Nikolai Kondratenko was born on 16 February 1940 in the village of Plastunkovskaya in Dinskoy District, Krasnodar Krai.

From 1984 to 1987, he was the head of the Department of Agriculture, then the Second Secretary of the Krasnodar Krai Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In August 1991, by decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, he was relieved of his position in connection with supporting the August Coup; a criminal case was initiated against him, which was later declared illegal and canceled.

[1] In December 1996, he received 82% of the vote and was elected Governor of Krasnodar Krai, serving from 1997 to 2001, a position in which he was preceded by Nikolai Yegorov, and succeeded by Alexander Tkachov.

[3] His son Aleksey Kondratenko is also a politician, and has been a senator from Krasnodar Krai since 22 September 2015.