In 1991, a group of employees of the All-Union Center for Public Opinion (VTSIOM) established an independent organization - the Public Opinion Foundation.

The group used its rich previous experience in the research field as a basis for the further successful development of the new organization.
POF's President is Alexander OSLON

The Public Opinion Foundation's Departments:

1. Department of Sociology
2. Fieldwork Department
3. Production Department
4. Editorial Department
5. Finance & Legal Department
6. Maintenance Department

The Public Opinion Foundation has a staff of about 60 full-time qualified specialists: sociologists, political analysts, psychologists, journalists, computer programmers, and specialists in data analysis. The Foundation has established a vast network of interviewers who are hired to conduct surveys.


Alexander Anatolyevitch Oslon. President of the Public Opinion Foundation. Candidate of Technical Sciences. He is married, and has a daughter.

Alexander Oslon was born in 1952 in the family of an electrical engineer. His birthplace was the town of Zlatoust in the Chelyabinsk region.

In 1956, his family moved to Perm, and in 1962, they moved to Tula.

In 1969, Mr. Oslon graduated from Secondary School Number 17, and entered Tula State Polytechnical Institute in the Cybernetics Engineering Department.

By 1972, he was programming various kinds of computers, and developing techniques for the mathematical analysis of empirical data.

In 1974, he graduated from the institute with a specialization in automation-telemetry, and started to work at the GSKTB ASU Project Institute. He worked there for 13 years, and built a successful career, advancing from Engineer to Chief Project Designer.

He conducted scientific work, including basic research into methods of data analysis, and its application in economy, sociology, branch analysis, computer-aided design, and so on. He also published around 30 papers on the subject.

In 1984, he defended his thesis in Technical Sciences at the Moscow Institute of Management Problems.

At the beginning of 1988, Oslon was invited to move to Moscow to work for the All-Union Center for Public Opinion Surveys (VCIOM), which had recently been organized. He worked as manager of the computer data processing department, and took an active part in building this organization. In 1990, he was appointed Vice-Director.

He took the lead in organizing the independent Public Opinion Foundation, which in 1992 separated from VCIOM, and started its own research.

Mr. Oslon worked as general director from the very beginning, and is now president.

During this period, the Public Opinion Foundation became one of the leading Russian organizations studying public opinion. In addition to its own research, the Foundation carries out many custom-designed projects using a wide spectrum of polling methods.

In 1996, the Public Opinion Foundation became the basic sociological organization for Boris Yeltsin's presidential campaign. Alexander Oslon was a member of the well-known Analytic Group guided by Anatoly Chubais and Viktor Ilushin.

After the voting, the Public Opinion Foundation continued to develop its many-faceted public opinion research of the Russian population. The results of these surveys have been presented to the highest levels of the presidential administration and government, and are open to the public on our Internet site.

In 1992-99, Oslon published articles in the Russian and foreign press, elucidating on the results of population surveys and methodological questions on the conduct of sociological research.

Elena Petrenko is a director in the Research Department and a Candidate of Science in Philosophy.

In 1963, she graduated from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute. In 1993, she finished her post-graduated studies at the USSR IKSI AN, defending a thesis in Philosophical Sciences on "Selective Methods in Sociological Research."

She is the author of more than 90 papers, including five monographs.

Ms. Petrenko worked at the All-Union Center for Public Opinion Surveys (VCIOM) since its foundation, and she joined the Public Opinion Foundation when it began independent operations.

Sociology is her main interest, but she also enjoys the music of Bach.



Anatoly Chernayakov. Vice-Director of the Sociology Department.

"I was born in 1940 in Moscow. When the war began our family was evacuated to Gorki (now Nizhni Novgorod). I have a vague recollection of fascist bombing - it was very frightening.

After the war, we returned to our old Moscow communal apartment. In my school years, like everyone else, I was a pioneer, and then a member of the Komsomol (Young Communist League), but I didn t like it. God successfully protected me from membership in the Communist Party. At the end of my school days, several events in public life impressed me very much: the Hungarian armed insurgence in 1956, and the 20th Congress of the Communist Party, where the personality cult of Stalin was unmasked.

In 1957, I entered Moscow State University in the Department of Russian Philology. V. N. Turbin was one of my instructors.

After graduating, I worked for three years as a scientist for the Fine Arts Fund in the Literature Museum. I then turned to another activity: book editing. I started at Gosteleradio (National Broadcasting) in the Scientific Methods department. Then, for twenty years, I worked for Art Publishers.

I specialized in books concerning the theory and history of television, documentary films, and the sociological and socio-psychological aspects of television.

I have been working for the Public Opinion Foundation since its foundation. I was first the Deputy Head Editor of the Publishing Department, and later I became Chief Editor. Two years ago, I was appointed Deputy Director of the Sociology Department.

