Maria Egorovna Gaidar is a Russian political activist and the founder of the Youth movement "DA!" ("Yes!") (Russian: "ДА!"). She is the daughter of former Russian Prime Minister, Yegor Gaidar

Yegor Gaidar

Yegor Timurovich Gaidar was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 June 1992 to 14 December 1992....

. On July 23, 2009 she was confirmed as a deputy governor in Kirov Oblast

Kirov Oblast

Kirov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. Population: -History:In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vyatka remained a place of exile for opponents of the tsarist regime, including many prominent revolutionary figures.In 1920, a number of...

.

She was one of the leaders of The Other Russia

The Other Russia

The Other Russia , sometimes cited as Another Russia, is an umbrella coalition that gathered opponents of former President of Russia Vladimir Putin...

 organization and Union of Right Forces

Union of Right Forces

The Union of Right Forces, or SPS , was a Russian democratic opposition party associated with free market reforms, privatization, and the legacy of the 'Young Reformers' of the 1990s: Anatoly Chubais, Boris Nemtsov, and Yegor Gaidar. Nikita Belykh was the last party's leader...

 party. She has been a fierce critic of Putin's

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

 government and has been briefly detained for involvement in peaceful dissenters' marches

Dissenters March

The Dissenters' March was a series of political opposition protests that took place on 16 December 2006, in Moscow, on 3 March 2007, in Saint Petersburg, on 24 March 2007, in Nizhny Novgorod, on 14 April 2007, for the second time in Moscow and on 15 April 2007, again in Saint Petersburg, on 18 May...

 and for placing a propaganda poster under a bridge using mountaineering gear. In connections with her arrests, she said that "Politics is becoming more dangerous. I think this is a message people want to put across - if you come to such an event, then you are risking your life".

She was actively involved in Russian presidential election, 2008

Russian presidential election, 2008

The Russian Presidential election of 2008, held on March 2, 2008 resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties , received 71% of the vote, and defeated...

 and manufactured numerous video materials where Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

 is painted as anti-Christ who leads the world to the nuclear Apocalypse

Apocalypse

An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...

.

In February 2009 she became an advisor to the new governor of Kirov Oblast

Kirov Oblast

Kirov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kirov. Population: -History:In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vyatka remained a place of exile for opponents of the tsarist regime, including many prominent revolutionary figures.In 1920, a number of...

 Nikita Belykh

Nikita Belykh

Nikita Yurevich Belykh is a Russian politician and former leader of the Union of Right Forces party. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Perm Krai , and now is confirmed as governor of Kirov Oblast....

 and on July 23 she was confirmed as a deputy governor in Kirov Oblast.
Gaidar had previously stated that Nikita Belykh had "sold his soul to devil" when he accepted the post as governor from president Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...

.

On 8th June she announced that she was to resign as advisor due to her admission to Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 for a Mid-Career Masters in Public Administration.

External links

• Official website
• Russians Must Shed Fear (Her interview), Demokratizatsiya
  Demokratizatsiya (journal)
  Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization is an international interdisciplinary quarterly journal devoted to changes in the late Soviet Union and post-Soviet states. It is published by the World Affairs Institute. It covers the processes in these countries since 1985...
  
  , 2007 by Arias-King