Recently, politician Vitaly Milonov has become known not only to residents of St. Petersburg, but also to other Russians. His activities evoke the most contradictory responses: from stormy, unconditional approval, to sharp rejection and accusations of medieval obscurantism.
Vitaly Valentinovich Milonov is a native of St. Petersburg (more precisely, then the city was still called Leningrad). He was born in January 1974, and began to engage in politics in the 90s, while still a very young man. From 1997 to 1998 he was an assistant to the then famous political and public figure - G. V. Starovoitova. After her murder, according to the official version, by members of the Tambov criminal group and the motives of which have not yet been fully clarified, V. V. Milonov was an assistant to the deputy V. A. Tyulpanov, a deputy of the Dachnoe municipality, and the head of the Krasnenkaya Rechka municipality. In 2006 he graduated from the North-West Academy of Public Administration, and the following year he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. Two years later, he took over as chairman of the legislative committee.
In 2011 V. V. Milonov again became a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. It should be noted that his election campaign turned out to be very scandalous, with numerous complaints about bribery of voters and falsification of voting results.
With the name of V. V. Milonov is associated with a number of speeches, initiatives and bills, many of which can only be called dubious and even scandalous. If such his initiative as a ban on smoking hookahs in public places can be considered quite understandable and beneficial for people's health, then his opposition to the awarding of the title of honorary citizen of St. Petersburg to the famous director A. Sokurov, and even more so against teaching Darwin's theory in schools, drew sharp criticism. The same reaction was caused by the proposal of V. V. Milonov to create a morality police in the city, consisting of Cossacks and believers.
But the most famous "brainchild" of deputy Milonov is the law banning the promotion of homosexuality among minors. According to him, such propaganda will be considered an administrative offense and will be punished with a monetary fine. It was adopted by the legislative assembly of St. Petersburg despite a loud propaganda campaign unleashed by adherents of same-sex love in Russia and their supporters abroad, including well-known political figures and creative personalities. It was this law that caused the warm approval of the majority of Russians and the fierce rejection of those who saw in it homophobia and a return to totalitarianism.
