Beginning of Andrei Skoch’s career
Andrei Skoch was born in the village of Nikolskoye, near Moscow, in 1966. In the late 1980s, he went into business. Andrei’s first commercial venture was a small bakery, which he opened with his business partner. Later, he went into other markets, such as computer hardware components and oil products sales. He has been an investor in Interfin since 1995. Four years later, he took up the position of General Manager at the Lebedinsky GOK.
Political career
Andrei Vladimirovich began his political career in 1999 when he became a member of the State Duma of the third convocation. A year later, he took over as head of the Advisory Council on Metallurgy and the Mining Industry. In December 2003, he started his work as a deputy of the Russian State Duma of the fourth convocation. He was also re-elected to this post in 2007, 2011, and 2016, running on the lists of the United Russia party. He is currently a member of a committee dealing with international affairs.
Legislative work
During his twenty years of deputy work, Andrei Vladimirovich became the co-author of more than 160 legislative initiatives.
- He worked on amendments to the Tax Code and promoted the implementation of environmental investment projects in the Arctic.
- He advocated for restricting access on the Web to materials containing scenes of animal cruelty.
- He developed support measures for military educators.
- The politician also raised questions on the organization of procurement in the field of recreational activities for children.
- He worked on a “dacha amnesty” bill for citizens who engage in gardening for personal needs.
Charity projects
Andrei Skoch is a well-known philanthropist and supports many community initiatives. Back in 1996, Skoch established the Healthy Generation Foundation. Initially, the organization’s activities were related to health care for children. Later, the Foundation began to provide support to other areas of the population. Thus, on the 62nd anniversary of the Victory, the Andrei Skoch Foundation presented VAZ cars to war veterans. All in all, about a quarter of a billion rubles were spent on 3,000 cars. Another Skoch initiative is the opening of the Generation medical center, where children from large families and veterans are treated free of charge. In just five years, the organization provided medical care to 130,000 patients. Andrei Vladimirovich continues to support the Belgorod region. Thus, in 2012, 51 ambulance cars were purchased for healthcare organizations of the region; and in 2013, 180 large families received VAZ vehicles.
However, Skoch’s activities are not limited to projects in Russia. In 2012, the Foundation reconstructed cemeteries where Soviet servicemen are buried in the Hungarian cities of Székesfehérvár and Budapest. Over a thousand Ukrainian soldiers who died during World War I and World War II were identified during the grave restoration. A memorial to Soviet soldiers was installed in Székesfehérvár. Andrei Skoch’s Foundation also participated in the restoration of the Soviet monument in the PRC, Lüshun, and Port Arthur, and reconstructed the Katyn Memorial in the Smolensk region.
The Generation Foundation is the organizer of many annual awards, including the following:
- Gifted students are awarded the scholarship “Best Student of the Year” for their academic achievements. The payments are 10,000–15,000 thousand rubles. The total fund amounts to 86 million rubles.
- The Debut Literary Award was a competition for young Russian-speaking authors. Each participant had a chance to win one million rubles for winning one of the categories: Poetry, Playwriting, Fiction, Prose, Essay. The funding for the award was 330 million rubles.
- The Healthy Childhood Award is presented for achievements in medicine and is held at the Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology. The prize fund is 2 million rubles.
- The A. N. Bakulev and A. I. Burakovsky Award for research in cardiovascular surgery has a prize of 10 million rubles. Since the award was established, more than 74 million rubles have been allocated for its organization.
- The Nanotechnology Prize is awarded to students and research teams. The best project is awarded with a prize of 300,000 rubles, and the best student-researcher has a chance to get about 50,000 rubles. The total fund is 10 million rubles.
Additional information and personal life
In addition to his political activities, Skoch is interested in science. He studied psychology at the Moscow State Pedagogical University. In 2000, he was awarded a Ph.D. after he defended his dissertation on charity in Russia.
Andrei Vladimirovich has a large family; he is raising ten children, two of whom are twins. Vladimir, Andrei’s father, is a businessman who comes from a peasant family.
State awards
Skoch’s work has received numerous state awards. Andrei Vladimirovich received the Order of Merit to the Motherland, which was awarded to him for assistance in the social rehabilitation of people with disabilities. In 2010, he received the Order of Honour for his charity work and for perpetuating the memory of Soviet soldiers who died in China. A year later, Skoch was awarded the South Ossetian Order of Honour for his achievements in the establishment of good-neighbor relations between the two countries, as well as for the construction of social facilities in the Caucasian republic. The Samara Cross was given to Skoch by the Bulgarian Ambassador for the restoration of the monument to Alexander II. One of the most recent awards, the Order of Alexander Nevsky, he received in 2016 in gratitude for the reconstruction of monuments to Soviet soldiers in China, Hungary, and the Belgorod region.