BIOGRAPHY
Robert Aleksandrovich Schlegel is a member of the State Duma of fifth and sixth convocation. He serves as Deputy Chairperson of the State Duma’s Committee on Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs.
He was born on December 17, 1984 in the city of Ashkhabad.
In 2005 he graduated from the Humanities Institute of Television & Radio broadcasting named after M.A.Litovchin with a TV reporter specialty.
He worked in certain mass media in 2006-2007, including directing the press service of ‘Nashi’ movement. He then was the chief of ‘Belyi Svet’ (‘White Light’) video production studio, an association of six youth television studios located from Khabarovsk to Saint-Petersburg. He created a ‘virus’ video named ‘Banned advertisement of the year of youth’, which has been viewed by 20 million people. In 2008-2009 he organized a full-fledged autonomous TV channel in field conditions at Seliger Forum, with a participation of 200 young TV men from across the country. He was one of the authors of project providing that gambling business should be moved away from cities and gambling zones should be established. That idea, expressed primarily at Vladimir Putin’s meeting with ‘Nashi’ commissioners, was later shaped legislatively as an applicable law. Upon citizens’ addresses to Robert Schlegel reception, several hundred illegal gambling houses in various Russian cities were checked and closed.
He was the author of draft law on mass media managers’ liability for libellous materials (‘Schlegel correction’), which was adopted by State Duma in first reading and rejected in second reading.
He was the author of draft laws on criminal liability for the sale of alcohol and tobacco products to minors. This legislature also provided strengthening parental liability once it is detected that their children are drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco. It was adopted in first reading on December 7, 2010.
While being among few politicians actively using the Internet and social networks in their work, R. Schlegel became the first Duma member to have opened his own Internet reception.
He headed the automobile expedition ‘Great Road of Russian Civilization’ organized from October 14 to November 17, 2009, within the framework of ‘Historical Memory’, a United Russia project, which passed on the route from Saint-Petersburg to Vladivostok.
Since December 21, 2009, Schlegel consists in the administrative staff reserve list under patronage of the President of the Russian Federation.
Robert Schlegel is the manager of ‘Development of Runet’, another United Russia project, which is intended to help overcome the digital divide, as well as to create and improve the law in the information and communication technologies sphere.
According to this project, on October 31, 2010, they created accounts in VKontakte social network for all the United Russia parliament group members. In addition, a special application ‘State Duma members’ online reception’ was then launched in the same social network, whereby any user could address to any Parliament member.
Under the same project, on March 16, 2011, parliamentary hearings were conducted in the State Duma on the issue titled ‘Legislative support of the informative and communication technologies (ICT) development in the Russian Federation’, whereat the necessity to systematize legislative work in the ICT area, with engagement of all parties interested in the information society advancement, was discussed. ‘Round tables’ dedicated to the problems of development of Internet as one of the most important means of Russia’s modernization are also regularly held in the State Duma within the framework of the project.
Robert Schlegel was approved by the State Duma at the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communication on June 3, 2011.
As a Duma member, he represented the legislative power of Russia at the Global Internet Governance Forum, which took place on September 27-30, 2011, in Kenya.
On November 25, 2011, Schlegel was awarded the Runet Prize in the nomination ‘For contribution to development of .рф domain zone’ for the ‘Большоеправительство.рф’ (Broad Government) project.
In the State Duma of sixth convocation he holds the post of Deputy Chairperson of the State Duma’s Committee on Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs.
Robert Schlegel is married.
