Konstantin Riabtsev

Born May 14 (26), 1879; died July 29, 1919, in Kharkov. Russian counterrevolutionary, colonel (1917), Right Socialist Revolutionary.

Riabtsev was born in Kostroma Province and was the son of a peasant. He entered military service in 1900 and graduated from the Tbilisi Infantry School in 1904 and the Academy of the General Staff in 1912. During World War I he held staff positions. In July 1917 he became chief of staff of the Moscow Military District, opposed the Kornilovshchina, and in September 1917 was appointed commander of the troops of the Moscow Military District.

During the armed insurrection in Moscow in October 1917, Riabtsev headed the counterrevolutionary forces, which offered stubborn resistance to the insurgent workers and soldiers. On November 2 (15) he was removed from his post by the Military Revolutionary Committee and left Moscow for Kharkov. In June 1919, during the occupation of Kharkov by the White Guards, he was arrested and shot for having opposed General Kornilov in 1917 and for not having fought aggressively enough against the Bolsheviks in October 1917.