since 2008, Ambassador Mikhail Shvydkoy has been Special Envoy for International Cultural Cooperation to President Dmitry Medvedev, and from 2008-2008 he was the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. Before becoming Minister of Culture, Ambassador Shvydkoy held many prestigious positions, including editor-in-chief of Channel 5 and later Chairman of Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, Deputy Minister of Culture, and General Manager of the Kultura Publishing Complex. He is also co-chair of the Bilateral Presidential Commission's Working Group on Education, Culture, Sports and Media (a subcommittee of President Barack Obama and President Medvedev's US-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission) and the President of the Russian Academy of Television.

He is a distinguished professor of foreign theater history and a member of the Academy of Humanities. He is also a member of the Russian Writers Union, Union of Theater Workers, and Union of Journalists. Major publications include the books Drama, Theater, Life; Secrets of Lonely Actors; and Notes on Foreign Theater of the Second Half of the Twentieth Century. He has authored numerous publications in various newspapers and magazines and over 600 papers in academic editions in Russia, Germany, the United States, and many other countries. He is the author of the Russian and Soviet theater section in the World Theater Encyclopedia published by Toronto University.

His lecture experience includes more than 20 years of teaching at GITIS (the state academy theater) and at several universities throughout the United States, including Yale and Stanford. He also speaks in Europe on the subjects of theater history of the Soviet Union, Russia, European theater, and politics, art, culture, and media.

Ambassador Shvydkoy was awarded the Order of Honor from the Russian Federation and L'Ordre du Mérite from the Republic of France. He also holds the title of Merited Master of Culture from Poland.

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