Sergey Bekov

Sergey (Serazhetdin) Mazhitovich Bekov (; born 27 November 1939) is a Soviet and Russian state official, former party functionary and customs-service official. In the 1960s–1980s, he worked in agriculture and party structures in the Checheno-Ingush ASSR, and was twice sent as an adviser to Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War. In 1990–1991, he served as chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Checheno-Ingush ASSR during the late-Soviet political crisis and the collapse of republican institutions.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Bekov held senior positions in the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation, including deputy chairman and state secretary–deputy chairman. He held the special rank of colonel general of the customs service. From 2001 to 2002, he represented the People's Assembly of the Republic of Ingushetia in the Federation Council, and from 2006 to 2010 he was a Federation Council member from the executive authority of Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug.

Early life and education Bekov was born on 27 November 1939 in the village of Verkhniye Achaluki, Malgobeksky District, in the Checheno-Ingush ASSR. He is Ingush by ethnicity.

After finishing secondary school, Bekov worked at the Mineralnye Vody plant from 1957 to 1958.

In 1960, Bekov entered the fruit-and-vegetable faculty of the Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. On 4 June 1992, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation adopted the law "On the Formation of the Ingush Republic within the Russian Federation". The law established the Ingush Republic and a transitional period for resolving related issues.

In September 1991, the previous republican organs of power in Checheno-Ingushetia collapsed. After a multi-day rally and the opposition's seizure of the television centre, the Radio House and the House of Political Education, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Checheno-Ingushetia, Doku Zavgayev, resigned, and de facto power passed to structures of the Chechen National Congress led by Dzhokhar Dudayev. In October, Bekov was removed from power by Dudayev.

Customs service and RSPP On 27 January 1992, Bekov was appointed deputy chairman of the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation. On 16 November 1996, Bekov was included in the Government Commission for Countering the Abuse of Narcotic Drugs and Their Illicit Trafficking.

On 28 January 1997, Bekov was appointed state secretary–deputy chairman of the State Customs Committee. In June 1997, he headed the representation of the State Customs Committee of Russia at the customs service of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In July 1998, he returned to Moscow and became head of the customs service organisation directorate of the State Customs Committee.

From March 2001 to October 2002, Bekov was a member of the Federation Council from the Republic of Ingushetia, representing the region's legislative body.

On 14 July 2006, the Federation Council confirmed Bekov's powers as a member of the chamber from the executive authority of Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug.

One of his sons is Magomed Bekov. On 24 September 2013, he was appointed first deputy chairman of the government of the Republic of Ingushetia. In May 2014, Magomed Bekov resigned as deputy chairman of the government. In 2014, Republic.ru wrote that in his mandatory income declaration Magomed Bekov had listed 179 land plots with a total area of 855,960 square metres, mainly in the Istra and Krasnogorsk districts of Moscow Oblast. The publication estimated the value of the plots at more than 2 billion rubles. Magomed Bekov said that most of the land had been acquired in 2005, when he owned Atlas, an investment company involved in building cottage settlements in the Istra district of Moscow Oblast.

Personal and special ranks State Councillor of the Customs Service, 3rd rank (19 March 1992). State Councillor of the Customs Service, 1st rank (25 March 1993). Colonel general of the customs service. Certificate of Honour of the Government of the Russian Federation (1994). Order of the Red Star (1990). Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1984). Order of the Badge of Honour (1981). Order of the Badge of Honour (1976). Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow". Medal "Veteran of Labour". Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR". Order of the Red Banner (Afghanistan). Order of Friendship of Peoples of Afghanistan. Honoured Customs Officer of the Russian Federation. Certificate of Honour of the Federation Council.