Ivan Besedin appointed Head of Moscow Metro

09 February 2011

The mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin has issued a decree appointing Ivan Besedin as a new Head of Moscow Metro and concluding a five-year employment contract with him. The former Moscow Metro Head Dmitry Gaev has been dismissed at his own request.

Ivan Besedin was born in Baku in 1954. In 1976, he graduated from Moscow Institute of Railway Engineers (MIIT) as engineer-electrician. Later on, he qualified for a degree of a bachelor of technical sciences.

After graduation, Besedin worked as a junior research assistant at MIIT. He also worked as a senior engineer and a senior researcher there.

In 1985, Ivan Besedin began working for the Russian Railways Ministry. He started as a chief expert, and then moved up career ladder to the positions of department chief, first deputy chief of the main economic department, chief of the department for economics and development. In 1993, he got appointed as deputy railways minister, and in 1995 – first deputy minister of the Russian Railways Ministry.

In 2000-2001, Besedin worked as deputy chairman of Organization for Cooperation of Railways in Warsaw.

In April 2002, he was deputy chairman of the Federal Energy Commission of the Russian Federation.

In September 2003, Besedin began working as a director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Railway Transport, and three years later, in September 2006, he was appointed the chief of the Kaliningrad Railways.

Ivan Besedin has been awarded the Order of Friendship (1993), and the Medal for the Development of Railways (2008).

Since December 1995, the head of the Moscow metro was Dmitri Gayev.