The fact that one of the main women politicians of Russia became a widow became known from the press service of the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, who had a telephone conversation with the senator the day before. "The head of state also conveyed the words of support to all the relatives and friends of Vladimir Matvienko," the message says.. Valentina Matvienko married her classmate Vladimir Matvienko at the time when she studied at the Leningrad Chemical and Pharmaceutical Institute. The last years of his life became very difficult for the senator's wife: he was chained to a wheelchair, reports "Says Moscow".