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Valentina Matviyenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former governor of St. Petersburg, just became the most powerful woman in Russia since the rule of Catherine the Great. Valentina Matviyenko. ...
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Valentina Matviyenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former governor of St. Petersburg, just became the most powerful woman in Russia since the rule of Catherine the Great.
Valentina Matviyenko. (Dmitry Lovetsky - AP) Matviyenko was voted in as the speaker of Russia?s upper house of parliament in a nearly unanimous vote, making her the first woman in the post, the most powerful woman in the country, and third in line after the president and prime minister, the Telegraph reports.
The no-nonsense Kremlin loyalist said her goal as speaker was to reform the upper house of parliament and get rid of its image as a ?(legislative) rubber stamp.?
Catherine the Great, during her 34-year reign, was known for her work in reforming the administration of the country and brought Russia into its golden age. But she also was said to have voracious appetites. While historians say Catherine died of a stroke, a persistent story is that after attempting to have sexual intercourse with a stallion, she was crushed to death when the harness holding the horse above her broke.
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