KOVALCHUK Boris Yuryevich (b. 1977) was born in Leningrad in the family of Yuri Kovalchuk, a close associate of Vladimir Putin. He graduated from the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg State University in 1999, where Dmitry Medvedev was one of his lectors.
KOVALCHUK Mikhail Valentinovich (b. 1946 in Leningrad) graduated from the Physics Department of Leningrad State University in 1970 and joined the Institute of Crystallography as a research intern. In 1978, he defended his kandidat thesis, and in 1988, his Ph.D. dissertation.