (1984–1988), graduating as a philologist fluent in French, German, and English.
He is married to Rimma Viktorovna Shchyogoleva, a professor of German, and they have a son, Svyatoslav Igorevich Shchyogolev.
Other roles include editor-in-chief of Sovetnik magazine and chairman of the board of trustees of the League of Safe Internet. In 2022, the United States sanctioned him.
Shchyogolev has been linked with the League of Safe Internet and with Konstantin Malofeev’s activities.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:46 (CET).