Maria Gaidar
Maria Yegorovna Gaidar (Russian: Мари́я Его́ровна Гайда́р; 1990–2004 Smirnova (Russian: Смирно́ва); born 21 October 1982, Moscow) is a Russian political activist and since July 2015 a vice-governor of Odessa Oblast in Ukraine. From 2009 till 2011 Gaidar was a deputy governor in Kirov Oblast in Russia. She is also the founder of the Youth movement "DA!" ("Yes!").
Personal life
Maria Gaidar is the daughter of former Russian Prime Minister, Yegor Gaidar. She is a granddaughter of Soviet admiral Timur Gaidar, and a great-granddaughter of famous Soviet writers Arkady Gaidar and Pavel Bazhov. Maria's parents divorced in 1985, three years after she was born. Gaida stayed with her mother, Irina Smirnova. In 1991 the family moved to Cochabamba, Bolivia, where they lived for five years. In 1996 she returned to Moscow.
In 2000 she entered and in 2005 graduated summa cum laude from the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation.
Gaidar is fluent in English, German, Spanish and her native Russian. In 2011, she was admitted to Harvard University for a Mid-Career Masters in Public Administration, where she studied for 8 months. In 2014 she graduated from Kutafin Moscow State Law University.
