Dmitry Ivanovich Bednyakov (born October 11, 1952) is a lawyer and politician, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Region of the VII convocation (2021–2026), member of the "United Russia" faction, and advisor-mentor to the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region [2]. From 1991 to 1994 he headed the administration of Nizhny Novgorod [1]; in 1994 he was removed from office by a presidential decree, and three years later the same president declared his own decree invalid [3][4].

Biography

He was born in Ivanovo Region. He has a higher legal education, is a candidate of legal sciences, an associate professor, an Honored Worker of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, and a Second Class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation. From 1977 to 1982 he was senior investigator for especially important cases at the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Voronezh regional executive committee; from 1985 to 1991 he was a lecturer, head of department, and dean of a faculty at the Nizhny Novgorod Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. In 1991 he became head of the administration of Nizhny Novgorod and ran the city until 1994. He is the author of more than 40 works on combating economic crime and a laureate of the top national legal award "Femida-99" in the "Lawmaking" category [1].

The 1994 removal and the annulment of the decree

By a presidential decree of March 30, 1994, Dmitry Bednyakov, acting mayor of Nizhny Novgorod, was removed from office "for a single violation of labor discipline" [4]; the decree itself spoke of relieving him of his duties as mayor [3]. In Nizhny Novgorod the removal was widely seen as the doing of Governor Boris Nemtsov, who was in conflict with the head of the city at the time. Bednyakov himself told a correspondent of "Kommersant-Daily" that the conflict stemmed from local self-government wanting more independence than the region was willing to grant it, especially on financial matters [3].

On September 19, 1997, Boris Yeltsin signed a decree "On Bednyakov D. I.," which revoked his own decree of three years earlier bearing the same title: Bednyakov was rehabilitated "in connection with newly discovered circumstances" [3][4]. A copy of the decree was handed to him by Yury Lebedev, the president's representative for Nizhny Novgorod Region. According to lawyers, the only thing he could count on was back pay for the period from his dismissal to the day of the mayoral election, held in December 1995; Bednyakov said he would not use this opportunity and was considering running in the mayoral election the following March [3].

Outside parliament

In September 1998 Bednyakov ran for mayor of Nizhny Novgorod in the repeat election: the results of the March vote, won by Andrei Klementyev, had been annulled, and the winner himself ended up in pretrial detention. "Kommersant" counted three clear front-runners in the campaign — Bednyakov, former presidential representative Yury Lebedev, and State Duma deputy Vladimir Semago; the regional administration decided to back Bednyakov — "quietly, of course, so as not to scare off the voters," the paper noted [5]. Just days before the vote, the city election commission received complaints about the campaign ads of both front-runners. Unnamed complainants accused Bednyakov of "simply bribing voters by handing out gifts," and Lebedev of using in his ad statements by residents calling "for the physical elimination of officials — the president and the governor." Lebedev's campaign headquarters, meanwhile, was confident the election commission would "limit itself to issuing warnings to both candidates"; the paper did not report how the matter was resolved. According to opinion polls, Bednyakov was firmly in third place. [6]

He served as advisor to the chairman of the Federation Council (2006–2010) and advisor to the head of the Federal Tariff Service (2010–2015), and from November 20, 2015, took up duties as advisor to Governor Valery Shantsev on legal and judicial matters [1]. He later held the post of advisor-mentor to the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region [8][2].

In the Legislative Assembly

From 2001 to 2002 Bednyakov was chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Region, and from 2002 to 2006 a member of the Federation Council representing the regional legislature and the Federation Council's representative to the Supreme Arbitration Court [1]. His term as senator ended with the election of a new regional parliament on March 12, 2006: Governor Valery Shantsev decided to recommend his deputy Leonid Belov for the Federation Council instead, saying that Belov "is able to bring more benefit to the Federation Council than Dmitry Ivanovich Bednyakov" [7].

In the VII convocation he took part in the meetings of the committees on state power, on social affairs, and on taxes [8][9][10]. On April 21, 2025, at a meeting of the committee on state power, he urged the regional human rights ombudsman Oksana Kislitsyna to do more to help civil servants under investigation: in his words, a person can often spend up to six months under investigation only to receive a suspended sentence or a fine in the end [8].

In July 2026 the tax committee discussed a government-submitted bill amending the Budget Code, under which "Dom.RF" would become an agent for regions and municipalities in selling off dilapidated cultural heritage sites, earning a fee of at least 20% of the sale proceeds. Bednyakov recalled that in 1993, when he was head of the Nizhny Novgorod city administration, he had been offered the chance to set up a limited liability company, "Stary Nizhny" (Old Nizhny), for the same purpose, and concluded: "Yet in 30 years the company has survived, but no radical change has happened with the cultural heritage sites, unfortunately. So in this case, it seems to me, it will be the same story: in the words of a well-known humorist, this is just another legal way to extract money from regional budgets." The committee recommended rejecting the amendments [9].

In the influence ranking of deputies compiled by "Nizhny Seychas," he placed 11th in 2025 and 26th in 2026, both times in the "Medium Influence" group [11][2]. On August 19, 2026, at a meeting of the social affairs committee, Bednyakov announced that he would not run for the next convocation of the Legislative Assembly and delivered a farewell speech: "I want to ask for forgiveness, to apologize for sometimes being a bore. I asked some questions that didn't really need asking" [10].

Sources

  1. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Dmitry Bednyakov appointed advisor to Valery Shantsev (12/03/2015) (archived)
  2. Nizhny Seychas — Influence ranking of ZSNO deputies — 2026 (08/20/2026)
  3. Kommersant (Volga region) — Yeltsin rehabilitates the mayor of Nizhny (09/25/1997) (archived)
  4. Kommersant (Volga region) — The Council on Self-Government. Who the Kremlin failed to remove (10/01/1997) (archived)
  5. Kommersant (Volga region) — Kommersant Vlast — Elections in Nizhny. Nowhere lower to go (09/08/1998) (archived)
  6. Kommersant (Volga region) — The election battle in Nizhny Novgorod (09/22/1998) (archived)
  7. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Swapping Bednyakov for Belov (05/04/2006) (archived)
  8. Nizhny Seychas — Deputy Bednyakov urges the human rights ombudsman to do more to protect civil servants under investigation (04/21/2025) (archived)
  9. Kommersant (Volga region) — Mission impossible for the commission (07/28/2026) (archived)
  10. Nizhny Seychas — ZSNO deputy Bednyakov apologizes for being a bore (08/19/2026) (archived)
  11. Nizhny Seychas — Influence ranking of deputies of the Nizhny Novgorod Legislative Assembly — 2025 (10/30/2025)