Member of the 7th State Duma, Director of the National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve in 2001–2016, Candidate of Biological Sciences.

He graduated from the Biology and Soil Faculty of Rostov State University in 1984 and later worked as a lecturer there.

[1] In 2014 he became a member the Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Culture and Art.

In 2016 he was elected President of the Russian Committee of the International Union of Museums.

He is a member of United Russia and a deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture.