Nikolay Velikdan

Nikolay Timofeyevich Velikdan was born on 6 March 1956 in Sovetskoye Runo, a small settlement in Ipatovsky District of Stavropol Krai. He was one of twin sons, with his brother Viktor, born to Timofey Prokopyevich and Maria Tarasovna Velikdan. Both parents worked at the local state farm, which bred fine-fleece sheep. His father was a well-known machine operator and later a brigade leader, and in the 1970s took part in introducing the 'Ipatovo method' of grain harvesting, which his son later called a source of pride. His mother was a farm labourer who also ran a busy household of four children.

The children helped dig and weed the vegetable plot and feed the cow, pigs, sheep and poultry, but schoolwork came first. Nikolay was curious and diligent, liked the natural sciences and read widely, since the family owned a good library, which was unusual in a village home. He played street games and football with other boys, and dreamed of becoming a pilot or a cosmonaut.

After eight years of school, his father decided the twins would work the land. 'You were born on the land, you must work on the land, you will be agronomists,' Velikdan recalled him saying. In 1971 his father took the brothers to the Grigoropolisskaya agricultural technical school in Novoalexandrovsky District, where Nikolay studied agronomy. He admitted the subject felt like a burden at first, but said that during his studies he 'fell in love' with his specialty and with rural work.

After army service he enrolled at the Stavropol Agricultural Institute (now Stavropol State Agrarian University) and studied by correspondence while working, from 1980 to 1985, qualifying as an agronomist. He said he defended his diploma with distinction on the Astrakhan technology for raising vegetable yields and lowering costs, which he later introduced across Kochubeyevsky District and the wider region.

Military service (1975 to 1977): Velikdan and his twin brother served together in the air forces near Kyiv.

Farm work (1977 to 1997): He began at the Pravokubansky state farm in Kochubeyevsky District near Nevinnomyssk as leader of a vegetable-growing brigade, then served as secretary of the farm's party committee and deputy director for production, responsible for vegetables, orchards and a cannery. In 1987 the regional party committee sent him to direct the Krasnaya Zarya state farm. He was deputy general director for production of the Nevinnomyssk agrofirm (1989 to 1990), first deputy director and chief agronomist at Pravokubansky (1990 to 1992), and director of the joint stock company Pravokubanskoye (1992 to 1997). He also served as a deputy of the city and then district councils.

District and business posts (1997 to 2008): He was first deputy head of the Kochubeyevsky District administration and head of its agriculture department (1997 to 1999), coordinating about 25 large farm enterprises; general director of the Kamenskaya machine and technology station (1999 to 2003); general director of the Urozhay trading house in Nevinnomyssk (2003); deputy general director, then general director, of Agroton-S in Stavropol (2003 to 2004); and again head of the district's agriculture department (2005 to 2008). AiF reported that he also spent several years working in Tula Oblast.

Regional government (2008 to 2021): He was deputy minister of agriculture of Stavropol Krai (2008 to 2009) and head of the Trunovsky District administration (2009 to 2012). From 18 May 2012 to September 2021 he was first deputy chairman of the Stavropol Krai government responsible for agriculture, working under governors Valery Zerenkov and Vladimir Vladimirov. In a 2016 interview he described nine regional programmes for import substitution and 43 investment projects worth 126 billion rubles.

Duma of Stavropol Krai (2021 to 2026): After taking part in the United Russia primary in May 2021, he was elected on 19 September 2021 for single-member district No. 8 (Ipatovsky and Trunovsky districts) with about 59 percent of the vote. On 30 September 2021 deputies unanimously elected him chairman of the seventh convocation. The convocation held 64 sessions and adopted 713 laws. He was also active in the Council of Legislators of Russia. In September 2026 he was elected to the eighth convocation on the United Russia party list.

Velikdan preferred not to talk about his family, saying that village people were taught not to boast about their wealth or their family. In a January 2016 interview he said: 'I have a good family: two children, three grandchildren, all of them decent and hard-working people.' He added that he and his wife had been together for 38 years. The names of his wife and children have not been made public.

