Oksana Anatolyevna Kislitsyna (born presumably in the 1970s) is a Nizhny Novgorod public official who has served as the Human Rights Commissioner for Nizhny Novgorod Region since August 27, 2020, and was reappointed to this post in August 2025. She previously headed the Nizhny Novgorod Region Election Commission.

Education and early career

In 1998 she graduated with honors from the Volgo-Vyatskaya Gosudarstvennoy Sluzhby Academy with a degree in State and Municipal Administration, and in 2008 from Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University with a degree in Law. She holds the academic degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences.[1]

She began her working life in 1993 at the Elektromash plant, where she worked as a parts picker in the technical documentation department until 1997. In 1998 she briefly served as an assistant to a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Region, and then as a leading specialist of the Committee on Ecology of the same body.[3]

Work in the electoral system

From 1999 to 2016 she worked at the Nizhny Novgorod Region Election Commission, successively holding the positions of leading specialist, chief specialist, consultant, head of the organizational and methodological department, and head of the organizational and personnel department.[3] In December 2016 she was appointed a voting member of the commission and on December 16 of the same year was elected its chair.[3]

As chair of the regional election commission, she paid particular attention to the openness of the election commissions' work and to cooperation with political parties, law enforcement agencies, and nonprofit organizations.[3] In March 2020 she stated that the regional electoral system was ready for the nationwide vote on amendments to the Russian Constitution, noting the provisions made for voting at home and at one's location of stay.[4] Her term as chair of the commission expired on June 1, 2020.[1]

Human Rights Commissioner

On July 30, 2020, the Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Region approved Kislitsyna's candidacy for the post of Human Rights Commissioner by secret ballot.[3] On August 27, 2020, she took up her duties as ombudsman.[1]

In May 2022, she held a personal reception at temporary accommodation centers in Pavlovo and Bogorodsk: members of her staff reviewed 38 appeals from citizens of the DPR, the LPR, and Ukraine. Most of the questions concerned the restoration of lost documents, the processing of Russian citizenship, the search for work and housing, and the receipt of pensions accrued in the Donbas republics.[2]

On August 28, 2025, the Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Region confirmed Kislitsyna for a second term in this position. The candidacy was submitted by Governor Gleb Nikitin and was approved by the federal Human Rights Commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova.[1][5]

Sources

  1. Legislative Assembly of Nizhny Novgorod Region — Deputies of the regional parliament confirmed the candidacy of Oksana Kislitsyna for the position of Human Rights Commissioner (archive)
  2. Kommersant (Volga Region) — Oksana Kislitsyna discussed the legal problems of those evacuated from Donbas with them — Kommersant Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  3. Vremya N — Deputies approved the candidacy of Kislitsyna for the position of Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Commissioner (archive)
  4. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — "The system of Nizhny Novgorod election commissions is ready for the All-Russian vote", (archive)
  5. Business News. Time to Earn — Oksana Kislitsyna has been reappointed as Nizhny Novgorod's human rights ombudsman