{{Short description|Russian journalist (born 1975)}} {{family name hatnote|Aleksandrovna|Timakova|lang=Eastern Slavic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Natalya Timakova | native_name = {{nobold|Наталья Тимакова}} | image = Natalya Timakova.jpg | office = [[Kremlin Press Secretary]] | president = [[Dmitry Medvedev]] | term_start = 13 May 2008 | term_end = 21 May 2012 | predecessor = [[Alexey Gromov]] | successor = [[Dmitry Peskov]] | birth_name = Natalya Aleksandrovna Timakova | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1975|4|12|df=yes}} | birth_place = Alma Ata, [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]], [[Soviet Union]] (now [[Almaty]], [[Kazakhstan]]) | death_date = | death_place = | party = | alma_mater = | profession = | signature = | spouse = Alexander Budberg | caption = Timakova in 2004 }}

'''Natalya Aleksandrovna Timakova''' ({{langx|ru|Наталья Александровна Тимакова}}; born 12 April 1975<ref name="komm151102">{{cite news|url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=351147|last=Bulavinov|first=Ilya|script-title=ru:Наш человек в Кремле пошел в гору|date=15 November 2002|publisher=[[Kommersant]]|accessdate=8 June 2009|language=ru}}</ref>) is a Russian [[journalist]]. From 2008 to 2018, she was the [[press secretary]] of Russian politician [[Dmitry Medvedev]].

She has the federal state civilian service rank of [[1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation]].<ref>{{cite act|type=Decree|index=655|date=10 June 2003|legislature=[[President of Russia]]|title=О присвоении квалификационного разряда Тимаковой Н.А.|language=ru|url=http://pravo.gov.ru/proxy/ips/?searchres=&bpas=cd00000&a3=102000503&a3type=1&a3value=&a6=102000070&a6type=1&a6value=&a15=&a15type=1&a15value=&a7type=1&a7from=&a7to=&a7date=10.06.2003&a8=655&a8type=1&a1=&a0=&a16=&a16type=1&a16value=&a17=&a17type=1&a17value=&a4=&a4type=1&a4value=&a23=&a23type=1&a23value=&textpres=&sort=7&x=63&y=14}}</ref>

== Early life and education == Timakova was born in Alma Ata in the [[Kazakh SSR]] (now [[Almaty]], [[Kazakhstan]]) on 12 April 1975. She graduated from the [[Faculty of Arts|Faculty of Philosophy]] at [[Moscow State University]] in 1998.<ref name="lentapedia">{{cite web|url=http://lenta.ru/lib/14160247/|script-title=ru:Тимакова, Наталья|publisher=[[Lenta.ru|Lentapedia]]|language=Russian|accessdate=7 May 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427124757/http://lenta.ru/lib/14160247/|url-status=live|archivedate=27 April 2011}}</ref>

== Journalistic career ==

Timakova began working as a journalist in 1995 whilst studying at Moscow State, where she was a [[political journalism|political journalist]] for ''[[Moskovsky Komsomolets]]''. In 1996, Timakova was part of the Presidential [[Press pool|pool of journalists]] and she covered the [[election campaign]] of [[List of Russian Presidents|first Russian president]] [[Boris Yeltsin]] for the [[1996 Russian presidential election|1996 presidential election]]. In 1997, Timakova was a reporter and then senior political correspondent at ''[[Kommersant]]'', and worked for the [[publishing house]] until 1999.<ref name="lentapedia" /> In 1999, Timakova was the political correspondent for [[Interfax]].<ref name="lentapedia" />

== Government service ==

In 1999, Timakova was appointed as deputy head of the Government Information Department of the [[Russian government]], until she was appointed in 2000 as the deputy head of the [[Presidential Press and Information Office]], and from 2001 as first deputy head of the same office. On 4 November 2002, she was appointed by [[Russian president]] [[Vladimir Putin]] as first deputy press secretary for the president and head of the [[Kremlin Press Secretary|Presidential Press and Information Office]].<ref>{{Cite Russian law |ru_entity=Президент Российской Федерации |ru_type=Указ |ru_number=1290 |ru_date=04.11.2002 |ru_title=О первом заместителе пресс&nbsp;— секретаря президента российской федерации&nbsp;— начальнике управления пресс&nbsp;— службы президента российской федерации |ru_url=http://document.kremlin.ru/doc.asp?ID=014651 |en_entity=[[President of Russia]] |en_type=Ukaz |en_number=1290 |en_date=4 November 2002 |en_title=On the First Deputy Press Attaché for the President of the Russian Federation and Head of the Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation |en_url=http://document.kremlin.ru/doc.asp?ID=014651 }}</ref>