He met his future wife while working at the Pravokubansky farm, and in 2016 he still lived in the settlement of Pravokubansky, where neighbours came to him for advice and help. His twin brother Viktor also trained as an agronomist. His hobbies were fishing and tending his garden, which he called his stronghold. He said he ate everything but especially loved lamb dishes and, above all, varenyky with cherries.

Velikdan described himself as a practical agrarian who had done every farm job, from weeding and sowing to driving a tractor and delivering calves. He believed in reducing manual labour through mechanisation, in greenhouse vegetable growing, and in enlarged crop rotations. In 1991 he argued that farmland should remain in a common fund rather than be divided into shares, a stance he said cost him his post.

He argued that the future of Russian farming lay in 'zonal' agricultural production, with neighbouring southern regions complementing rather than competing with each other, and he wanted more processing of farm produce inside Stavropol Krai. He praised the stability of Soviet agriculture while saying he did not want to return to the past. He called patriotism 'an innate quality' and, as Duma chairman, backed laws supporting participants in Russia's military operation in Ukraine and their families.

Governor Vladimir Vladimirov credited Velikdan with new agricultural enterprises and jobs, social facilities, roads and rural improvements, saying he had devoted his whole life to Stavropol Krai. Senator Gennady Yagubov, his predecessor as Duma chairman, said it was hard to find anyone who loved the region more, and that Velikdan ran the legislature 'like a conductor,' turning many voices into a single choir through long discussion and careful work on bills.

As first deputy chairman he oversaw a period in which the region's agriculture expanded with large pig and poultry complexes, feedlots, greenhouses, restored irrigation, precision farming, intensive orchards and new vineyards. As speaker he made voter mandates a foundation of the Duma's work, with about 500 initiatives, and Duma colleagues shared legislative practice with other regions.

Medal 'For Valiant Labour', III degree (2007), II degree (2010) and I degree (2013), awarded for his contribution to the agro-industrial complex, food security and rural development programmes.

Medal 'For Services to Stavropol Krai' (2016).

Hero of Labour of Stavropol (2024), the region's highest labour honour, announced by the Duma of Stavropol Krai in April 2024.

Velikdan gave long interviews to regional media, including a 2016 conversation with Bloknot Stavropol titled 'Words followed by deeds, and deeds followed by harvest,' in which he discussed his childhood, his setbacks and his views on agriculture. He appeared regularly on Svoyo TV, GTRK Stavropolye and the Duma's own channels, including annual reviews of the legislature's work in the 'Parliamentary Bulletin' programme, and in local coverage of harvest inspections and holiday addresses.

On 21 July 2022 the European Union added Velikdan to its sanctions list, stating that he had publicly supported and promoted Russia's invasion of Ukraine and spread propaganda about it. Ukraine sanctioned him on 19 October 2022 for supporting actions that undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, and Switzerland also listed him. The Anti-Corruption Foundation had earlier included him in its list of people it proposed for international sanctions.

Bloknot Stavropol reported that his work on stray animal policy, including capture, sterilisation and shelters and calls to change federal rules, led to disputes with prosecutors and animal welfare advocates.

Nikolay Velikdan died on 25 September 2026 at the age of 70, in the 71st year of his life. His death was announced that morning by Governor Vladimir Vladimirov, and the Duma said his contribution to the region was priceless. The place and cause of death were not made public.

He died only days after the 18 to 20 September 2026 elections, in which he had won a seat in the eighth convocation of the Duma on the United Russia list. A civil memorial was held on Saturday, 26 September 2026, at the Stavropol Krai Drama Theatre in Stavropol, where Metropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk led a memorial service. He was buried in his native settlement of Sovetskoye Runo in Ipatovsky District. On 1 October 2026 the new Duma elected Lyubov Makovskaya as its chairman.