Maria Bolshakova was born on July 1, 1949 in the village of Rechitsa in the Ratnovsky District of the Volyn Region of the Ukrainian SSR. She chairs the Council of the Union of Russian Military Personnel Families national public charity organisation and is a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.
In 1993, Maria Bolshakova established and also headed the Committee of Military Personnel Families of the Moscow Region. Since 2001, she has chaired the Council of the Union of Russian Military Personnel Families national public charity organisation that has 49 offices and over 30,000 members. She heads a standing commission for civil-military relations at the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.
Members of the Public Commission on Nominating Candidates for the Russian Federation National Award underscored Ms Bolshakova’s outstanding personal contribution to constructively upholding the rights and freedoms of military personnel and their families and supported her work to assist the relatives of military personnel killed in the line of duty, and her efforts to resolve the housing problems of military personnel families.