What is the former head of the Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev famous for?

Former governor of the Kemerovo region Aman Tuleyev died on November 20 at the age of 79. He headed the region for more than 20 years. Details of the politician’s biography are in the Kommersant certificate.

Tuleev Aman Gumirovich (birth name – Amangeldy Moldagazyevich Tuleev) was born on May 13, 1944 in the city of Krasnovodsk (now Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan). He graduated from the Novosibirsk Institute of Railway Transport Engineers (1973) with a degree in “transport engineer for the operation of railways”, the Academy of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee (1989).

In 1964, he began working as a duty officer at the Mundybash railway station of the Novokuznetsk branch of the West Siberian Railway. In 1964–1967 he served in the engineer units of the Soviet Army, then returned to his previous place of work. From 1969 to 1978 he worked as the head of the Mundybash station, then of the Mezhdurechensk station.

Since 1978 – deputy head, since 1983 – head of the Novokuznetsk branch of the Kemerovo Railway. In 1985, he was appointed head of the transport and communications department of the Kemerovo regional committee of the CPSU. In 1988–1990, he was the head of the Kemerovo Railway.

From 1990 to 1993 – People’s Deputy of the RSFSR, Chairman of the Kemerovo Regional Council of People’s Deputies. In 1991, he nominated himself for the presidential elections of the RSFSR. He received 7% of the votes and took fourth place.

In 1993, he was elected to the Federation Council from Kuzbass. From March 1994 to July 1996, he headed the Legislative Assembly of the Kemerovo Region. He was nominated in the 1996 Russian presidential elections, but three days before the first round he withdrew his candidacy in favor of the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov.

In August 1996, he was appointed to the post of Minister of the Russian Federation for cooperation with the CIS countries. In July 1997, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was appointed head of the administration of the Kemerovo region. In October 1997, he won the regional gubernatorial elections with 94.5% of the votes. Re-elected in 2001 with 93.5% of the vote.

In 2005, Vladimir Putin extended Mr. Tuleyev’s term as governor until 2010. By decision of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, the period was extended again – until 2015. In September 2015, Aman Tuleyev was re-elected head of the Kemerovo region, gaining 96.7% of the votes.

In 2011 and 2017, he underwent two spinal surgeries. In July 2017, in serious condition, he was taken to the Central Clinical Hospital of the Presidential Administration in Moscow to undergo a recovery period after surgery. In August of the same year he returned to Kemerovo.

He served as governor for more than 20 years, and according to this indicator he ranked second in Russia after Yevgeny Savchenko. On April 1, 2018, after a fire in the Winter Cherry shopping center, he resigned.

On April 3, 2018, he became a deputy of the Kemerovo Regional Council. On April 10, at an extraordinary session, he was elected its speaker. On September 17, 2018, he became appointed rector of the Kuzbass Regional Institute for the Development of Vocational Education.

Doctor of Political Sciences (dissertation topic: “Political leadership in the regions of modern Russia”), member of the International Academy of Informatization and the International Academy of Engineering. He is the author of more than two dozen books and brochures, and has two patents for inventions.

Full holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland. Also awarded the Order of Honor, Order of Alexander Nevsky, state awards of Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.