On 13 May 2008, Timakova was appointed by new president [[Dmitry Medvedev]] to the post of [[press secretary]] to the Russian president.<ref>{{Cite Russian law |ru_entity=Президент Российской Федерации |ru_type=Указ |ru_number=770 |ru_date=13.05.2008 |ru_title=О пресс-секретаре Президента Российской Федерации |ru_url=http://document.kremlin.ru/doc.asp?ID=045878 |en_entity=[[President of Russia]] |en_type=Ukaz |en_number=770 |en_date=13 May 2008 |en_title=On the Press Attaché to the President of the Russian Federation |en_url=http://document.kremlin.ru/doc.asp?ID=045878 }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20080515031122/https://document.kremlin.ru/doc.asp?ID=045878 Archived website]</ref> Timakova was a core member of Medvedev's presidential administration,<ref>{{cite book|last=Sakwa|first=Richard|authorlink=Richard Sakwa|title=The Crisis of Russian Democracy: The Dual State, Factionalism and the Medvedev Succession|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FHn6GavS9c0C|accessdate=8 May 2011|year=2011|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-14522-0|page=316|chapter=Medvedev's challenge}}</ref> and she was deemed by the [[Agency for Political and Economic Communications]] in 2011 to be the 44th most powerful figure, and to be the third most powerful female, in [[politics of Russia|Russian politics]], after [[Tatyana Golikova]] and [[Elvira Nabiullina]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ng.ru/ideas/2012-01-16/9_top100_2011.html|title=100 ведущих политиков России в 2011 году Подробнее|last=Orlov|first=Dmitry Ivanovich|date=16 January 2012|publisher=[[Nezavisimaya Gazeta]]|accessdate=4 February 2012|language=ru}}</ref>

On 22 May 2012, she was appointed as the Spokesman of the Prime Minister.<ref>[https://www.vesti.ru/article/1944227 Путин произвел кадровые назначения: экс-министры получили должности в администрации]. [[Vesti.ru]]. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2020.</ref>

After leaving government service, she was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the [[VEB.RF]] state development corporation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ria.ru/20180917/1528741895.html|title=Наталью Тимакову назначили заместителем председателя ВЭБ|date=2018-09-17|publisher=РИА Новости|language=ru|accessdate=2019-07-05}}</ref> In November 2021, Timakova was on the Expert Council of the [[Agency for Strategic Initiatives (Russia)|Agency for Strategic Initiatives]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.asi.ru/agency/supervisory_expert_board/|title=Наблюдательный и экспертный совет Агентства стратегических инициатив}}</ref>

==Personal life== She is married to businessman Alexander Budberg, who is the chairman of the executive committee of the [[Bolshoi Ballet]]'s board of trustees.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Remnick|first=David|author-link=David Remnick|date=11 March 2013|title=Danse Macabre {{!}} A scandal at the Bolshoi Ballet|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/18/danse-macabre|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>

== Awards ==

On 29 January 2009, [[South Ossetian president]] [[Eduard Kokoity]] signed an ukaz conferring on Timakova the [[Order of Friendship]] for "assistance in objective reporting of the [[2008 South Ossetia war|events around South Ossetia in 2008]]".<ref>{{cite news |date=29 January 2009 |title=Указ О награждении Орденом Дружбы Тимаковой Н.А. |url=http://presidentrso.ru/edicts/detail.php?ID=2238 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825022443/http://presidentrso.ru/edicts/detail.php?ID=2238 |archivedate=25 August 2011 |accessdate=7 May 2011 |publisher=[[President of South Ossetia]] |location=[[Tskhinvali]]}}</ref>

== Bibliography == In 2000, Timakova co-wrote ''First Person: Conversations with Vladimir Putin'' with [[Andrey Kolesnikov (journalist born 1966)|Andrey Kolesnikov]] and Nataliya Gevorkyan.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-sep-24-bk-25823-story.html|title=Homo Sovieticus|last=Khrushcheva|first=Nina|authorlink=Nina L. Khrushcheva|date=24 September 2000|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=4 February 2012}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == {{commons category|Natalya Timakova}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUhUnau5ClM Timakova interview] with [[Russia Today|RT]] discussing her position as Presidential Press Attaché {{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Alexey Gromov]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Kremlin Press Secretary]]|years=13 May 2008-21 May 2012}} {{s-aft|after=[[Dmitry Peskov]]}} |- {{s-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Timakova, Natalya}} [[Category:1975 births]] [[Category:21st-century Russian women journalists]] [[Category:21st-century Russian journalists]] [[Category:Moscow State University alumni]] [[Category:People from Almaty]] [[Category:Writers from Moscow]] [[Category:Medvedev Administration personnel]] [[Category:Spokespersons]] [[Category:Russian newspaper people]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Friendship (South Ossetia)]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Kremlin press secretaries]] [[Category:20th-century Russian women writers]] [[Category:20th-century Russian writers]] [[Category:1st class Active State Councillors of the Russian Federation]] [[Category:Recipients of the Stolypin Medal, 1st class]]