He graduated from the Vilnius Higher Command School of Radio Electronics of Air Defense in 1977; served in the Armed Forces, the last duty station was the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District, he was discharged from the Armed Forces in 2004, a combat veteran.

In 1991 he graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Political Science, in 1994-1998 he studied at the correspondence postgraduate school of the Northwestern Academy of Public Administration, Candidate of Political Sciences (1998), the topic of his thesis: "National aspects of populism as a method of political struggle."

In 2009, he defended his doctoral thesis at the Dissertation Council of St. Petersburg State University on the topic: "The Evolution of modern democracy: the political experience of Russia".

In 2013, he was awarded the academic title of "Professor" at the Department of Cultural Studies and Global Studies. 

He has taught at the following educational institutions: Baltic State Technical University "Voenmeh"; St. Petersburg Institute of Foreign Economic Relations, Economics and Law; St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts; St. Petersburg State University; Syktyvkar State University named after Pitirim Sorokin; North-Western Institute of Management RANHiGS. Since 2017, the main place of work is the RANHiGS NWIU. Since 2003 - Member of the Russian Association of Political Science; since November 2014 - Full member of the Academy of Political Science, since December 2017 - member of the Russian Professorial Assembly.