Laurentiy Iosifovich Verizov
The Honourable Laurentiy Iosifovich Verizov Лаврентий Иосифович Веризов | |
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| Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee | |
| Assumed office 11 May 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Alexander Kovalevsky |
| Shadow Minister for the Far Eastern Federal District | |
| Assumed office 18 May 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Eva Koltsova |
| Member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee | |
| In office 11 August 2012 – 5 January 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Eleonora Voronina |
| Succeeded by | Ippolit Koltsov |
| Spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior | |
| In office 26 November 2010 – 3 June 2014 | |
| Deputy of the Zemsky Sobor | |
| Assumed office 13 May 2010 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Laurentiy Iosifovich Verizov Лаврентий Иосифович Веризов Lavrentiy Iosifovich Verizov 22 June 1979 (age 45) Zolodolina, Zolodolina Zone, Seredinia |
| Nationality | Seredinian |
| Political party | Kadets |
| Spouse | Lucya Obolenskaya (m. 2007) |
| Relations | Laurentiy Verizov (great-grandfather) |
| Children | Alexander Nikolay Anastasia Alena |
| Alma mater | State University of Zolodolina (B.A. Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) |
| Profession | Politician |
Laurentiy Iosifovich Verizov (Seredyan: Лаврентий Иосифович Веризов, tr. Lavrentiy Iosifovich Verizov; b. 22 June 1979) is a Seredinian politician and the great-grandson of former Seredinian President Laurentiy Petrovich Verizov. He is currently the Deputy Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee as well as Shadow Minister for the Far Eastern Federal District in Innokentiy Isyanov's shadow cabinet. He has previously been a member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, and was Spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior while the Kadets were in government from 2010 until 2014. Ideologically, Verizov is considered a centrist, maintaining liberal economic as well as social positions.
The great-grandson of Laurentiy Petrovich, Laurentiy Iosifovich was born in the Seredinian capital of Zolodolina to Iosif and his wife, Polina Nikitovna Verizova neé Stepanova, on 22 June 1979. His father, Iosif Mikhailovich, is the third child of the late Mikhail Laurentiovich, himself the eldest son of Laurentiy Petrovich. Descending from the so-called political dynasty Verizov clan, Laurentiy Iosifovich attended the State University of Zolodolina, playing an active role in the university's Kadet wing and graduating in 1999 with a baccalaureate in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. Laurentiy Iosifovich went directly to work for his aunt, Anna Mikhailovna, herself a deputy of the Zemsky Sobor. After working in her Zolodolina offices for a number of years, including her term as Minister for Finance, Laurentiy Iosifovich ran for the Sobor first in 2005, and then again in 2010, earning a higher placement on the Kadet list and thus joining the Federal Assembly's lower house.
Verizov has had a quick rise through the ranks of the Kadets and the Zemsky Sobor, common to his family, and allegations of nepotism have trailed him since his work for his aunt Anna Mikhailovna. Opposition deputies and even some anonymous members of the Kadet Sobor delegation have noted Laurentiy Iosifovich's supposed "lack of ambition" as well as an alleged "general lack of understanding" with regard to many parliamentary rules and procedures. They have also called rumors of Verizov succeeding Kadet leader Innokentiy Isyanov "preposterous", and Ispolnitel Nadezhda Vyrubova called Verizov a "pale imitation" of his great-grandfater Laurentiy Petrovich in a leaked 2011 conversation among Social Democratic and Kadet deputies.