Irina Khakamada

Khakamada in 2014, photo by magicinfoto/bigstock.com

Birth Name: Irina Mutsuovna Khakamada

Place of Birth: Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia)

Date of Birth: 13 April, 1955

Ethnicity:
*father – Japanese
*mother – Russian, Armenian, Lezgin

Irina Khakamada is a Russian economist, political activist, journalist, publicist, and politician. She has been a Member of the State Duma, from 12 December, 1993 to 29 December, 2003, and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, from 31 May, 2000 to 29 December, 2003.

Her father, Mutsuo Hakamada, was Japanese. He was a communist who defected to the Soviet Union in 1939. Her paternal uncle is Satomi Hakamada, a longtime member of the Japanese Communist Party leadership. Her mother, Nina Sinelnikova, is of Russian and Armenian heritage. She is partly of Lezgic heritage, which is an ethnic group native predominantly to southern Dagestan. She has two children.