She has been protecting children’s rights since 2008
Maria Lvova-Belova, a senator of the Federation Council, became the new Commissioner for Children’s Rights under the President of the Russian Federation instead of Anna Kuznetsova, who moved to the State Duma. Maria is 37 years old, she is a graduate of the Samara Academy of Culture and Art. Since 2008, Maria has been engaged in public and political activities in the field of protecting the rights of children with disabilities.
Photo: kremlin.ru
At a glance, the new ombudsman has a lot in common with Anna Kuznetsova, who has gone to the vice-speaker of the lower house of the Duma. Maria Lvova-Belova is also a priest’s wife and a mother with many children. She and her husband Pavel Kogelman (ordained to the ROC in 2019, before that he worked as a programmer) have 5 children of their own. In 2012 and 2013, four more foster children appeared in their family. How is sheShe also said in an interview with Vladimir Putin, “thirteen young children with disabilities are under guardianship, but they do not live with me, they live in my assisted living projects.” It is interesting that at one time both ladies – who resigned from the post of Ombudsman and who had just assumed this position – worked in the same Penza social organization.
Maria Lvova-Belova is known as the founder and executive director of the autonomous non-profit Penza organization for the promotion of social adaptation of the individual “Louis Quarter”. The name of this rehabilitation center for helping young people with disabilities was given in honor of Louis Armstrong. As a child, the future musician was left without careHe lived in a dangerous area called the “Battlefield”, and if it weren’t for the neighbors-trustees, he probably wouldn’t have become a great jazz player. In 2017, on the initiative of Maria Lvova-Belova, the first boarding school in Russia for young people with severe disabilities “Veronika’s House” began operating in Penza. She entered politics in Lviv-Belova in 2019, the same year she joined the United Russia party.
– I have known Maria Lvova-Belova since about 2009– – writer Alexander Gezalov, known for supporting orphans, told MK. – In communication, he is a pleasant, intelligent person. Yes, perhaps part of the biography really connects her with Anna Kuznetsova. I know Maria more from working with children with disabilities than from protecting orphans. Working with orphaned children is always a separate, very difficult story. I wish Maria great success, strength and attention for everyone.