The basic research of the Sociology Department includes open-ended question analysis, participation in preparing questionnaires for weekly polls according to the PENTA technique, preparation of other questionnaires, and editing the weekly FOM-Info poll bulletin. Moreover, I am involved in numerous and varied operational matters, all of which are part of the exciting life at the Foundation."

Anna Danilova had been working as Chief Editor of the Publishing Department since November, 1999.

Born in Moscow.

A graduate of the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering.

"I have been working for the Public Opinion Foundation since it was established. I work on the layout of all Foundation materials (periodic publications, reports on scientific work, etc.) and manage its electronic archives.

I like the comfortable house I have built, big fast cars (I can even fix them), and active forms of relaxation like skiing, tennis, traveling on land and sea, roller skating, and so on. And of course, I like my job.

I don t like crudity, boorishness, meanness, or betrayal. And I also dislike dirt, garden work, freezing weather, or when somebody reads me a lecture."

Efim Galitski. The leading specialist of the Data Analysis Department.

He was born in 1952 in Kokand (Uzbekistan).

"I hardly remember Uzbekistan: several months after my birth our family moved to Malakhovka, near Moscow. Since 1974, I have lived in Moscow.

In 1967, I graduated from the Gnasinki Music School in the violin class. I still play violin from time to time.

In 1974, I graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in the Cybernetics Engineering Department. I did my thesis on the Automation-Telemetry Institute (now the Institute of Direction Problems) in the Data Processing Laboratory, which carried out research on the automatic recognition of images.

From 1974-92, I worked in the Economic and Technological Research Laboratory of the Scientific Production Tchermetavtomatika Association ("Automation of Ferrous Materials").

In 1984, I finished my post-graduate course at the Economy Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and defended my thesis on "The Socio-Economic Effectiveness of Automatic Control Systems in Technical Processes".

At the beginning of perestrika we were engaged in an automatic tax accounting program. We produced the first Russian "Nalogi" ("Tax") computer software for account and income tax optimization, and a few economic program products. On this basis, the Folio Center for Economic Computer Programs (www.folio.ru) was organized by one of the leaders in the development of storage, financial and accounting program products.

In 1992, I began working for the Public Opinion Foundation, where I do market research on different kinds of goods and services. In addition, I work as a part-time lecturer for the Economics of Firms sub-faculty of the State University's Higher School of Economics (www.hse.ru), where I give a course of lectures on Marketing and Marketing Research.

Leyla Vasilyeva is the chief expert in the Research-Organization Department.

In 1985, she graduated from the Philosophy Department of Moscow State University, with a specialty in Applied Sociology.

In 1990, as with most of the present research staff, she came to the Public Opinion Foundation from VCIOM.

Ms. Vasilyeva works in the Field Department as a moderator, carrying out focus group interviews and in-depth interviews, and writing the relevant reports.

"I am absolutely omnivorous in all my interests. I like to cook and do any kind of housework, because I usually don't have enough time for such things. I very much like to sleep, and I also like fishing."

Aleksey Kasimskiy was born in 1963. In 1985, he graduated from the Moscow Electrical Engineering Institute of Communications with a specialty in radio engineering.

In 1995, he started to work for the Public Opinion Foundation in the Research-Organization Department. He advanced from interviewer to supervisor, and ultimately to Director of the Russian Media Diary Surveys, for which he developed the program and research software. After two years, he became head of the group working with clients and PR.

Currently, he works as coordinator of the Public Opinion Foundation's regional infrastructure, head of the group that carries out computerized telephone polls, and director of the Dominant Ideas in Public Opinion project.

Leonid Blekher was born on July 4, 1949 into a military family.

"After my father s demobilization, we lived in Zhdanov (now, and I hope forever, called Mariupol).

I studied at Rostov State University in the Mechanical-Mathematical Department, and afterwards worked for the Krasnodar Statistics Board. Since 1973, I have lived and worked in Moscow.

I programmed engineering systems such as ASU for VS "Mosgorplodovosh" (the exhibition of the Moscow Fruits and Vegetables Board), worked for GIVC Minselhozmach (the computer center of the Ministry of Farm Equipment), and Moscow Hospital #15. In 1988, I worked at VCIOM, and in 1990 I moved to the Public Opinion Foundation. Lately, I have been working on the Internet for the Fund, managing the Telecommunications website.

I am interested in politics, public life, the works of Mikhail Shcherbakov, Russian history and its future (because I have children), and Russian literature and language.

I have lived, I live, and I hope, I will live well - simply remarkably!"

A senior researcher in the POF analytical department.

Candidate of Political Science.

Professional interests: political psychology, study of public perseptions of government and political leaders, political socialization of the individual, Russians political values.