Andrey Zubov

Andrey Borisovich Zubov (, born 16 January 1952, Moscow) is a Russian historian, religion scholar and political scientist, Doctor of History, prominent public person, church figure, political activist and commentator. He was also the Vice-president of the former People's Freedom Party.

Zubov is a former Professor of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). He temporarily lost his job after making a comparison of the deployment of Russian troops in Crimea with Hitler's annexation of Austria in the Russian newspaper Vedomosti. One month later he was reinstated to his position until his contract at the MGIMO officially expired.

Biography Andrey Zubov was born on January 16, 1952, in Moscow. He Graduated from Moscow School No. 56 in 1968. In the same year, he entered the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (Department of International Relations).

Upon his graduation in 1973, he started working at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 1978, he defended his candidate’s thesis on ‘Experience of parliamentary democracy research in Thailand’.

In 1989, he defended his doctoral thesis in history on ‘Parliamentary democracy and political tradition of the East’.

Between 1988 and 1994, he taught history of religions at the Moscow Theological Academy, where he was appointed associate professor in 1990.

From 1994 to 2012, he was Head of the Department of Religion Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of the Russian Orthodox University.

In 2014–2018, he was a columnist at Novaya Gazeta.

In 2022, he moved to Czech Republic, working in Masaryk University.

In February 2023, Zubov was listed by Russian government as a "foreign agent".

Professor Zubov speaks English, Thai and French.

Academic career and publications Initially, Andrey Zubov focused himself on the political history of Thailand and Asian parliamentary systems. Under the influence of the famous Russian indianist, Vsevolod Sementsov and his wife, Olga Zubova (Egyptologist) he became interested in comparative religious studies.

Since 1993, he has been lecturing and writing books on the history of religious ideas. He taught the history of religious ideas at Moscow Theological Academy (1988–1994), Russian Orthodox University (1994–2011), MGIMO (2001–2014), Russian State University for the Humanities (1994–1998), etc.

In 2006, he became the editor-in-chief of a multivolume book on Russian history, ’History of Russia. XX century.’ The writing team united more than 45 contributors from Russia, Russian diaspora, European and American specialists in Russian studies (Vittorio Strada, Richard Pipes). The project was originally developed under the leadership of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who read and edited most of the manuscript (approximately until 1956), but in autumn 2007. Solzhenitsyn chose to take distance from it (the reasons are revealed in his letter to Zubov, a copy of which is available in the blog russia_xx ) The book was published in two volumes in 2009 (volume 1: Introductory chapter and 1894–1939 period, volume 2: 1939-2007 period). In 2016-17 a new three-volume edition came out (volume 1: Introductory Chapter and 1894–1922 period; Volume 2: 1923-1953 period; Volume 3: 1953-2008 period).

The book was translated in Czech and published in two volumes in Prague.

Since his expulsion from the MGIMO, Professor Zubov has made frequent appearances in opposition media, expressing himself among other issues on historical matters.

In 2014, A.B.Zubov was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine), in 2019 he became an Honorary Doctor of Masaryk University (Brno, Czech Republic).

Social, political and church activities

Andrey Zubov is a practicing Orthodox Christian.

He is a member of the editorial board of the Kontinent journal. In 1998 he was awarded the Znamya Foundation Prize.

On July 16, 2005, by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was included in the working group for the development of ‘a conceptual document on the position of the Russian Orthodox Church in inter-religious relations’.

He has been a member of the National Alliance of Russian Solidarists (NTS) since 2003.

Andrey Zubov was awarded the orders of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow (III degree) and St. Sergius of Radonezh (III degree) in 2006 and 2008 personally by Patriarch Alexy II.

On June 29, 2009, by the decision of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' Kirill, Professor Zubov was included in the editorial board for writing a textbook for the course ‘Basics of Orthodox Christian Culture’ for high school.

On September 29, 2009, he took part in the conference ‘Religion and Political Culture’ organized in Rome by the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. He made a report on the relationship between the Church and the Russian State in the 20th century.

In March 2012, he publicly expressed his opposition to Pussy Riot trial: in his opinion, the punishment was disproportionate, and even in the Russian Empire sentences in similar cases were less severe.

In the spring of 2014, he criticized Russia’s actions in Crimea, comparing it to the Anschluss. In September that year, he was one of the signatories to a declaration that stated that a political regime of "fascist type" was fast taking shape in Russia and called on the authorities ‘to put an end to the aggressive adventure: to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine and to stop propaganda as well as material and military support to the separatists in southeastern Ukraine’.

In spring 2016, Andrey Zubov announced that he would take part in the State Duma elections as a member of the People’s Freedom Party. He came in the third place in his constituency.

In February 2022, he condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Shortly before the invasion, Zubov said: "In Russia we have no possibility to influence our government or our parliament. But I signed [anti-war petition] so that I could express my opinion and distance myself from Russia's ruling elite, which is breaking international law."

Works Professor Zubov has published eight major books and more than 300 articles.

Books

Парламентаризм в Таиланде: опыт исследования современного восточного общества методом анализа избирательной статистики (Parliamentary System in Thailand: a Study of a Contemporary Asian Society by Analysing Electoral Statistics), Moscow, 1982. Парламентская демократия и политическая традиция Востока (Parliamentary Democracy and Asian Political Tradition), Moscow, 1990. L’Euroasia del Nord : Il rischio del caos dopo l’impero sovetico / Ed.San Paolo. Turin — Milano, 1994. Обращение к русскому национальному правопорядку как нравственная задача и политическая цель (Return to the Russian National System of Justice as a Moral Task and a Political Goal), Moscow, 1997.

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Family

Wife: Olga Igorevna Zubova, born 1948, historian, Egyptologist. Married since 1982. Father: Boris Nikolayevich Zubov (1912–2007), Russian shipbuilder, admiral. Mother: Ia Evgeniyevna Zubova (Savostyanova) (1916–2005). Associate Professor of the Department of General Chemical Technology, candidate of Technical Sciences. Brother: Sergey Borisovich Zubov, born in 1944. Children: Xenia, Irina, Daria, Daniil.